An increase in the number of suicides in South Korea, has led policeman Yoo Byoung-jong to a new job. He patrols(巡邏) Seoul’s bridges to stop desperate people from throwing themselves into the river.

According to South Korea’s health ministry, suicide rates have doubled in a decade and are now the leading cause of death for people in their 20s and 30s.

The country has the fourth-highest suicide rate among the 30 industrialized countries in the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD). It recorded 22.8 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people in 2003．That’s lower than Hungry, Finland and close neighbour Japan. But the number is growing by about 1 percent each year, faster than for all other OECD nations.

In a move to cut suicides by a fifth by 2010, the health ministry is running a television ad campaign. It opens with a lonely man walking on a bridge. A voice over says: “Think five minutes more before you give it all away. Don’t forget you have a loving family.”

Other ministry plans include setting up more hotlines and training more suicide counselors. Authorities are also limiting websites that provide suicide methods and sometimes even sell toxic(有毒的) chemicals.

    Distressed individuals range from students worried about poor grades to people in debt as well as disgraced politicians.

    Experts say the rising toll(死亡人數(shù)) in some way can be blamed on media coverage of recent high-profile suicides. These include top business leaders and celebrities(名人) who apparently lead a number of people to copy their actions.

    “We saved 50 lives this year when people turned to bridges as a place to die after news reports of such deaths by ‘big shots’,” said the 38-year-oldYoo, in December.

    Last July, the government and civil associations urged media to avoid reporting specific methods and locations of suicides. But it is difficult to clearly give reasons for the suicide increase.

1．The passage is mainly about    .

  A．suicide problems in Korea                    B．how to reduce suicides in Korea

  C．desperation                                         D．the relations between life and suicide

2．Suicide rates in South Korea    .

  A．have done great harm to the economical development             

  B．a(chǎn)re going from bad to worse

  C．didn’t draw special attention of the government

  D．a(chǎn)rouse international concerns

3．It doesn’t say but implies that    .

  A．present hotlines are not enough for suicide counsellors

  B．people choose suicide as the way to end their lives because they are short of love

  C．cutting suicides by a fifth by 2010 is easy to carry out

  D．a(chǎn)uthorities manage websites efficiently

4．Lowering the number of reported suicide by celebrities in the media in Korea   .

     A．will be limited     

       B．didn’t affect people’s daily life

     C．might cause fewer people to commit suicide

       D．damage the fame of media

5．Yoo Byoung-jong’s new job to patrol Seoul’s bridge has    .

     A．made him suffer a lot

     B．prevented people from jumping into water

     C．burdened himself

     D．proved a good way to save lives

練習(xí)冊系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

One evening after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Tisich called a family meeting. “We’ve had to make a difficult decision,” Mr. Trsich announced. “You see, your mother has been offered a post as codirector of a television station to Chicago, Unfortunately, the station is not here, After thinking long and hard about it, we’ve  concluded that the right decision is to move to Chicago.”

Marc looked shocked, while his sister Rachel breathlessly started asking when they’d be moving. “It’s surprising. but exciting!” she said. Marc simply said. “We can’t go - I can’t leave all my friends. I’d rather stay here and live with Tommy Lyons!”

The Tisichs hoped that by the time they moved in August, Marc would grow more accustomed to the idea of leaving. However, he showed no signs of accepting the news, refusing to pack his belongings.

When the morning of the move arrived. Marc was nowhere to he found. His parents called Tommy Lyons’s house, but Mrs. Lyons said she hadn’t seen Marc. Mrs. Tisich became increas­ingly concerned, while her husband felt angry with their son for behaving so irresponsibly

What they didn’t know was that Marc had started walking over to Tommy’s house , with a faint idea of hiding Lyons’s attic （閣樓） for a few days. But something happened on the way as Marc walked past all the familiar landscape of the neighborhood: the fence that he and his mother painted, the tree that he and his sister used to climb, the park where he and his father often took evening walks together. How much would these mean without his family, who make them special in the first place? Marc didn’t take the time to answer that question but instead hurried back to his house, wondering if there were any moving cartons （紙板箱） the right size to hold his record collection.

1. The conflict to this story was caused by          .

A. Marc and Rachel’s different tempers

B. a quarrel between Tommy Lyons and Marc

C. Marc’s disagreement with his parents about their move

D. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich’s remark of Marc’s irresponsibility

2. Marc and Rachel’s reactions to the move were similar in the way that both were_______.

A. surprised                                                            B. angry and upset

C. anxious for more details                                       D. worried about packing

3. The reason for Marc’s going home was that           .

A. he did not want to be left behind

B. he realized his family was essential to him

C. he hoped to reach an agreement with his parents

D. he wished to be a more responsible person

4. What would most likely happen next?

A. Marc would bring his records over to the Lyons’s house,

B. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would call the police.

C. Marc would join his family for house moving.

D. Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would start searching for Marc.

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊答案