It is said that _____ good companion is better than _____ fortune, which can’t buy true qualities.

Which is safer --- staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working at the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low．However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home．

The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby．It is this that makes chemical accidents so newsworthy．Fortunately, they are extremely rare．The most famous ones happened at Texas City （1947）, Flixborough （1974）, Seveso （1976）, Pemex （1984） and Bhopal （1984）．

Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small．No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough．The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed．The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552．The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal．

Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger．Thus the Texas City was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a great quantity．The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production  going during essential repairs．The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep．When the poisonous gas drifted over the town , local leaders were incapable of taking effective action．The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb．The fire set off a chain reaction of exploding storage tanks．Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode．Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died．

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Working at the office is safer than staying at home．

B．Travelling to work on public transport is safer than working at the office．

C．Staying at home is safer than working in the chemical industry．

D．Working in the chemical industry is safer than traveling by air．

2.Chemical accidents are usually important enough to be reported as news because       .

A．they are very rare

B．they often cause loss of life

C．they always occur in big cities

D．they arouse the interest of all the readers

3.According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened in_________．

A．Texas city   B．Flixborough

C．Seveso        D．Mexico City

4.From the passage we know that “ammonium nitrate” is a kind of _____．

A．natural gas, which can easily catch fire

B．fertilizer, which can't be stored in a great quantity

C．poisonous substance, which can't be used in overcrowded areas

D．fuel, which is stored in large tanks

5.From the discussion among some experts we may conclude that _____．

A．to avoid any accident we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry

B．the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry

C．all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken

D．natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe

There are a number of methods to provide ___________ relief from your toothache pain, which can’t cure the problem.

Horror seized the heart of the World War Ⅰ soldier as he saw his life-long friend fall in the battle．Caught in a trench(战壕)with continuous gunfire whizzing(发出呼啸声) over his head，the soldier asked his captain if he might go out into the“No Man's Land”between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back．

“You can go,” said the captain，“but I don't think it will be worth it．Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away．”The captain's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway．

To one's surprise，he managed to reach his friend，raised him onto his shoulder，and brought him back to their company's trench．As the two of them fell in together to the bottom of the trench，the officer checked the wounded soldier, and then looked kindly at his friend．“I told you it wouldn't be worth it,” he said．“Your friend is dead，and your wound is deadly．”“It was worth it，though，sir．”the soldier said．“How do you mean‘worth it’?”responded the captain．“Your friend is dead!”“Yes sir．”the soldier answered．“But it was worth it because when I got to him，he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say，‘Jim，I knew you'd come．’”

Many a time in life，whether a thing is worth doing or not really depends on how you look at it．Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in life．

56．When the soldier saw his close comrade fall in the battle，he felt        ．

A．surprised    B．excited    C．frightened   D．worried

57．The phrase“No Man's Land”most probably means“       ”in the passage．

    A．the area on the court between the base line and the service line

    B．an unoccupied region between opposing armies

    C．a bare wasteland which can't be used

    D．the area where there is no man

58．Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

    A．The soldier was wounded seriously．

    B．The captain cared about the soldier very much．

    C．The soldier brought his close comrade back．

  D．The captain thought the soldier's action was right

59．The last paragraph implies that we should     when we don't know how to choose in life.

    A．fellow our hearts                  B．do nothing but wait

   C．listen to others' suggestion     D．regret what we have done