阅读理解
A 69yearold grandmother with no teeth of her own has eventually won a long legal battle to stop
a Scottish regional council(政务委员会) adding fluoride(氟化物)chemical to the public water supply.
In a case which has already cost the taxpayer ￡1,000,000, the judge ruled that it was beyond the
powers of the local authority to add the chemical to the water in order to reduce tooth decay.
At her home last night Mrs Catherine McColl said, “I did what I thought was right and I would do
it again, too.”She claimed that adding fluoride to public drinking water made it into some kind of dirty
soup.“Where would it stop？”she asked.“They might come up with the idea of putting drugs into the
water to keep the unemployed quiet.”It was a horrible poison, she said, that could have caused all kinds
of diseases, including cancer.
The judge, however, concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that the inclusion of fluoride
in the water supply would have had a negative effect on public health. Although the chemical might serve
as an efficient and convenient means of achieving a beneficial effect on the dental health of consumers
generally, he said, and its use was greatly favoured by the dental profession, he could also understand
why some members of the public, Mrs McColl in particular, might be passionately opposed to the
action of the Water Authority in assuming the right to improve public wellbeing without consulting the
public in the first case. The Authority's legal duty to provide“wholesome” water for public consumption
which was both safe and pleasant to drink, did not, he said, extend to their right to safeguard public
health by chemical means.
1. Mrs McColl felt so strongly about the fluoride issue that she eventually ________.
A. took the local council to court
B. had a physical fight with the judge
C. urged the authority to apologize
D. spent much money removing the chemical
2. According to what the judge said in the passage, adding fluoride to the water________.
A. was not proved to be harmful
B. was the duty of the local authority
C. was strongly opposed by dentists
D. was surely beneficial to the public
3. The word“wholesome”in the last paragraph can be best replaced by the word“________”.
A. clear
B. poisonless
C. healthy
D. recycled
4. From the passage we learn that people like Mrs McColl are more concerned about________.
A. the improvement of their personal health
B. the problem of unemployment in their community
C. the chemicals to be used for the improvement of water quality
D. their right to be informed of the authorities' decisions
