Car accidents happen everywhere every day and are the main cause of injury in the United States. In order to control the increasing（增长） accidents, many states have passed tough laws. Also, car manufacturers（制造商） have been trying to make safer cars to save lives.
However, as there are more and more cars and drivers on the road, these safety measure （安全措施）are not enough to stop the increasing car accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration （管理部门）reports that a car accident happens every 10 seconds in the United States.
Car accidents may be caused by different reasons. Some accidents are caused by driver’s tiredness and illness or drunk driving. Some may be caused by speeding or running a red light. When this happens, by the time the driver realizes what has happened, it is usually too late. As for ages, young drivers usually have enough experience while elderly drivers of react slowly. Mechanical defects （机械毛病）such as a broken brake（刹车） are another cause of car accidents. Poor road and weather conditions can also be a cause.
Talking about different causes of car accidents can help us know what precautions（预防措施） to take beforehand. We should tell our friends or family members not to drive in poor health or after drinking wine. We should tell teenager drivers to be careful with road and weather conditions and let elderly friends understand their driving limitation(局限性)。Besides, we should have our car checked regularly（规律地）. The most important thing for us to remember, however, is that we should always follow the traffic rules.
1.What has the government done to try to control the increasing car accidents?
A．They try to make safer cars. B．They try to build more roads.
C．They have passed tough traffic laws. D．They make drivers have their car examined every month.
2.What does the underlined word” elderly” possibly mean?
A．Middle-aged B．Young C．Rather old D．Teenage
3.Which of the following causes is different from the other three?
A．Tiredness B．Illness C．Drinking D．a broken brake
4.Which has nothing to do with a driver’s age?
A．Teenager drivers. B．Not knowing the traffic rules
C．Reacting slowly D．Driving slowly.
5.In order to avoid accidents caused by mechanical defects, we should ___________.
A．not run a red light. B．drive the car when we are in good health
C．not drive when we are too old. D．have our cars examined regularly.
There was a famous church in London. It was 110 meters high. The center of the church was like a bell. The ceiling of the church was painted by a famous artist. A platform （平台）was built so that the artist could put up the ladder on it and paint the ceiling. The platform was about 70 meters over the ground.
One day the artist was working hard and had nearly finished one popular corner of the ceiling. Also on the platform was his assistant, who was mixing paints. The artist stepped back so that he could see how his work was progressing. To have a better look at his painting, he stepped back again. Suddenly, his assistant shouted, picked up a small bowl of paint and started to paint the artist’s work on the top. The artist was very angry and rushed forwards to stop him.
“What do you think you are doing?” he shouted angrily. “Are you mad?” His assistant replied, “I saw you walking backwards to have a better look at your painting. But you didn’t notice that you had reached the very edge of the platform. You were in great danger. I wanted to make you move forwards. If I had not made you run forwards, you would have fallen backwards off the edge of the platform.
1.The story happened in ______.
A．America B．France C．German D．England
2.Why did the artist step back again?
A．To see how his work was progressing. B．To have a better look at his painting.
C．To paint a bow in his painting. D．To pour some paint on his painting.
3.What did the assistant do to stop the artist falling off the platform?
A．He painted a famous painting himself. B．He ran forwards to stop him.
C．He shouted to the artist and painted his painting. D．He stopped mixing the paints.
4.Which picture shows the same situation as the underlined sentence in Paragraph2?
Note: a: artist b: assistant c: painting ←: the direction of the movement.
5.After reading the passage, what do you think the artist would probably do?
A．He would be angry with what the assistant had done.
B．He would punish the assistant for having destroyed his painting.
C．He would be thankful to be the assistant for having saved his life.
D．He wouldn’t allow the assistant to work with him any more.
