①Brain-injured boy set for ￡ 1.75m payout

　　A YOUNGSTER who was knocked off his bicycle by a taxi and left with a serious brain injury is set to be awarded ￡ 1.75 million.

　　Fourteen-year-old George Currie, from Dalkeith, was living in country Durham with his parents Allister and Paula at the time of the accident in September 1993.

　　George, who was then three years old, was riding his small tricycle along the pavement when he lost control and swerved on to the road into the path of an on-coming taxi.

　　The driver's insurance company has now ac cepted responsibility for the accident and New Castle County Court is expected to rule on the payout on Monday.

　　②Boating accidents reduce

　　Lee and Collier counties tied at No. 10 for boating accidents in Florida in 2004, an improvement for both.

　　But because the counties remained in the top 10 among Florida's 67 counties, safety continues to be a concern, officials said.

　　③Teens react to new law on driving permit

　　Lawmakers may hope to make teenage drivers drive more safely, but some local teens behind the wheel feel angry following the passing of Senace Bill 36 last week.

　　SB 36 is a law that limits times new teen drivers can drive and the number of passengers

　　④Road accidents take costly toll

　　Traffic accidents kill more than one million people each year, injure tens of millions more and cost developing countries twice as much as they receive in international aid, the leader of a research body said Wednesday.

　　The figures have led experts to form an international road safety network to choose the most important research areas, inform policy makers and help develop ways to prevent accidents, particularly in poor nations.

　　pavement: 人行道

　　swerve: 突然转

　　insurance: 保险.

　　Florida counties with the most accidents in 2004:

　　1．Monroe (98)

　　2．Palm Beach (65)

　　3．Pinellas (64)

　　4．Broward (59)

　　5．Miami-Dade (54)

　　6．Okaloosa (34)

　　7．Orange (24)

　　8．Bay (22)

　　9．Lee (21)

　　10．Collier (21)

(1) What does Passage ① tell us about the boy?

[　　]

A．He was injured in the head when he was 14.

B．He has waited for the payout for a long time.

C．He has lived in the same place since the accident.

D．He was run over by a taxi when riding on the pavement.

(2) What can we learn about Lee and Collier counties from Passage ②?

[　　]

A．They both became safe places.

B．They won the same place in race.

C．They had the same number of accidents.

D．They joined hands in reducing accidents.

(3) Which passage would give more information on the prevention of road accidents?

[　　]

　　At a computer exhibition Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated.“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon（加仑）.”

　　In response to Bill's comments, General Motors announced a news release stating:

　　If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:

　　1．For no reason your car would crash twice a day.

　　2．Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

　　3．Sometimes your car would die on the freeway for no reason and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

　　4．Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought“Car95”or“CarNT”.But then you would have to buy more seats.

　　5．If you tried to get your car to a mechanic（技工）, you'd make a long distance call, be put on hold for three or four hours, when you finally got the mechanic, you'd be told how to fix it yourself, and the mechanic would hang up before you even tried his or her suggestions.

　　6．People would get excited about the“new”features（性能）in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely they had been available in other cars for many years.

　　7．The airbag system would say:“Are you sure?”before going off.

　　8．Every time GM introduced a new model car, buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

　　9．Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes.

　　10．If you couldn't afford to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friend's and then copy it.

　　11．You'd press the“start”button to shut off the engine.

(1) The purpose of writing this article is ________.

[　　]

A．to state the advantages of Microsoft in making cars

B．to inform that Microsoft will make cars in the future

C．to compare cars made by GM with those made by Microsoft

D．to make fun of the disadvantages of Microsoft's products

(2) It can be inferred from the passage that the airbag system of the new car ________.

[　　]

A．would be more safe than the old one

B．would become useless in case of an accident

C．would not surprise the driver by going off suddenly

D．would remind the driver of the danger ahead of time

(3) What does the writer really mean by saying“You'd press the 'start' button to shut off the engine”?

[　　]

A．The design of Microsoft is very funny and strange.

B．It is better to control the engine like a computer.

C．The engine control system requires to be improved.

D．It is impossible to shut off the engine by pressing the“start”button.

(4) The best title of this passage would be ________.

[　　]

A．Characteristics of the New Cars

B．GM Should Learn from Microsoft

C．If Microsoft Built Cars

D．New Cars to be Made in the Future

(5) Which of the following statements is true ac-cording to the passage?

[　　]

A．It is easy to get your Microsoft car re-paired.

B．The car mentioned in the passage will never be made.

C．You would not have to buy new cars and learn how to drive very often.

D．It is impossible to copy a new car if such cars existed.

　　At a computer exhibition Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated.“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon（加仑）.”

　　In response to Bill's comments, General Motors announced a news release stating:

　　If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:

　　1．For no reason your car would crash twice a day.

　　2．Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

　　3．Sometimes your car would die on the freeway for no reason and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

　　4．Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought“Car95”or“CarNT”.But then you would have to buy more seats.

　　5．If you tried to get your car to a mechanic（技工）, you'd make a long distance call, be put on hold for three or four hours, when you finally got the mechanic, you'd be told how to fix it yourself, and the mechanic would hang up before you even tried his or her suggestions.

　　6．People would get excited about the“new”features（性能）in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely they had been available in other cars for many years.

　　7．The airbag system would say:“Are you sure?”before going off.

　　8．Every time GM introduced a new model car, buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

　　9．Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes.

　　10．If you couldn't afford to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friend's and then copy it.

　　11．You'd press the“start”button to shut off the engine.

(1) The purpose of writing this article is ________.

[　　]

A．to state the advantages of Microsoft in making cars

B．to inform that Microsoft will make cars in the future

C．to compare cars made by GM with those made by Microsoft

D．to make fun of the disadvantages of Microsoft's products

(2) It can be inferred from the passage that the airbag system of the new car ________.

[　　]

A．would be more safe than the old one

B．would become useless in case of an accident

C．would not surprise the driver by going off suddenly

D．would remind the driver of the danger ahead of time

(3) What does the writer really mean by saying“You'd press the 'start' button to shut off the engine”?

[　　]

A．The design of Microsoft is very funny and strange.

B．It is better to control the engine like a computer.

C．The engine control system requires to be improved.

D．It is impossible to shut off the engine by pressing the“start”button.

(4) The best title of this passage would be ________.

[　　]

A．Characteristics of the New Cars

B．GM Should Learn from Microsoft

C．If Microsoft Built Cars

D．New Cars to be Made in the Future

(5) Which of the following statements is true ac-cording to the passage?

[　　]

A．It is easy to get your Microsoft car re-paired.

B．The car mentioned in the passage will never be made.

C．You would not have to buy new cars and learn how to drive very often.

D．It is impossible to copy a new car if such cars existed.