In the last paragraph, the term "safe parking" means ______
A. not parking under street lights
B. not parking in front of a theatre or cinema
C. avoiding traps set by a possible car thief
D. parking where a lot of people pass by
The best way for a driver to avoid car theft is ______
A. leaving documents showing one's home address in the car
B. locking one's car in a parking lot at any time
C. not leaving the car unattended for longer than necessary
D. not leaving a sunroof or window partially open
With nearly a third of the country already covered by water and half of its land mass below sea level and constantly under threat from rising waters, the authorities believe that floating communities may well be the future.
Six prototype wooden and aluminum floating houses are already attached to something off Amsterdam, and at least a further 100 are planned on the same estate, called Ijburg
"Everybody asks why didn't we do this kind of thing before," said Gijsbert Van der Woerdt, director of the firm responsible for promoting the concept. "After Bangladesh we're the most densely populated country in the world. Building space is scarce and government studies show that we'll need to double the space available to us in the coming years to meet all our needs."
Before being placed on the water and moved into position by tugboats (拖船), the houses are built on land atop concrete flat-bottomed boats, which encase giant lumps of polystyrene (聚苯乙烯) reinforced with steel. The flat-bottomed boats are said to be unsinkable and are anchored by underwater cables. The floating roads apply the same technology.
The concept is proving popular with the Dutch. "The waiting list for such homes, which will cost between euros 200,000-500,000 to buy, runs to 5,000 names," claims Van der Woerdt.
With much of the country given over to market gardening and the intensive cultivation of flowers, planners have also come up with designs for floating greenhouses designed so that the water beneath them irrigates the plants and controls the temperature inside.
A pilot project, covering 50 hectares of flooded land near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, is planned for 2005.
The opportunities for innovative developers look promising. "We have 10 projects in the pipeline- floating villages and cities complete with offices, shops and restaurants," Van der Woerdt said.
The Netherlands plans to start building floating communities on water because ______
A. most parts of the country are covered by water
B. the country is constantly threatened by floods
C. it will promote the cultivation of flowers
D. people think it better to live on water
The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test, I must have done all right because after half an hour's wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The examiner sat at a desk. You were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.
I can remember the questions now: "Why did you leave your last job?" "Why did you leave your job before that?" "And the one before that?" I can't recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. "You have failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position."
Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that work was easy. Actually, such jobs--being a postman is another one I still desire--demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.
The writer applied for the job because ______
A. he could no longer afford to live without one
B. he wanted to work in the centre of London
C. he had received suitable training
D. he was not interested in any other available job