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  3. Production of the Ambassador, the first car to be made in India, has been halted because of falling demand. Modelled on the Morr

Production of the Ambassador, the first car to be made in India, has been halted because of falling demand. Modelled on the Morr

admin2014-12-26  28
问题     Production of the Ambassador, the first car to be made in India, has been halted because of falling demand. Modelled on the Morris Oxford, the car’s design has changed little since it first went into production in 1957. But motoring journalist Hormazd Sorabjee is not too upset to see it go.
    Generations grew up with this car. It was a taxi for many and a family car for the rich. It transported prime ministers, MPs and bureaucrats. It was truly India’ s national car, dominating the roads for decades.
    When India’ s economy was liberalised in the early 1990s, global car-makers and their latest models were allowed into the country for the first time. But the Ambassador continued to have a loyal, although fast-shrinking, fan following.
    Modern cars in their quest for sleeker styling and better dynamics come with lower rooflines. They can never match the Ambassador’ s high seating position and generous headroom. This made getting in and out easy, while the car’ s low front bench gave rear passengers a wonderful, uninterrupted view of the road ahead. Today’ s cars with their big bucket seats, thick pillars(structural uprights that support a car’ s roof)and high window lines just don’t have the same sense of airiness.
    There can be no doubt, the Ambassador’s departure marks the end of an era. However, for me, it’ s an era best forgotten. The Ambassador was a symbol of all that was wrong with India’s controlled economy and its stifling regulations. Car makers could not increase prices or make more cars without the government’ s approval. They couldn’ t import technology or components and had to make do with locally developed bits and pieces that were carelessly produced. Buyers were saddled with cars of very bad quality, which constantly broke down and yet the waiting list to buy one could stretch up to eight years! And there were Ambassador jokes aplenty, my favourite one being: "The only thing that doesn’ t make a sound in an Ambassador is the horn!"
    For the best part of 30 years, the Ambassador got only minimal cosmetic upgrades. The first big change, possibly prompted by emission regulations, was an all-new engine. When I tested the Ambassador for an automobile magazine in the mid-1990s, it was the fastest-accelerating car in India, outpacing the more modern Fiats and Maruti-Suzukis of that age. That it needed the length of an airport runway to stop it was another matter. The maker had barely upgraded the brakes.
    Modern cars have taken away every last reason left to buy an Ambassador except one: to have a slice of automotive history sitting in your garage.
What’s the the main idea of the passage?
选项 A、The quality of the Ambassador.
B、The history about the Ambassador.
C、The nostalgic feeling towards the Ambassador.
D、The departure of the Ambassador.
答案D
解析 主旨题。本文一开篇就指出了印度的老牌汽车“大使”汽车由于销量不佳而停产。接着介绍了这种汽车与现代汽车的对比，并指出它的退隐象征着一个时代的结束，简要介绍它的质量和历史，最后再次说明现代车辆已经彻底取代了这种古老的车。所以主要讲的是这个汽车退出了历史舞台。D项符合，A、B、C都只是文章中的次要部分。因此，正确答案是D。
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