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Passage Three
文章三
Living at the foot of one of the world's most active volcanoes might not appeal to you at all.
在世界最活躍的火山腳下生活對你來說可能沒有多大的吸引力。
But believe it or not, the area surrounding Mount Etna in Italy is packed with people.
但是，不管你信不信，在意大利的埃特納火山周圍卻擠滿了人。
In fact, it is the most densely-populated region on the whole island of Sicily.
其實，這里是整個西西里島人口最密集的區域。
The reason is that rich volcanic soil makes the land fantastic for farming.
原因不是別的，正是因為火山灰讓土壤變得肥沃，利于種植。
By growing and selling a variety of crops, local people earn a good living.
通過販售在這里種植的糧食，當地人的生活很是富足。
For them, the economic benefit they reap surpasses the risk of dying or losing property in one of the volcano's frequent eruptions.
對他們來說，在這個火山頻發的地帶，經濟上的豐收遠遠大于失去生命與財產的風險。
People everywhere make decisions about risky situations this way, that is, by comparing the risks and the benefits.
幾乎所有人都是如此權衡兩者的利弊之后才做出此決定的。
According to the experts, the size of the risk depends on both its probability and seriousness.
據專家所說，風險的大小是由火山爆發的可能性及破壞性決定的。
Let's take Mount Etna for example.
咱們就以埃特納火山為例吧。
It does erupt frequently.
時不時會噴發一次。
But those eruptions are usually minor.
而且大多數的噴發程度較為弱小。
So the overall risk for people living nearby is relatively small.
因此，對周圍的居民來說影響不大。
But suppose Mount Etna erupted every day or imagine that each eruption there killed thousands of people.
但是假設埃特納火山每天噴發一次或者每次噴發都會造成上千萬人死亡。
If that were the case, the risk would be much larger.
如果是這種情況的話，那么風險也會成倍增長。
Indeed, the risk would be too large for many people to live with.
確實，如此高的風險也就意味著人們無法再繼續生存。
And they would have to move away.
他們必須搬離此地。
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
問題23到25是根據上面文章所提出的問題
Question 23. How do people make decisions about risky situations?
問題23 在這種有風險的情況下，人們是如何選擇的？
Question 24. What do we know about Mount Etna from the passage?
問題24 通過文章我們可以了解到埃特納火山的什么信息？
Question 25. What will people living near Mount Etna do in the face of its eruptions?
問題25 在火山爆發時，人們通常會怎么做？
