英语四级考试阅读理解考前练习题
Research into peoples reactions to emergencies aims to make sure there are more survivors in future.
Imagine youre stuck in a burning building, trying desperately to escape. After stumbling to the end of a smoke-filled corridor, you have to choose whether to turn left or right. The decision could determine whether you live or die but the way you make it is not as random as you might think, according to Ed Galea, professor of mathematical modelling at the University of Greenwich.
Galea has forged a career out of working out the science and psychology behind how peoples brains function in disaster zones. He has interviewed thousands of survivors, from 300 people who escaped the World Trade Center on 9/11 to plane crash and Paddington rail disaster survivors. The results of his research are used by governments, building designers and emergency workers around the world to try to plan for the effects of future catastrophes.
His latest project, funded by a 2 million European Union grant, is BeSeCu , which involves trying to understand whether culture affects the way people behave in emergency situations. The question were answering is, do people from different countries behave differently in a crisis?, says Galea. Most of the data thats used in evacuation analysis is from the UK, US and Australia. Theres an implicit assumption that people everywhere behave the same, but were not sure thats true.
