Two trains packed with “hundreds” of rush hour commuters (通勤者) collided head-on near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria just before 6.50 am on Tuesday morning. Police have confirmed nine fatalities and some 150 injured, of which at least 15 people suffering life threatening injuries, and 40 severely injured. One of the trains derailed(出轨) in the crash and several wagons overturned after the collision, which took place around 37miles south of Munich.
The accident took place on a single-track rail, and state-owned operators Deutsche Bahn are now investigating whether the cause of the incident was a signal failure.
German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrint said the trains were on a curve and it appears that neither had time to brake before they hit head-on. Dobrint told reporters in nearby Bad Aibling that speeds of up to 60 mph were possible on the stretch and since “the site is on a curve, we have to assume that the train drivers had no visual contact and hit each other without braking.”
He says the stretch was fitted with a safety system designed to automatically stop trains to prevent such a crash and it’s not clear why it didn’t function. He says black boxes recovered from the trains should provide more answers once analyzed.
Federal police spokesman Stefan Brandl said that the crash took place “in an inaccessible region” which meant to take emergency services until after midday to evacuate all survivors. Brandl said the stretch of line on which the two trains crashed is squeezed between the Mangfall river on one side and a forest on the other. Rescue helicopters had to carry people on a rope across the Mangfall river to ambulances waiting on the other side.
The rail line is used by commuters going to Munich for work and is usually a large number of schoolchildren, but as German schools are currently on a winter break, there was a limited number of children on board.
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1.How many passengers were injured according to the police?
A 159.
B About 150.
C 15.
D About 55.
解析：选B。细节理解题。根据文章第一段…nine fatalities and some 150 injured, of which at least 15 people suffering life threatening injuries, and 40 severely injured可知，事故造成9人死亡，大约150人受伤。其中至少15人重伤，有生命危险，另有40人伤势严重。这55人都在150名伤者的范围之内，故选B。
2.What was it that made the train drivers not able to brake before hitting each other head-on?
A The trains ran so fast that the drivers had no time to brake.
B The stretch of rail was a curve and neither driver saw each other.
C It was rush hour and both trains were packed with passengers.
D One side of the rail was a river and the other side was a forest.
解析：选B。细节理解题。 根据文章第三段...the site is on a curve, we have to assume that the train drivers had no visual contact and hit each other without braking.可知，因为事故现场的路轨有弯曲，火车司机看不到对方，因此与对方相撞之前是来不及刹车的,故选B。
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A The emergency services had difficulty carrying out the rescue work.
B It was unfortunate that some children were injured in the accident.
C The railway would be rebuilt after the crash.
D People would know what caused the accident from the recovered boxes.
解析：选A。推理判断题。根据文章第五段…said that the crash took place “in an inaccessible region”可知，事故地点是（救援人员）一个难以抵达的地方，由此判断，救援工作的开展将很困难,故选A。
4.What can be the best title of the passage?
A A Curved Stretch of Rail Caused Trains’ Crash.
B Signal Failure Caused German Train Accident.
C Emergent Rescue of German Passenger Trains.
D Two Passenger Trains Hit Head-on in Germany.
解析：选D。文章标题题。通读全文可知，本文报道了德国两列通勤火车相撞并造成伤亡的事件，故选D。
