❶Why are school buses always yellow

By McCusker/姜仲华（编）

◆语篇导读

谈起校车，你可能马上就会想到那奔驰在城乡公路上的黄色车身，以及黄底黑体的醒目“SCHOOL BUS”字样。或许你乘坐过校车，而且不知不觉受惠于此。可是你知道人们为什么要选择黄颜色的校车吗？

Back in April 1939，Columbia University Teachers College professor Frank Cyrtook a tour of ten states.He found that students'transportationwas in a sorry state—many students had no dependable way to get to school and some of them often took the unsafe buses in the over 100，000 school areas.One of the huge differences in school transportation that he saw was bus color.

Seeing a need to fix this system，Cyr organized a meeting—one that would change the future of school buses forever.School leaders and transportation specialists（专家）came together to set much-needed standards for buses，including color， height， width and safety rules that hadn't been set before or thatwere different by state.

There were many different bus colors in the United States before this meeting，several areas even planned to have red，white，and blue buses as a way of encouraging students to love their country.Cyr presented his new plans to education leaders，reporting“50 colors from lemon yellow to deep orange-red”.The matter was solved quickly.Yellow was chosen for it could be seen clearly and it made clear the big，black writing that would beon the side of each busto stand for its school area.And they are important parts for buses that travel during early morning and late afternoon hours.Color has always been important to our daily life—check out the reason，our traffic lights are red，yellow，and green.Thirty-five states made the changes in time，and every statewas on boardby 1974.

Today Frank Cyr is known as the“father of the yellow school bus”.His“gift”has surely affected your life if you ever took a school bus or saw that familiar（熟悉的）yellow（bus）pulling up to your stop on a dusky morning.

◆语块收藏

take a tour of ten states参观了十个州

be in a sorry state处于令人遗憾的/过意不去的状况

school leaders and transportation specialists学校领导和运输专家们

be different by state因州而异

on the side of each bus在每辆公交车的一侧

check out the reason查核原因

be on board支持；在车上（船上）

◆典句赏析

1.Many students had no dependable way to get to school and some of them often took the unsafe buses in the over 100，000 school areas.在十万多个校区里，许多学生没有可靠的方式去上学，有些学生经常乘坐不安全的汽车上学。

动词加后缀-able变成形容词，意为“可……的”；形容词加前缀un-，词性不变，但与原单词意思相反。

2.Seeing a need to fix this system，Cyr organized a meeting—one that would change the future of school buses forever.看到需要构建这样一个系统，西尔筹办了一个会议——一个将会永远改变校车未来的会议。

Seeing...短语作原因状语，相当于一个状语从句，其逻辑主语要和句子主语保持一致；need是名词，a/one's need to do sth.意为“（某人）需要做某事”；本句中的one是代词，作meeting的同位语，它被that引导的定语从句修饰。

3.His“gift”has surely affected your life if you ever took a school bus or saw that familiar（熟悉的）yellow（bus）pulling up to your stop on a dusky morning.如果你曾经坐过校车，或者在一个昏暗的早晨看到过那熟悉的黄色（车辆）在你的车站停下，那么他的“礼物”肯定已经影响过你的生活。

pull up是固定词组，意为“（使汽车）停车”，即（cause to）come to a stop；介词短语on a dusky morning，意为“在一个昏暗的早晨”。

◆理解自测

根据短文内容，从A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出正确的答案。

1.Frank Cyr found about students'transportation _______.

A.in a good state

B.in a bad state

C.in a safe state

D.in a controlled state

2.Cyr thought _______was one of the biggest differences in school transportation.

A.bus safety

B.bus size

C.bus color

D.bus standard

3.Why did they choose yellow for school buses？

A.Because it was nice to look at.

B.Because it was chosen by officials and specialists.

C.Because Cyr liked yellow a lot.

D.Because it could make school buses seen more clearly.

◆词句微练

根据所给汉语句子，完成下列英语句子。每空一词。

1.这些胡萝卜能吃的吃，不能吃的稍后扔到垃圾桶里去。

Eat the _______carrots，and the _______that are _______will be thrown into the dustbin in a minute.

2.发现村里需要建一所学校，他就筹集了8万元。

3.一个寒冷的夜晚，我们的车还没来得及进站，那场地震就发生了。

4.他们现在在车上么？

Are they ______________now？