?Why are school buses always yellow

By McCusker/姜仲華（編）

◆語篇導讀

談起校車，你可能馬上就會想到那奔馳在城鄉公路上的黃色車身，以及黃底黑體的醒目“SCHOOL BUS”字樣。或許你乘坐過校車，而且不知不覺受惠于此。可是你知道人們為什么要選擇黃顏色的校車嗎？

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（專家）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.

◆語塊收藏

take a tour of ten states參觀了十個州

be in a sorry state處于令人遺憾的/過意不去的狀況

school leaders and transportation specialists學校領導和運輸專家們

be different by state因州而異

on the side of each bus在每輛公交車的一側

check out the reason查核原因

be on board支持；在車上（船上）

◆典句賞析

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.在十萬多個校區里，許多學生沒有可靠的方式去上學，有些學生經常乘坐不安全的汽車上學。

動詞加后綴-able變成形容詞，意為“可……的”；形容詞加前綴un-，詞性不變，但與原單詞意思相反。

2.Seeing a need to fix this system，Cyr organized a meeting—one that would change the future of school buses forever.看到需要構建這樣一個系統，西爾籌辦了一個會議——一個將會永遠改變校車未來的會議。

Seeing...短語作原因狀語，相當于一個狀語從句，其邏輯主語要和句子主語保持一致；need是名詞，a/one's need to do sth.意為“（某人）需要做某事”；本句中的one是代詞，作meeting的同位語，它被that引導的定語從句修飾。

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.如果你曾經坐過校車，或者在一個昏暗的早晨看到過那熟悉的黃色（車輛）在你的車站停下，那么他的“禮物”肯定已經影響過你的生活。

pull up是固定詞組，意為“（使汽車）停車”，即（cause to）come to a stop；介詞短語on a dusky morning，意為“在一個昏暗的早晨”。

◆理解自測

根據短文內容，從A、B、C、D四個選項中，選出正確的答案。

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.

◆詞句微練

根據所給漢語句子，完成下列英語句子。每空一詞。

1.這些胡蘿卜能吃的吃，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.發現村里需要建一所學校，他就籌集了8萬元。

3.一個寒冷的夜晚，我們的車還沒來得及進站，那場地震就發生了。

4.他們現在在車上么？

Are they ______________now？