Which is safer --- staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working at the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low.However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home. The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby.It is this that makes chemical accidents so newsworthy.Fortunately, they are extremely rare.The most famous ones happened at Texas City (1947), Flixborough (1974), Seveso (1976), Pemex (1984) and Bhopal (1984). Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small.No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough.The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed.The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552.The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal. Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger.Thus the Texas City was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a great quantity.The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production  going during essential repairs.The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep.When the poisonous gas drifted over the town , local leaders were incapable of taking effective action.The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb.The fire set off a chain reaction of exploding storage tanks.Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode.Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died. Chemical accidents are usually important enough to be reported as news because  _  . A) they are very rare B) they often cause loss of life C) they always occur in big cities D) they arouse the interest of all the readers
B

Maggiano is an award-winning teacher in the Social Studies Department at West Springfield High School in Virginia.He has taught in public and private schools for 25 years.In a piece on his blog called "The Classroom Post," he calls for more males to enter the profession . Men Teach, a non-profit organization that encourages men to enter teaching, reports that in 2008, 18.8% of all elementary and middle school teachers were men.At the high school level during the same year, men comprised  44% of the work force. Why are there so few men in teaching? Men Teach says low pay and lack of prestige , as well as a perception in our culture that teaching is for women.As a result, there is no organized effort across the country to attract men into the teaching profession. A study in 2008 by the National Education Association showed that the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low.Males comprised 24.5 percent of public schoolteachers.States with high percentages: Kansas (33.6 percent), Oregon (31.6 percent), Alaska (30.9 percent) and Indiana (30.5percent).States with the lowest percentage : Arkansas (16.2 percent), Virginia (17.4 percent), Mississippi (17.5 percent), Louisiana (18 percent), South Carolina (18.5 percent) and Georgia (19.7 percent). There is no definitive  research that male students--or female students, for that matter-- learn better from a particular sex. But as Maggiano put it, "Kids today, both boys and girls, must have the same opportunity to learn from outstanding, devoted men that I did.However, I have heard little discussion about this problem coming from our national leaders. According to the text , we can infer that  _  . A) the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low in 2008 B) it is not certain that students will learn better from male teachers C) male teachers get a higher pay D) organized efforts have been made to call on men into the teaching profession
B

(CNN) -- In the last week, the Apple iWatch has made the jump from unlikely rumor to a real product that's probably in development, thanks to reports showing up in various publications. The clues are planting the seeds of an Apple watch in consumers' minds. The general public has not been crying out for a better watch. And Apple prides itself on knowing what the people want before they do, and an Apple watch would be much more than just a fancy timepiece. It's not about the watch form factor, but creating a wearable mobile device that takes advantage of advances in mobile computing technology such as cheap sensors, better battery life and improved voice recognition. If executed correctly, an Apple watch could bring about a profitable industry of products to go with it, like it did with the iOS App Store and mobile applications. "It's unlimited, the number of wearable things you can put into," said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, who imagines small companies making inexpensive products like belts with sensors that send warnings to the watch when you've eaten too much. Apple is not entering virgin territory. There are already a handful of fancy smart watches available, but most act as accessories , connecting to the more powerful Android and iOS smartphones and tablets over Bluetooth. For example, the new Pebble smart watch passes on alerts from a smartphone, so when you receive a text, e-mail, or Facebook notification it is pushed to the watch, which vibrates . Wearable technology is also booming, thanks to cheap sensors that can be used to track things like movement and heart rates. The number of wearable fitness products has been growing at a fast pace, but an Apple offering would shake up the industry completely. "We're finally getting some players involved, and Apple is the real one that can add some value to some of this wearable technology," said Munster. Apple isn't alone in seeing the potential for this type of technology. Google is working on its own wearable platform, Google Glasses. The... It's most likely that after the iWatch comes onto the market,   _  . A) a great many tablet computers will be off the shelf B) many relevant businesses will burst on the scene C) belts with sensors will made inexpensive D) a traditional wristwatch will be unnecessary

B