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  3. California, long a leader on clean air and other environmental issues, is doing good things again. The state’s powerful Air Reso

California, long a leader on clean air and other environmental issues, is doing good things again. The state’s powerful Air Reso

admin2013-06-17  102
问题     California, long a leader on clean air and other environmental issues, is doing good things again. The state’s powerful Air Resources Board has issued new rules that, when finally approved, will lead to many fewer smog-causing pollutants, fewer greenhouse gases and, in time, encourage the auto industry to build millions more emissions-free cars and trucks, including a new generation of all-electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles.
    For historical reasons—including its own severe pollution problems—California has been allowed to write its own clean air rules, as long as it gets a waiver (豁免) from the federal government. The results have been hugely beneficial for all. California’s clean air rules in the 1970s helped lead to nationwide use of the catalytic converter. A 2002 California law requiring cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions from automobiles led to the aggressive fuel efficiency standards approved by President Obama.
    Two new California rules will push that process even further. One calls for a 75 percent reduction in nitrogen oxides (氧化物) and other smog-forming emissions from new vehicles by 2025. The other says that by the same year, one of seven new vehicles on California roads—1. 4 million altogether—must be zero-emission. By 2050, it hopes, four of five cars will be powered by batteries or hydrogen, helping the state reach its midcentury target of reducing greenhouse gases by 80 percent.
    In the past, the automakers fought every new California rule. Their brush with extinction—and the federal aids—have made them more ready to make compromise and more confident in their ability to make the clean cars the regulations require. They have already invested heavily in clean-car technologies.
    The Environmental Protection Agency is almost certain to grant the waiver California needs to put the rules into effect. It should also begin pushing the oil refiners to lower the sulfur (硫磺) content in gasoline, greatly improving California’s chances of achieving smog reductions. The oil companies hate this idea because it will add to their refining costs. It is hard to feel sympathy for them at a time of record profits. Lisa Jackson, the E. P. A. administrator, has proposed sulfur reductions for gasoline, but the White House has yet to give her the green light. It should.
What may make automakers confident in making the clean new cars?
选项 A、Aggressive rules.
B、Threat of extinction.
C、Huge investment.
D、Federal aids.
答案D
解析 事实细节题。本题考查汽车制造商对制造新型清洁汽车有信心的原因。由定位句可知，政府援助使汽车制造商们对于制造清洁型汽车十分有信心，故D)正确。A)“强硬的法律”、B)“灭绝的威胁”和C)“巨大的投资”均不符合原文，故排除。
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