题目内容
The tower of Big Ben, London’s most famous building, has always leaned (倾斜)slightly, but construction work on a new line for the London Underground seemed likely to give the tower a real lean. Engineers have had to prop up (支撑)its base to prevent it from damaging the rest of the Houses of Parliament.
To control the tower’s movement, engineers pumped grout(水泥浆)into the soil under the tower. The tower now leans an extra few centimeters, but the lean can only be seen by the most sharp-eyed observer.
Between 1995 and 1997, to lengthen the Jubilee line of the Underground, builders dug a 40-metre-deep hole just 31 metres north of the clock tower. And the new tube (underground )tunnels were even nearer to the tower. John Burland, who recently helped stop the increasing lean in the Leaning Tower of Pisa and was an adviser to the Jubilee line project, believed the work would affect the tower. In his opinion, no further lean should go beyond a safety limit of 27. 5 millimetres over the existing lean of 220 millimetres.
To keep the lean within this limit, Burland told the British Association about the new method of pumping grout immediately under the base of the tower. More than 300 tons of grout were pumped in during construction. The tower’s additional lean went between 10 and 25 millimetres, but never passed 27. 5 millimetres.
After the construction work was completed in late 1997, a review of mouvements in nearby walls showed that the building was in better shape than had been thought before and the safety limit was raised to 35 millimetres before any action needs to be taken.
Since 1997, the tower has continued to lean, Burland told Modern Construction. The latest measurements, taken this year, suggest that the tower’s lean had just reached 35 millimetres. But following regular re-examinations of the tower, experts are sure that the tower has stabilized (稳定). A spokesman for London Underground says: “We understand the tower has stabilized and returned to its normal movement cycle.”
From Modern Construction, 16 September 2000
Which of the following drawings correctly shows how the propping up construction was carried
out?
1. What does the world “review” (in Paragraph 5) mean?
A. Observation.
B. Description.
C. Discussion.
D.Re-examination.
2. Why was the propping up construction necessary?
A. To stop the tower of Big Ben from necessary?
B. To stop sharp-eyed people from. seeing the lean.
C. To stop the Tower of Pisa from leaning to much
D.To stop the clock tower from leaning beyond its safety limit.
3. What was the existing lean of the tower at the time when the article was written?
A. 220 millimetres.
B. 255 millimetres.
C. 35 millimetres.
D. 27. 5 millimetres.
4. We can infer from the article that__________.
A. the tower of Big Ben will damage the Houses of Parliament
B. the Jubilee line should be stopped in Burland’s opinion
C. the writer is blaming Burland for making a mistake
D.the propping up work has proved to be successful
1.A 2.D 3.D 4.B 5.D
阅读快车系列答案WASHINGTON---At least four more U.S. air-traffic controllers are caught nodding off on the job at three separate airports across the nation, the government said Wednesday.
The controller working alone in the tower fell asleep and was out of communication for 16 minutes while a medical flight carrying a patient was trying to land at about 2 A.M. Wednesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
The FAA announced that it is also investigating a controller who fell asleep Monday at Boeing King County International Airport in Seattle and two controllers who were unresponsive at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee on Feb.19.
“I am sick of this,” Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said in a statement. “We can’t have a system where some of the people responsible for safety are asleep at the switch.”
As the incidents pile up, sleep experts say it demonstrates that the agency faces a systemic issue with the thousands of people expected to work through the night in safety-critical jobs. Scientific research shows that workers on midnight shifts make more errors because it is so difficult for the body to adapt to sleeping during the day, they say.
The agency will add an extra controller at the 27 towers staffed with one worker on the midnight shift, the FAA statement said.
Representative John Mica, the Florida Republican who chairs the House transportation committee, criticized the decision to add controllers. “Only in the federal government would you double up on workers, averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits, that aren’t doing their job,” Mica said in a statement. Mica has pushed legislation that would allow as many as 90 smaller airports to switch from federal to private controllers.
“People have known these problems with fatigue（疲劳）have existed for years,” said John Goglia, a Boston-based aviation safety consultant. “They’re now showing up. The FAA is admitting they exist. Now the FAA needs to work on it.”
The four controllers in Nevada, Seattle and Texas have been suspended(暂时停职) during the investigations, the FAA said.
1.The underlined part “double up on workers” means “______”.
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A．add two more workers |
B．staff two workers at a post |
|
C．settle two workers in a double room |
D．give the workers double pay |
2.According to John Goglia, fatigue problem ______.
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A．is a known potential danger |
B．has never appeared before |
|
C．is common for day-time shift workers |
D．seldom shows up at night |
3.Which statement is true?
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A．A controller fell asleep without communication for 16 minutes in Knoxville, Tennessee. |
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B．A medical flight carrying a patient failed to land with the controller asleep. |
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C．Jay Rockefeller pays little attention to sleeping at the switch. |
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D．Mica refused to support the decision to staff more controllers on the midnight shift. |
4.We can infer from the passage that ______.
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A．All the controllers in the US were working alone while they were on duty |
|
B．The incidents are rooted in fatigue problems and those on midnight shifts need an extra nap |
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C．In the U.S. , thousands of people expect to work through the night in safety-critical jobs |
|
D．The agency has added an extra controller at the 27 towers |