Last Friday morning Tokaimura，Japan，44 kilometers northeast of Tokyo，was a bizarre ghost town．Staff reportedly saw a blue FLASH at the time of the accident，a sign of a reaction going critical．Radiation readings near the plant climbed to up to 20，000 times the normal level immediately after the accident．It is an accident of unprecedented seriousness．The situation facing the industry is more serious than ever before．
The stupidity that led to the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1996 Chernobyl disaster has stunned experts in Japan．“What we are talking about here is stupidity equal to that made by elementary school children．”，said a professor of radiation physics at Tokyo Institute of Technology．
Among the mistakes revealed by officials since the September 30th accident at the processing plant in Tokaimura：
Three workers used steel bottles to pour uranium solution into settling tanks because they were in a hurry．It should have been poured through a reserve tower to be mixed with nitrogen gas and slowly filtered．
The trio，two of whom had no previous experience in the operation，used 16 kilograms of uranium，enough for a self-sustaining“critical” reaction，when the limit was 2．4 kilograms．
The company running the plant revised its manual in October 1997 without legal approval to allow steel containers to be used in the dangerous operation．The company lacks both fundamental knowledge of nuclear matters and safety measures，and it is mind-boggling to think how the government allowed this to happen．This accident is not about technical failure，but about a sheer lack of safety culture and poor morale at the plant．The Japanese accident occurred due to a lack of absolutely fundamental safety measures and of morale among workers at the plant． In the future，it will be harder and harder for the importance of the government and the nuclear industry to persuade the public of the importance of nuclear safety despite the fact that Japan cannot survive without nuclear energy．
1．The best title of this passage is ．
A）Stupidity Causes Disastrous Leakage
B）Medical Effect of Radiation
C）Japanese Outraged at Nuclear Spill
D）The Accident about Technical Failure
2．Which of the following was a stupid operation according to the passage？
A）Two of the workers had no experience in the operation．
B）The workers used steel containers in transferring the solution into the tank．
C）The workers in such a high-risk profession have been careless．
D）Technicians saw a blue FLASH at the time of the accident．
3．What does“the trio”mean？
A）the three workers B）the company
C）the mistakes D）the worst nuclear accident
4．The limit of uranium for a self-sustaining“critical”reaction was ．
A）24 kilograms B）16 kilograms
C）1．6 kilograms D）2．4 kilograms
5．Why will it be harder for the government and the nuclear industry to persuade the public of the importance of nuclear safety？Because ．
A）scientists feel embarrassed to tell people
B）Japan's nuclear development has become the target of jokes among other industrialized nations
C）this accident was a technical failure
D）it is Japan's worst nuclear accident resulting from stupidity
参考答案： ABADD
