英语四级标准听力强化训练(MP3+文本) 第45期:短文(24)

【听力答案】

7. A 8. D 9. C 10. D

【听力原文】

Passage 3

After the violent earthquake that shook Los Angeles in 1994, earthquake scientists had good news to report: the damage and death toll could have been much worse.（7）More than 60 people died in this earthquake.（洛杉现地震死亡人数为60 多人。）By comparison, an earthquake of similar intensity that shook America in 1988 claimed 25,000 victims.（8）Injuries and deaths were relatively less in Los Angeles because the quake occurred at 4:31 am on a holiday，when traffic was light on the city's highway. In addition, changes made to the construction methods in Los Angeles during the last 20 years have strengthened the, city's buildings and highways, making them more resistant to quakes.（死亡人数降低原因有三：地震发生的时间；公路上交通并不拥挤；过去二十年洛杉矶在抗震房屋设计上的进步。）

Despite the good news, engineers today are determined to come up with a new design that would offer even greater security to buildings during earthquakes. In the past, people used steel and rubber, materials that bend without breaking, to make buildings resistant to earthquakes.（9）The new design would install computers in the building and the computers would help the building adjust itself during the earthquakes.（新设计将会在建筑中加入计算机设备，用来在发生地震时调整房屋结构，这是抗震房屋设计的一 \大进步。）（10）Such buildings would be called smart buildings and could be very expensive to build. However, they would save many lives and would be less likely to be damaged during earthquakes.（智能房屋的特点：价格昂贵，但能更好地抵抗地震灾害，挽救生命，所以并非无用。）

【核心词汇】

adjust v.调整

resistant a.抵抗的

intensity n.强度