Way back in 1662,John Evelyn,a brilliant Englishman known for his detailed diaries,wrote about disastrous effects of coal-burning on the city of London .In it,he described an _ scene of smog.air filled with "Columns and Clouds of Smoke''given out by small industries and residences that burned coal for fuel. I found the description in the 2003 book When Smoke Ran like Water,by epidemiologist and environmental advocator Devra Davis.In it,Davis looks back at several historic pollution events and their disastrous effect on human human health-and at how these phenomena were often Ignored or even actively covered up by then people in charge at that time. As Davis points out,John Evelyn was ahead of his time when writing about how London's polluted air affected the well-being of its residents.It wasn't until nearly 300 years later,after what became well-known as the Great Smog of 1952,that the government began to address the problem in a systematic way. For four days.Between December 5th"and 9th",due to all accident of the weather pattern,the city was buried in a heavy fog .People were still burning coal for fuel,and low-grade coal at that time, because 0f wartime condition.A temperature inversion trapped the smoke from the city's fires, creating a black cloud in which people could barely find their way down the most familiar streets Some tried to protect themselves,but most people simply went about their business. But l952's fog was far worse than any other in memory.In the same week of the previous year, 1852 people had died in London;inl952,that number was 4703 And the deaths didn't stop when the weather changed and the fog lifted.Davis and her colleagues analyzed data from the next several months and found that about 13000 more people died between December and March than one would have predicted from historical averages Many of them died of pneumonia .The government,she writes.Tried to blame a bad flu season.Her detailed analysis found that explanation simply did not pan out. Davis writes that even today in... One of the reasons for the Great Smog of l952wasthat---- A) people burned wood for fuel B) a forest fire created a black cloud over the city C) the government ignored the smog D) most people went abouttheirbusine00
C
Like many other small boys, I was fascinated by cars, not least because my oldest brother was a bit of a car guy and subscribed to cool magazines like Car and Driver and Motor Trend. Every so often, one of those magazines would run an article on the "Car of the Future". They featured unconventional styling and things like small nuclear reactors as power sources. Yet, frankly, my car doesn't do anything that my brother's Studebaker didn't do. It goes, it stops, it burns gasoline, it plays music. I still have to steer it, and it still runs into things if I don't steer it carefully. But guess what? All of these things are subject to change in the not-so-distant future. It will still go and stop, but it may not burn gasoline, I may not have to steer it, and it may be a lot better at not running into things. Airbags aren't the be-all and end-all in safety. In fact, considering the recent news about people occasionally being killed by their airbags in low-speed collisions ,they obviously still need some development. But they aren't going away, and in fact, you can expect to see cars appearing with additional, side-impact airbags, something some European car manufacturers already offer. Better than systems to minimize injury in the event of an accident, however, are systems that minimize the likelihood of an accident happening in the first place. Future cars may be able to eliminate many of the major causes of accidents, including drunk-driving, tailgating and sleepiness. Cars could be equipped with sensors that can detect alcohol in a driver's system and prevent the car from being started, for example. Many accidents are caused by people following the car in front too closely. As early as next year, you'll be able to buy cars with radar-equipped control systems. If the radar determines you're closing too quickly with the car in front, it will ease up on the throttle . For city streets, expect other radar devices that will give advance warning that the car in front of you has slowed abruptly and you should... Why was the author fascinated by cars? A) Because other small boys liked to own a car of their own, too. B) Because he read exotic things about cars in his brother's magazines. C) Because his oldest brother loved to take him to places in his car. D) Because he subscribed to cool car magazines.
B
(Q).
Bruce Alberts, the former President of the National Academies (USA), has now taken over as Editor-in Chief of Science. Judging by his editorial in this week's issueConsidering Science Education there could be some interesting times ahead inScience offices. Here's part of what Bruce has to say about science education... I consider science education to be critically important to both science and the world, and I shall frequently deal with this topic on this page. Let's start with a big-picture view. Science has greatly advanced our understanding of the natural world and has enabled the creation of countless medicines and useful devices. It has also led to behaviors that have improved lives. The public appreciates these practical benefits of science, and science and scientists are generally respected, even by those who are not familiar with how science works or what exactly it has discovered. But society may less appreciate the advantage of having everyone acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that are central to practice of successful science: scientific habits of mind. These habits include a critical attitude toward established claims and a strong desire for logic and evidence. As famous astronomer Carl Sagan put it, science is our best detector . Individuals and societies clearly need a means to logically test the constant clever attempts to operate our purchasing and political decisions. They also need to challenge what is unreasonable, including the intolerance that led to so many regional and global conflicts. So how does this relate of science education? Might it be possible to encourage, across the world, scientific habits of mind, so as to create more rational societies everywhere? In principle, a strong expansion of science education could provide the world with _ , but only if scientists, educators, and policy-makers redefine the goals of science education, beginning with college-level teaching. Rather than only conveying what science has discovered about the natural world,... In Bruce Alberts' opinion, which is the most important in science education? A) Offering all students enough practice to drill their mind. B) Equipping all students with a thinking model of a scientist. C) Telling students what science has discovered about the natural world. D) Advising all students to challenge all established scientific achievements.
(A).
B