Pushbike Danger
Low speed bicycle crashes can badly injure——or even kill——children if they fall onto the ends of the handlebars(车把).So a team of engineers is redesigning it to make it safer
Kristy Arbogast，a bioengineer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania， began the project with her colleagues.The cases they reviewed about serious abdominal(腹部的) injuries in children in the past 30 years showed that more than a third were caused by bicycle accidents.”The task was to identify how the injuries occurred and come up with seine countermeasures，”she says
By interviewing the children and their parents，Arbogast and her team were able to reconstruct many of the accidents and identified a common cause for serious injuries They discovered that most cases occur when children hit an obstacle at slow speed，causing them to topple f摇摆)over.To maintain their balance the children turn the handlebars through 90 degrees—but their momentum(冲力)forces them into the end of the handlebars.The bike then falls over and the other end of the handlebars hits the ground，pushing it in to their abdomen(腹部).
The solution the group came up with is a handgrip (握柄)fitted with a spring and damping(减速)system. The spring absorbs up to 50 per cent of the forces transmitted(传递)through the handlebars in all impact.The group hopes to commercialize the device，which should add only a few dollars to t}le cost of a bike.“But our task has been one of education because up until now.bicycle manufacturers were unaware of the problem，”says Arbogast.
31 The engineers are trying to improve the handlebars because
A they are not beautiful
B they may kill children
C they are likely to crash.
D they affect the speed of the bike
32 How many abdominal injuries in children were caused by bicycle accidents?
A Thirty.
B Ninety.
C 50 percent.
D More than a third.
33 The world “countermeasures” in paragraph 2 means
A “problems”
B “approaches”
C “solutions”.
D “actions”
34 Paragraph 3 mainly discusses
A why the children and their parents were interviewed
B how serious abdominal injuries occur.
C when the children turn the handlebars
D what stops bicycle accidents
35 The advantage of the new handgrip is that
A it can be made cheaply.
B it reduces the impact in bicycle accidents.
C it helps to slow down the speed of the bicycle.
D it sells well at bicycle shops.
参考答案
3l B 文章在开始处就讲，儿童骑慢车跌倒时，如果撞在车把两端，会受重伤甚至丧命。因此，一些工程师才会重新设计这种欠合理的车把，以使其更安全。前面是因，后面是果。
32 D该题是细节题，问的是在自行车事故中有多少例是导致孩子腹部受伤的?第二段讲Kristy.Arbogast开始做这个项目是在一项研究有了结果之后，这项研究的结果表明在过去的30年里，超过三分之一的儿童腹部受重伤的情况起因于自行车事故。故D为答案。
33 c 该题是词汇理解题。问“countermeasures”在文中是什么意思。根据上下文推断，应该是“解决方案”，故c为答案。
34 B 第三段的第一个句子是这一段的主题句，它指出了这一段的中心：受重伤的机理。故B为答案。
35 B 该题问的是新设计的车把的优点是什么。文章第四段第二个句子讲到，“在撞击过程中，握柄上的弹簧会吸收掉百分之五十沿车把传递的冲撞力”，据此，答案应该选B。