2009年高考英语阅读理解和任务型阅读课堂综合练习七一阅读理解阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。ABelieve it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes.Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. But stripes, called chevrons(人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.Now the American Automobile Association Foundation(基金会) for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japans success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.Excessive (too great) speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed-related hazards (danger) are the greatest curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially 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.Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.1. The passage mainly discusses _.A. a new way of highway speed controlB. a new pattern for painting highwaysC. a new way of training driversD. a new type of optical illusion2. On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that _.A. they should avoid speed-related hazardsB. they are driving in the wrong lane C. they should slow down their speedD. they are coming near to the speed limit3. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former _.A. can keep drivers awakeB. can cut road accidents in half C. will look more attractiveD. will have a longer effect on drivers4. The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety plans to _.A. try out the Japanese method in certain areas B. change the road signs across the country C. replace straight, horizontal bars with chevronsD. repeat the Japanese road patterns5. What does the author say about straight, horizontal bars painted across roads?A. They are suitable only on broad roads.B. They are falling out of use in the United States.C. They are ignored in a long period of time.D. They cannot be used successfully to traffic circles.BThe common cold is the worlds most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses(病毒) passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp(奥斯维辛集中营), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most painstaking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as aspirin, but all they do is to relieve the symptoms(症状).6. The writer offered _ examples to support his argument.A. 4 B. 5 C. 6 D. 37. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.B. Colds are not ca