Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes.

Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. But stripes, called chevrons(人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.

Now the American Automobile Association Foundation(基金会) for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.

Excessive (too great) speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed-related hazards (danger) are the greatest curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.

Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.

Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.

1. The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. a new way of highway speed control

B. a new pattern for painting highways

C. a new way of training drivers

D. a new type of optical illusion

2. On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that ________.

A. they should avoid speed-related hazards

B. they are driving in the wrong lane

C. they should slow down their speed

D. they are coming near to the speed limit

3. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former ________.

A. can keep drivers awake     B. can cut road accidents in half

C. will look more attractive   D. will have a longer effect on drivers

4. The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety plans to ________.

A. try out the Japanese method in certain areas

B. change the road signs across the country

C. replace straight, horizontal bars with chevrons

D. repeat the Japanese road patterns

5. What does the author say about straight, horizontal bars painted across roads?

A. They are suitable only on broad roads.   

B. They are falling out of use in the United States.

C. They are ignored in a long period of time.

D. They cannot be used successfully to traffic circles.

Love Is Just a Thread

Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the  ? 36 ? tuition for my brother and me. They don't ? 37 ? in the romantic ways that I read in books or  I see on TV. My father has a bad temper; it's easy for him to lose his temper.?

One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I ? 38 ? sat down beside her and looked at her.

“Is there any ? 39 ? between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.

My mother stopped her work and raised her head with ? 40 ? in her eyes. She didn't answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

? 41 ? at last I heard my mother say the following words:?

“Susan,” she said ? 42 ?.“Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable(耐用的).If life is a

? 43 ?,then love should be a thread. It can ? 44 ? be seen anywhere or ?anytime, but it's really there. Love is ? 45 ?.”?

I listened carefully but I couldn't understand her until the next ? 46 ?.At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. After they were ? 47 ?,every day in the morning and dusk(黄昏),my mother helped my father walk ? 48 ? on the country road. My father had never been so ? 49 ?.Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently shone through the leaves. All of these ? 50 ? the most beautiful picture in the world. The doctor had said my father would ? 51 ? in two months. But after two months he still couldn't walk alone. We were all worried.?

“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.?

“Susan,”he said gently.“To tell you the truth, I just like ? 52 ? with your mom. I like this kind of life.” ? 53 ? from his eyes, I knew he loved my mother deeply.

Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this ? 54 ?,I understand that love is just a ? 55 ? in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.

36. A. expensive    B. low     C. cheap  D. high

37. A. play     B. talk     C. act      D. perform

38. A. silently B. carefully    C. certainly     D. happily

39. A. money  B. love    C. time    D. distance

40. A. surprise       B. pride   C. disappointment  D. satisfaction

41. A. So       B. But     C. And    D. For

42. A. sadly    B. excitedly    C. regretfully  D. thoughtfully

43. A. trouble B. pleasure     C. quilt   D. cloth

44. A. hardly  B. often   C. always       D. ever?

45. A. valuable      B. inside  C. true    D. priceless

46. A. winter  B. autumn      C. summer      D. spring

47. A. free      B. back   C. fine    D. ready?

48. A. continuously       B. worriedly   C. constantly   D. slowly?

49. A. gently  B. perfect       C. pleased       D. thankful

50. A. put up  B. took up      C. made up     D. set up?

51. A. run      B. recover      C. Stand  D. work

52. A. walking       B. living  C. sitting D. chatting?

53. A. Examining   B. Seeing       C. Noticing     D. Reading

54. A. practice       B. observation C. experience  D. activity?

55. A. thread  B. thing   C. jewel  D. light

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