12 To swim the English Channel takes at least nine hours. It’s hard work and it makes you short of breath. To fly over the channel takes only twenty minutes as long as you’re not held up at the airport, but it’s an expensive way to travel. You can travel by hovercraft(气垫船) if you don’t mind the noise and that takes forty minutes. Otherwise, you can go by boat, if you remember sea-sickness pills. All these means of transport (运输) have their problems, and the weary (厌烦的) traveler often dreams of being able to drive to France in his own car. “Not possible, you say. Well, wait a minute people are once again considering the idea of a Channel tunnel or bridge.” This time , the great London Council(议会) is looking into the possibility of building a channel link straight to London. A bridge would cost far more a tunnel, but you would be able to go by rail or by car on a bridge, whereas (然而) a tunnel would provide a rail link only.
Why is this idea being discussed again? Is Britain realizing the need for links with Europe as a result of joining EEC(欧共体)? Well, perhaps. The main reason , though, is that a tunnel or bridge would reach the twenty square kilometers of London’s discussed stimulate(刺激) trade and revitalise (使…..具有活力) the port, and would ,make London a main trading center in Europe. With a link over the channel, you could buy your fish and chips in England and be able to eat them in France while they are still warm!
The main idea of the passage is ______
A how to develop the trade of London
B crossing the Channel is difficult
C how to get to Europe more conveniently
D what to do in the development of traveling
13 Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes(撞毁). Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent strips, called cheverons (人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.
Now the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint cheverons and other patterns of strips on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.
Excessive speed plays a major role in as much a one fifth of all fatal(致命) traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will carry its tests in areas where speed-related hazards(危险) are the greatest –curves(弯), exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars(水平障碍物)painted across roads can initially(最初) cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
Cheverons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are, but also make a lane(车道) appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.
The passage mainly discusses ________.
A a new way of highway speed control
B a new pattern for painting highways
C a new way to training drivers
D a new type of optical illusion
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