2017雅思阅读真题part4.pdfVIP

READING You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 , which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Flawed Beauty:the problem with toughened glass On 2nd August 1999, a particularly hot day in the town of Cirencester in the UK, a large pane of toughened glass in the roof of a shopping center at Bishops Walk shattered without warning and fell from its frame. Whenfragments were analyzed by experts at the giant glass manufacturer Pilkington, which had madethe pane, they found that minute crystals of nickel sulphide trapped inside the glass had almost certainly caused the failure. ‘The glass industry is aware of the issue, says Brian Waldron, chairman of the standards committee at the Glass and Glazing Federation, a British trade association, and standards development officer at Pilkington. But he insists that cases are few and far between. ‘Its a very rare phenomenon, he says. Others disagree. ‘On average I see about one or two buildings a month suffering from nickel sulphide related failures, says Barrie Josie, a consultant engineer involved in the Bishops Walk investigation. Other experts tell of similar experiences. Tony Wilmott of London-based consulting engineers Sandberg, and Simon Armstrong at CladTech Associates in Hampshire both say they know of hundreds of cases. ‘What you hear is only the tip of the iceberg, says Trevor Ford, a glass expert at Resolve Engineering in Brisbane, Queensland. He believes the reason is simple: ‘No-one wants bad press. Toughened glass is foun