Question

Car alarms are a public nuisance. Their persistent and disruptive noise has been shown to boost stress hormones that are linked to physiological illness and psychological distress. Studies also show that children regularly exposed to car alarm noise have difficulty concentrating on quiet tasks like reading. Because car alarm noise makes people irritable, it also increases the tendency to be impatient and rude. In short, noisy car alarms are helping erode public civility. And for what? For nothing. According to police, criminologists, insurance companies, auto manufacturers, and even car thieves themselves, car alarms are next to useless. A 1997 analysis of insurance claims from 73 million vehicles concluded that alarms did not deter car theft. No one pays any attention to car alarms any more because 95 to 99 percent of the alarms are false. According to the Progressive Insurance Company, fewer than 1 percent of people surveyed say that they would call the police if they heard a car alarm. Plus, today's car thieves are professionals undeterred by the presence of alarms, which they can readily disable when necessary. Consequently, GM, Ford, and other manufacturers have begun to stop putting alarms in their cars. This is their way of acknowledging that the alarms are nothing but "noisemakers." It's outrageous that audible car alarms continue to needlessly reduce our quality of life. They should be made illegal immediately.

60. What can we learn from the passage?

A. People report it to the police whenever they hear car alarms.

B. Thieves can easily disable all alarms.

C. Since car alarms are nothing but “noisemakers”, people no loner use them.

D. Car alarms don’t reduce auto theft.

61. What does the underlined part mean? ______________________.

A. learning    B.   saying     C. admitting                  D. denying

62. The author’s purpose is ________________.

A. to inform    B. to persuade     C. to criticize     D. to entertain

63. The author’s tone is_________________.

A. emotionally neutral (中立的)   B.  amused   C. sad  D. annoyed

Answer 1

60. 为D。这是一道推理判断题。由文章中第8句According to police, criminologists, insurance companies, auto manufacturers, and even car thieves themselves, car alarms are next to useless.判断选项A正确；由文章中第11、12句According to the Progressive Insurance Company, fewer than 1 percent of people surveyed say that they would call the police if they heard a car alarm. Plus, today's car thieves are professionals undeterred by the presence of alarms, which they can readily disable when necessary.判断选项B、C正确。

61. 为C。这是一道猜词题。由文章上下文得知，acknowledge 意为“承认”。

62. 为B。该题要求对作者的写作意图做出判断。文章旨在引起人们关注car alarms所带来的问题，希望人们不再使用car alarms。

63. 为D。这是一道推理判断题。从文章的内容以及用词如“ nuisance”、“erode”、“next to useless”以及“nothing but”等，我们不难看出，作者对于car alarms持反对的态度。