2. 外语
  3. The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children’s mobility, th

The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children’s mobility, th

admin2010-11-02  61
问题      The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children’s mobility, they can be driven to more places than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children’s independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision.
     Children’s independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a ’sense of place’. This depends on active exploration, which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves.
     The reduction in children’s freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians(步行), these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous exchanges that help to engender a feeling of community. This in itself may exacerbate(加重) fear associated with assault of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors’ children, and who can look out for their safety.
     As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that ’ streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety.
     In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts(区域) in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians.  In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European cities, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of "traffic calming" initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to ’ recapture’ their local neighborhood, and more importantly, that they have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world.  
What is the original purpose of the "traffic calming" initiatives in Europe?
选项 A、To make streets social places.
B、To make the volume and speed of traffic reduced.
C、To make streets places for children.
D、To make streets more clean.
答案B
解析 根据题干关键词purpose，“traffic calming” initiatives定位到原文最后一段第四句：... has been a range of“traffic calming”initiatives，aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic．即这种“安静交通”措施的目的在于减少汽车数量和降低汽车速度，故B项正确。
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