Placing a human being behind the wheel of an automobile often has the same curious effect as cutting certain fibres in the brain.
The result in either case is more primitive behaviour. Hostile feelings are apt to be expressed in an aggressive way.
The same man who will step aside for a stranger at a doorway will, when behind the wheel, risk an accident trying to beat another motorist through an intersection. The importance of emotional factors in automobile accidents is gaining recognition. Doctors and other scientists have concluded that the highway death toll resembles an epidemic and should be investigated as such.
Dr. Ross A. McFarland, Associate Professor of Industrial Hygiene at the Harvard University School of Public Health, said that accidents “now constitute a greater threat to the safety of large segments of the population than diseases do. ”Accidents are the leading cause of death between the ages of 1 and 35. About one third of all accidental deaths and one seventh of all accidental injuries are caused by motor vehicles.
Based on the present rate of vehicle registration, unless the accident rate is cut in half, one of every 10 persons in the country will be killed or injured in a traffic accident in the next 15 years.
Research to find the underlying causes of accidents and to develop ways to detect drivers who are apt to cause them is being conducted at universities and medical centres. Here are some of their findings so far:A man drives as he lives. If he is often in trouble with collection agencies, the courts, and police, chances are he will have repeated automobile accidents. Accident repeaters usually are egocentric, exhibitionistic, resentful of authority, impulsive, and lacking in social responsibility. As group, they can be classified as borderline psychopathic personalities, according to Dr. McFarland.
The suspicion, however, that accident repeaters could be detected in advance by screening out persons with more hostile impulses is false. A study at the University of Colorado showed that there were just as many overly hostile persons among those who had no accidents as among those with repeated accidents.
Psychologists currently are studying Denver high school pupils to test the validity of this concept. They are making psychological evaluations of the pupils to see whether subsequent driving records will bear out their thesis.
By saying “The same man ...will ...risk an accident ...”(Line 1-2, Para. 3), the author means that（）
A. a gentle man can change into a rude driver
B.it’s difficult for a driver to control himself when behind the wheel of an automobile
C. to drive has been a way for some drivers to express their hostile feelings
D. the emotional factors have been the leading cause of automobile accidents
参考答案：C
解析：
[设题点] 段首复杂句
推理判断题。第三段第一句话描述了同一个人的两种不同的表现。前面一种表现是“为陌生人让路”，是一种谦让的表现，后面一种表现则是为了超车而冒着发生车祸的危险。观察四个选项：[A]中的change into体现不出文中的will... trying to beat所具有的主观意识。[B]说“在驾车的时候，司机很难控制自己的感情”，也与文章所表达的意思相悖；既然是蓄意所为，可见感情是能够控制的。[C]项说“开车成为一种发泄他们敌对感情的方式”表达出了原句的意思，为本题答案。[D]则是过度推断，从本句并不能推断出感情因素是交通事故的主要原因。