2016届高考英语高分冲刺特训听力素材3（word版）35_高考复习指南

2016届高考英语高分冲刺特训听力素材3（word版）35

　　Air Force Memoranda state that nuclear weapons are transported, "almost on a daily basis." The military airlift command refers to these missions as "the bully beef express." The Air Force documents show that last year the bully beef crews flew more than a thousand nuclear weapons flights. Recently, the Navy revealed, perhaps inadvertently, in public documents, information that indicates some of its nuclear weapons are ferried across the Atlantic in commercial cargo ships operated by civilians. The ships reportedly carry a small contingent of Navy personnel for security and communications, but it appears that the freighters rely heavily on their anonymity for security.

　　William Arkin of the Institute for Policy Studies has done intensive research on the transportation of nuclear weapons.

　　"We live with the illusion that nuclear weapons are safely secured away, all in underground missile silos in South Dakota and Montana and Wyoming. And instead, we see a system which requires constant care and feeding, repair, constant movement, which comes into contact with the soldiers and civilian technicians on a daily basis."

　　Arkin points out that each year, several thousand military and civilian personnel handling nuclear weapons are permanently disqualified for such duty because of alcohol abuse, use of illegal drugs, and other personal problems. But defense officials say this is a sign of the military's diligence, not danger. Of the one hundred thousand nuclear weapons handlers, about thirty-three hundred lost their clearances last year. The most disqualified in any recent year has been five thousand. But human and mechanical failures have caused serious problems in the past. The Defense Department says there have been thirty-two accidents involving nuclear weapons, the last one in 1980. At least ten caused leakage of radioactive materials. None has caused a nuclear explosion. Spokesman Ben McCarty of the Department of Energy says nuclear weapons trucks have been involved in eleven accidents over the years, mainly from icy roads which caused the trucks to flip over. But he says there's never been any danger to the public.