首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The (Non) Risks of Mobile Phones Do mobile phones cause explosions at petrol stations? That question has just been exhaustiv
The (Non) Risks of Mobile Phones Do mobile phones cause explosions at petrol stations? That question has just been exhaustiv
admin
2013-07-11
25
问题
The (Non) Risks of Mobile Phones
Do mobile phones cause explosions at petrol stations? That question has just been exhaustively answered by Adam Burgess, a researcher at the University of Kent, in England. Oddly, however, Dr.Burgess is not a physicist, but a sociologist. For the concern rests not on scientific evidence of any danger, but is instead the result of sociological factors: it is an urban myth, supported and propagated by official sources, but no less a myth for that. Dr. Burgess presented his findings this week at the annual conference of the British Sociological Association.
Mobile phones started to become widespread in the late 1980s, when the oil industry was in the middle of a concerted safety drive, Dr. Burgess notes. This was, in large part, a response to the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, when 167 people died in an explosion on an Oil platform off the Scottish coast. The safety drive did not apply merely to offshore operations, employees at some British oil-company offices are now required to use handrails while walking up and down stairs, for example. So nobody questioned the precautionary ban on the use of mobile phones at petrol stations. The worry was that an electrical spark might ignite explosive fumes.
By the late 1990s, however, phone makers having conducted their own research realised that there was no danger of phones causing explosions since they could not generate the required sparks. But it was too late. The myth had taken hold.
One problem, says Dr. Burgess, is that the number of petrol-station fires increased in the late 1990s, just as mobile phones were proliferating. Richard Coates, BP’s fire-safety adviser, investigated many of the 243 such fires that occurred around the world between 1993 and 2004. He concluded that most were indeed caused by sparks igniting petrol vapour, but the sparks themselves were the result of static electricity, not electrical equipment. Most drivers will have experienced a mild electric shock when climbing out of their vehicles. It is caused by friction between driver and seat, with the result that both end up electrically charged. When the driver touches the metal frame of the vehicle, the result is sometimes a spark.
A further complication was the rise of the internet, where hoax memos, many claiming to originate from oil companies, warned of the danger of using mobile phones in petrol stations. Such memos generally explain static fires quite accurately, but mistakenly attribute them to mobile phones. Official denials, says Dr. Burgess, simply inflame the suspicions of conspiracy theorists.
Despite the lack of evidence that mobile phones can cause explosions, bans remain in place around the world, though the rules vary widely. For Dr. Burgess, such concerns are part of a broader pattern of unease about mobile phones. There is a curious discrepancy, he notes, between the way that such phones have become indispensable, and the fact that they are also vaguely considered to be dangerous. The safety of mobile phones would appear to be not so much the province of the hard science of physics, as of the soft science of sociology.
According to the experts, explosions at petrol stations______.
选项
A、were in fact not caused by sparks
B、were unrelated to electrical equipment
C、resulted from vehicle drivers’ carelessness
D、should be the focus of sociology instead of physics
答案
B
解析
本题考查具体细节。第四段第三句提到专家的结论是,大部分火灾确实是由火花引起,但是火花本身是由静电而不是电气设备引起。由此可知[B]是正确项,同时也排除了[A]。该段提到司机只是为了解释静电的产生过程。排除[C]。[D]将末段末句中的“移动电话的安全问题”偷换成“加油站的爆炸”,前者才可能是社会学而非物理学关注的对象。排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/1e4O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TheU.S.CentersforDiseaseControlsuggestedroutineHIVtestsfor
______isthehighestmountaininBritain.
Whichofthefollowingworksexpressedthedesireforanescapefromsocietyandareturntonature?
Whatnewseventisreported?
RobertBurnsisrememberedmainlyforhissongswritteninthe______dialectonavarietyofsubjects.
Perhapsit’stheweather,whichsometimessealsLondonwithagrayceilingforweeksonend.OrmaybeitisBritons’penchantfo
"Wordsarenamesorlabelsforthings."Thisviewiscalled______insemanticsense.
TheletterAinTheScarletLetterrepresents______.
Law-and-orderisthelongest-runningandprobablythebest-lovepolitical(1)_____issueinU.S.history.Yetitispainfullya
InLondonsomegenerationsagopeopledidn’tgotothecinema,theywenttothe"pictures".Atripwasagrandevent,areasont
随机试题
WhatdoRussia’sBelgorodprovinceandsomeschoolsinFloridaandConnecticuthaveincommon?Theyareunlikelyrecruitstothe
森林群落的分层现象主要与植物对________的利用有关。
急性盆腔炎热毒壅盛证用方为急性盆腔炎湿毒壅阻证用方为
关于医疗机构制剂的说法,正确的是
下列不属于制约工程进度计划制定因素的是()
国家提出要建设一个针对特定灾害的防灾预警系统,以减少灾害损失。共有三个互斥的建设方案,寿命期均为20年。根据统计资料分析及专家论证,如果不是建造预警系统,预期未来每年灾害经济损失为120亿元;如果建造该防灾预警系统,除需要初始投资外,每年还需要支付系统维护
3D打印技术已是全球最受关注的新兴技术之一,该技术学名为“快速成型技术”。下列关于3D打印技术的说法正确的是()。
168名毕业生在一起拍毕业照,摄影师要求全部人排成7排,后一排依次比前一排多一人,那么最后一排有()人。
联网的各个计算机共享一个公共通信信道,当一台计算机发送消息时,所有其他计算机都能“收听”到此消息。这种网络称为【】网络。
A、Playingcards.B、Preparingsnacks.C、Studyingwithapartner.D、Learninghowtodesignbridges.A选项均以动名词开头表明,本题可能考查话题或动作。对话中男士
最新回复
(
0
)