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  3. It’s easy to dismiss as absurd the federal government’s ideas for plugging the chronic funding gap of our national parks. Can an

It’s easy to dismiss as absurd the federal government’s ideas for plugging the chronic funding gap of our national parks. Can an

admin2023-03-23  57
问题     It’s easy to dismiss as absurd the federal government’s ideas for plugging the chronic funding gap of our national parks. Can anyone really think it’s a good idea to allow Amazon deliveries to your tent in Yosemite or food trucks to line up under the redwood trees at Sequoia National Park?
    But the government is right about one thing: U. S. national parks are in crisis. Collectively, they have a maintenance backlog of more than $12 billion. Roads, trails, restrooms, visitor centers and other infrastructure are crumbling.
    But privatizing and commercializing the campgrounds would not be a cure-all. Campgrounds are a tiny portion of the overall infrastructure backlog, and businesses in the parks hand over, on average, only about 5％ of their revenues to the National Park Service.
    Moreover, increased privatization would certainly undercut one of the major reasons why 300 million visitors come to the parks each year: to enjoy nature and get a break from the commercial drumbeat that overwhelms daily life.
    The real problem is that the parks have been chronically starved of funding. An economic survey of 700 U. S. taxpayers found that people would be willing to pay a significant amount of money to make sure the parks and their programs are kept intact. Some 81％ of respondents said they would be willing to pay additional taxes for the next 10 years to avoid any cuts to the national parks.
    The national parks provide great value to U.S. residents both as places to escape and as symbols of nature. On top of this, they produce value from their extensive educational programs, their positive impact on the climate through carbon sequestration, their contribution to our cultural and artistic life, and of course through tourism. The parks also help keep America’s past alive, working with thousands of local jurisdictions around the country to protect historical sites—including Ellis Island and Gettysburg—and to bring the stories of these places to life.
    The parks do all this on a shoestring. Congress allocates only $3 billion a year to the national park system—an amount that has been flat since 2001 ( in inflation-adjusted dollars) with the exception of a onetime boost in 2009 as pail of the Obama stimulus package. Meanwhile, the number of annual visitors has increased by more than 50％ since 1980, and now stands at 330 million visitors per year.
The national parks are valuable in that they________.
选项 A、lead the way in tourism
B、have historical significance
C、sponsor research on climate
D、provide an income for the locals
答案B
解析 细节题。根据题干关键词 national parks 及 valuable 定位到第六段。第三句指出，这些公园也有助于保留美国历史，与全国各地数千个地方司法管辖区合作，以保护历史遗迹，让这些地方的故事鲜活起来。由此可知选项B符合文义。选项A为无中生有，故排除；选项C为根据原文中的climate 捏造的选项；本段并未提及国家公园能为当地人提供收入，故排除选项D。
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