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 radioactivity 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 level of radiation can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. ]f 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 five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as 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 ______.
  • A. nuclear mystery
  • B. radiation detection
  • C. nuclear radiation
  • D. radiation level
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 第一段就明确指出核能的危险在于它的核辐射。
单选题 Radiation can cause serious consequences even at the lowest level ______.
  • A. when it kills few cells
  • B. if it damages few cells
  • C. though the damaged cells can repair themselves
  • D. unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 第三段提到，即使很微量的辐射也会带来严重的后果，主要因为受损伤的细胞会以畸形的方式自我复制，进而转变为癌症。
单选题 The word "significant" in paragraph 3 most probably means ______.
  • A. fatal
  • B. meaningful
  • C. remarkable
  • D. harmful
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] “significant”此处前置，“not”指不太要紧的、不致命的，所以选A。
单选题 Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can ______.
  • A. kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediately
  • B. damage cells which may grow into cancer years later
  • C. affect the healthy growth of our offspring
  • D. all of the above
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 核辐射会给我们选项A、B和C几个方面的损害，只有D概括较全面，所以D正确。
单选题 Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
  • A. The importance of protection from radiation cannot be over-emphasized.
  • B. The mystery about radiation remains unsolved.
  • C. Cancer is mainly caused by radiation.
  • D. Radiation can hurt those who are not aware of its danger.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第二段和第四段分别提到了不同的“reasons for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation”，由此可以推断，核辐射仍然是一个未解之谜。