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  3. In some ways, the United States has made spectacular progress. Fires no longer destroy 18 000 buildings as they did in the Great

In some ways, the United States has made spectacular progress. Fires no longer destroy 18 000 buildings as they did in the Great

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问题     In some ways, the United States has made spectacular progress. Fires no longer destroy 18 000 buildings as they did in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2 400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky, in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire.
    But even with such successes, the United States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference of a country that just will not take fires seriously enough.
    American fire departments are some of the world’s fastest and best equipped. They have to be. The United States has twice Japan’s population, and 40 times as many fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. American fire-safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in disproportionately large numbers in fires but who, contrary to popular myth, start very few of them.
    Experts say the fatal error is an attitude that fires are not really anyone’s fault. That is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses; of the estimated 48 fires in world history that burned more than 10 000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Penalties for fire by negligence can be as high as life imprisonment.
    In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But the lessons are aimed at too limited an audience? just 9 percent of all fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches.
    The United States continues to rely more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building codes now require home sprinklers (自动灭火装置). New heaters and irons shut themselves off if they are tipped.
In what aspects should the United States learn from Japan?
选项 A、Architecture and building material.
B、Education and technology.
C、Laws and attitude.
D、All of the above.
答案C
解析 本题问在哪些方面美国人应该向日本人学习。文章第三、四段两段将美国和日本的情况和防火手段进行了对比，指出美国火灾发生率高，而日本相对较低。在作者看来，造成这一差别的原因是对待火灾的态度和手段，即美国人过多地依赖技术手段，而日本人辅之以法律和社会手段。所以，在最后一段第一句，作者指责说，美国人还在过多地依靠技术手段对付火灾，而不是利用法律和社会压力降低火灾发生率。换言之，在作者看来，美国人应该向日本人学习，转变一下自己的态度和方式。因此，本题的正确答案应是C“在法律和态度方面”。
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