单选题
Nuclear power"s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.
Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human senses. It can"t be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can"t detect them, sense them without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can"t sense radio activity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cells in vital organs. But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit. And if they are killed outright, your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aware at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine, then die of cancer in five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.
Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.
单选题
According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段的第一句：Nuclear power"s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.就能找到答案：核能的危险是核辐射(nuclear radiation)。故选项D正确，其他3项不符合题意。
单选题
Radiation can cause serious consequences even at the lowest level ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 此题的答案见第三段末：if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer.故选项B为正确答案。
单选题
The word "significant" in Paragraph 3 most probably means ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据上下文的含义，significant此处指“严重的”。其原句为If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant.故选项D正确。
单选题
Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can ______.
单选题
Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是对全文综合总括能力的测试。根据全文的内容(部分尚可依据人们的常识)，我们可以做出以下推断：假如人们对核辐射的危害性不了解的话，就会受到伤害。短文还在最后特别提到Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth(辐射会伤害到我们，因此我们必须了解真相。)故选项D正确。