Still, I could not shake off the ice-cold impression that she put in my heart. True, her jokes sometimes sent me into fits of laughter, yet at other times these jokes simply fell flat the moment she told them. My lovely class, however, was already ready to laugh at the right time of her amusing stories. After all, we would not want to run the risk of provoking(激怒) her.

　　　Unluckily, life was not to remain boring. One day we received news that Miss Vicki was to leave Singapore for the Philippines where she would take part in a voluntary teaching program for the poor. We did not know what to say actually. All of us cried at the airport.

　　　4．During the first year in school, the author thought Miss Vicki was .

　　　A．proud but patient B．beautiful but strict

　　　C．scholarly but serious D．humorous but single-minded

　　　5．What does the underlined phrase "lick her boots" in Paragraph 3 mean?

　　　A．Win her favor. B．Embarrass her.

　　　C．Argue with her. D．Follow her closely.

　　　6．What can we learn from Paragraph 4 ?

　　　A．Miss Vicki was a good joke teller.

　　　B．Miss Vicki's jokes were always boring.

　　　C．Students liked Miss Vicki's class very much.

　　　D．Students pretended to laugh to please Miss Vicki.

　　　7．What can we infer about Miss Vicki from the last paragraph?

　　　A．She was fired by the school.

　　　B．She was not accepted by the students.

　　　C．She was unwilling to leave her students.

　　　D．She had a strong sense of social responsibility.

　　　A recent study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore(NUS)has found a clear link between the color of a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility (能见度)of yellow makes it easier for drivers to avoid getting into accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.

　　　The study was led by Prof Ho. To test whether there was a causal relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analysed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6.1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.

　　　The researchers also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio(比例) of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76.6 fewer accidents would occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year. Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days, switching the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual savings of $2 million.

　　　"We are eager to continue to validate(证实) the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For instance, we hope to compare the accident rates of yellow school buses against other colors to find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we are also interested to look at private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of different colors," explained Prof Ho.

　　　8．Why do yellow taxis result in fewer accidents?

　　　A．Because yellow can be seen more easily.

　　　B．Because yellow signals a warning of danger.

　　　C．Because drivers tend to be more careful in yellow taxis.

　　　D．Because people act more quickly in yellow surroundings.

　　　9．What's Prof Ho's study based on?

　　　A．Physical risks taxi passengers experience.

　　　B．The economic effect of changing taxi color.

　　　C．Data from Singapore's largest taxi company.

　　　D．Personal reports from taxi drivers worldwide.

　　　10．What do Prof Ho's words in the last paragraph suggest?

　　　A．School buses should be painted yellow.

　　　B．Their findings are worth popularizing.

　　　C．Yellow should be widely used in public transport.

　　　D．Their study will be furthered.

　　　11．What can be the best title for the text?

　　　A．Caution: yellow taxis ahead

　　　B．Safer to ride in yellow taxis

C．Why are yellow taxis preferred?