必修五MODULE 2  The Human Traffic Signal人体交通标志

At 3,500 metres, La Paz, in Bolivia, is the highest capital in the world. Life is hard at high 1.________(海拔), and the mountains make 2.___________(交流) difficult. Many roads are 3._______ bad condition and accidents are 4._________(频繁的). One road in 5.________(尤其), 6.________ goes north from La Paz, is considered the most dangerous road in the world. On one side the mountains rise 7.________(steep); on the other side there is a sheer drop 8.________ in places is hundreds of metres deep. Although there is not a lot of 9._______(交通), 10._______  _______(平均), one vehicle comes 11.______the road every two weeks. The drop is so great that anyone inside the vehicle is lucky to survive. 12.______ theory, the road can only be used by 13._______(交通)14.______(go) uphill from 8 in the morning and 15._______(come) downhill from 3 in the afternoon.But 16._______ practice, few drivers 17._________(遵守) the rules.
But thanks to one man, the death toll has fallen. Timoteo Apaza is a 18.______(文雅的) 46-year-old man 19._______ lives in a village near the most dangerous part of the road, 20.________(know)21.________( local) as lacurva del Diablo (the Devil's Bend). Timoteo has 22._______ unusual job -- he is a human traffic signal. Every morning he climbs up to the bend 23.______ a large circular board in his hand. The board is red on one side and green on 24._______other.  Timoteo stands on the bend and directs the traffic. When two vehicles 25.________(靠近) from 26._________(相反的) directions they can't see each other, but they can see Timoteo. Timoteo is a volunteer. No one asked him to do the job, and no one pays him for it. Sometimes drivers give him a 27._________(小费), 28._____ _____ he has just enough money to live on. But often they just pass by, 29._____(take) the human traffic signal for granted.
So why does he do it? Before he volunteered to direct the traffic, Timoteo had had lots of jobs.He had been a 30.________(矿工) and a 31.________(士兵). Then one day while he was working 32.________a lorry driver he had a close 33._________(相遇) with death. He was driving a lorry 34._______(装载量) of bananas 35.________he came 36._______the road at a bend and fell three hundred metres down the mountain. Somehow he 37.________(幸存). He was in hospital for months. Then, a few years 38._________, he 39.________(call) out in the night to help pull people out of a bus 40.________41._________(crash) at la curva del diablo. This last 42.________(经历) had a 43._________(深远的)44.________(影响) on Timoteo. He realized that he was lucky to be alive himself, and 45._______(feel) that it was his 46._________(使命) in life 47._______(help) others. And so every morning, week in, week out, from 48._______(黎明) to 49._______(黄昏), Timoteo takes 50._____ his place on the bend and directs the traffic.

(责任编辑：邓勇)

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