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C
In some ways, the United States has made some progress. Fires no longer destroy 18,000 buildings as they did in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2,400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire.
But even with such successes, the United States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference(无所谓) of a country that just will not take fires seriously enough.
American fire departments are some of the world's fastest and best-equipped. They have to be. The United States has twice Japan's population, and 40 times as many fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. And American fire -safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in large numbers in fires but who, against popular beliefs, start very few of them.
Experts say the error is an opinion that fires are not really anyone's fault. That is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses; of the 48 fires in world history that burned more than 10,000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Punishment for causing a big fire can be as severe as life imprisonment.
In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But, the lessons are aimed at too limited a number of people; just 9 percent of all fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches.
The United States continues to depend more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building laws now require home sprinklers (喷水装置). New heaters and irons shut themselves off if they are tipped.
29. The reason why so many Americans die in fires is that _____.
A. they took no interest in new technology   B. they did not pay great attention to preventing fires
C. they showed indifference to fighting fires  D. they did not spend enough money on fire equipment
30. It can be inferred from the passage that______.
A. fire safety lessons should not be aimed only at American children
B. American children have not received enough education of fire safety lessons
C. Japan is better equipped with fire equipment than the United States
D. America's large population leads to more fires
31. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. There has been no great fire in the USA in recent 40 years that leads to high death rate.
B. There have been several great fires in the USA in recent 40 years that lead to high death rate.
C. There has been only one great fire in the USA in recent 40 years that led to high death rate.
D. The fire in Kentucky in 1977 made only a few people killed.
D
Nuclear power's(核能的) danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be described in one word; radiation(辐射).
Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected (探测) by human senses. It can't be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can't detect them, sense them, without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can't sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cells (细胞) in important organs (器官). But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and if they are killed outright. Your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in an unusual way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the knowledge of the person at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated(放射治疗) and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or easy to get serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.
Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.
32. According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in __________.
A. nuclear mystery      B. radiation detection
C. radiation level     D. nuclear radiation
33. Radiation can lead to serious results even at the lowest level ________.
A. when it kills few cells
B. if it damages few cells
C. though the damaged cells can repair themselves
D. unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
34. Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can _____.
A. kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediately
B. damage cells which may grow into cancer years later
C. affect the healthy growth of our younger generation
D. lead to all of the above results
35. Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
A. The importance of protection from radiation cannot be overemphasized (过分强调).
B. The mystery about radiation remains unsolved.
C. Cancer is mainly caused by radiation.
D. Radiation can hurt those who do not know about its danger. 
第二节  (共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分)
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
What do they really mean?
Food manufacturers and retailers are letting shoppers down. This is the view of the CWS, which has just brought out a new report.
According to the report, shoppers believe food labels(标签) because they think there are strict regulations in place. 　36　So the food industry can get away with all sorts of tricky strategies to make products look bigger and sound better than they are.
The report has identified the different ways in which shoppers are misled.    37____ Descriptions on packaging are sometimes inaccurate in an attempt to oversell the product. One example given in the report is the phrase "haddock fillets", used for a product that is in fact cut from big blocks of fish rather than individual slices.
　38　These include "traditional", "wholesome", or "premium". The claim that a brand is "90% fat-free" hides the fact that it contains 10% fat, which above recommended levels. Phrases such as "free from preservatives" make a virtue out of a normal attribute of food.
    Labels have a wide variety of text sizes on them. You sometimes need a magnifying glass to read the small print. 　39　
Another deliberate type of misinformation lies in the image. Many pictures on packets use small plates to make the product look bigger. 　40　
However, misleading messages on packaging could soon be a thing of the past. The CWS recently produced a code which, if used, would end the current inaccuracies and half-truths. It has called on the government to support it as a way of improving food standards.
A. Meaningless adjectives are often used to give a positive message.
B. An officer says the labels will receive very serious consideration.
C. Photographs are sometimes retouched(修饰) to achieve the same effect.
D. By contrast, the hard sell (强行推销) information is given emphasis.
E. The rules are, in reality, very weak at present.
F. This result has not pleased the food industry. 高考英语模拟试题库  http://www.17xuexiba.com/yy/