阅读理解 During the past two decades astonishing progress has been made in fighting infectious diseases in poor countries. Polio has almost been eradicated; malaria is being tamed; AIDS is slowly being brought under control. Yet almost unnoticed, another epidemic is raging across the developing world, this one man-made.
Road crashes now kill 1.3 m people a year, more than malaria or tuberculosis. On present trends, by 2030 they will take a greater toll than the two together, and greater even than AIDS. The vast majority of victims die in poor and middle-income countries—1. 2m in 2011, compared with 99, 000 in rich ones. For every 100,000 cars in the rich world, fewer than 15 people die each year. In Ethiopia the figure is 250 times higher.
It is tempting to see the kill as the price of development. Building roads is a highly effective way of boosting growth: the World Bank finds many projects to fund that do better than its minimum acceptable economic rate of return of 12%. In the rich world road deaths and growth went hand-in-hand for decades; the first death-by-car was in 1896 and the peak came in the 1970s.
However, since then, restraints on drivers and investment in safety have slashed road deaths in the rich world by more than half. New York's roads are now at their safest since records began in 1910. Sweden is still some way from its stated goal of ending road deaths altogether, but in 2013 just one Swedish child under seven died in a crash. Technology such as alcolocks, which prevent drunk-driving, and self-driving cars will make roads in the rich world safer still.
Governments in poor countries tend to assume that they, too, must see deaths soar before they are rich enough to think about saving lives. Aid donors and development banks may conclude that a dangerous road is better than no road at all. But the experience of rich countries has shown that roads can be made safer cheaply and simply. And far from being an unaffordable luxury, safe roads make better economic sense than dangerous ones. Most crash victims are boys and working-age men. Their death or disability leaves families in poverty and deprives countries of their most economically valuable citizens. In medical bills, care, lost output and vehicle damage, the kill costs desperately poor countries as much as 10% of GDP.

单选题 1.The underlined word "epidemic"(Para 1, Line 3)may be closest to______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】文章中的another epidemic表示“另一种——”，既然提到“另一种”，上文必然还提到类似的信息，由此我们可以推断上文的polio，malaria，AIDS都可以等同于epidemic，而选项[A]和[B]我们都可以选，因此可以确定这些词还不能完全与epidemic相等。我们再往前可以看到这么一句:．．．fighting infectious diseases in poor countries，而polio，malaria，AIDS就是上文提到的infectious diseases的具体例子，故可以推断出epidemic=infectious disease，即选项[C]是最佳的答案。

单选题 2.According to Paragraph 2, which one is true?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】选项[A]对应第二段第二行：The vast majority of victims die in poor and middle-in—come countries…由此可见该项的表述是正确的。其中road crashes=car accidents；vast majorityof victims die=cause more death。故该项为答案。通过这个句子我们同时可以确定选项[B]“Car crashes mainly happen in developed countries．车祸主要发生在发达国家”的表述是错误的。选项[C]对应前两句：Road crashes now kill 1．3m people a year，more than malaria or tuberculo—sis．On present trends，by 2030 they will take a greater toll than the two together，and greater eventhan AIDS．文章仅仅提到“road crashes车祸”造成的伤亡超过“malaria疟疾”和“tuberculosis肺结核”，文章还指出：按照目前的趋势，到2030年甚至超过“AIDS艾滋病”，可见[C]项表述是不正确的。其中any disease太过于绝对。选项[D]中的“middle-class families中产阶级家庭”原文没有提到，而是提到了“middle-income countries中等收入国家”，故该项也是错误的。综上所述，本题答案为选项[A]。

单选题 3.All the following can reduce road deaths EXCEPT______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据road deaths定位到第四段。该段首句指出：However，since then，restraints ondrivers and investment in safety have slashed road deaths in the rich world by more than half．其中，slashed road deaths=reduce road deaths。由此可见restraints on drivers，investment in safety为其中两个答案，即选项[B]和[C]都是减少road deaths的因素。根据该段最后一句：Technologysuch as alcolocks，which prevent drunk—driving，and self-driving cars will make roads in the richworld safer still．由此得知technology也是一个要素，即[A]选项也是因素之一，所以四个选项中原文未提及的是选项[D]，该项为答案。

单选题 4.We can conclude from the last paragraph that______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】选项[A]意为：车祸的大多数受害者都是青少年。原文最后一段倒数第三句指出：Most crash victims are boys and working-age men．(车祸大多数受害者是男孩和参加工作的男性。)其中adolescents和boys and working—age men并不完全一致，working—age men不一定是青少年，故该项表述不够准确。选项[B]对应第三句和第四句：But the experience of rich coun—tries has shown that roads can be made safer cheaply and simply．And far from being an unaffordableluxury…其中，roads can be made safer cheaply and simply和far from being an unaffordable luxury(绝对不是难以承担的奢侈品)都表明该项是错误的。根据选项[C]的GDP一词可以定位到最后一句：In medical bills，care，lost output and vehicle damage，the kill costs desperately poorcountries as much as 10％of GDP．文章提到的是cost poor countries而不是cost most countries，该项属于偷换概念，故错误。选项[D]对应原文这句话：safe roads make better economic sensethan dangerous ones．可见该项表述是正确的。

单选题 5.The best title for the text may be______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】本文第一段提到人类对抗疾病，是为了引出第二段全文讨论的话题——road era—shes。选项[C]和[D]两项明显与之无关，可以先排除。[A]项的前半部分是正确的，后半部分的“Hard to Prevent”与最后一段的“But the experience of rich countries has shown that roadscan be made safer cheaply and simply．”一句明显不符，文章提到车祸并不是难以避免的，公路可以变得更加安全，故该项错误。而文章除了讨论车祸造成的死亡以外，第三段明确指出：Building roads is a highly effective way of boosting growth．由此可见文章也提到了公路建设促进发展，因此最适合的标题是选项[B]。