2. 外语
  3. Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U.S. , about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse gases. They ta

Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U.S. , about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse gases. They ta

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问题     Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U.S. , about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse gases. They take a similar toll of resources in other industrial nations and in the cities of the developing world. As vehicle use continues to increase in the coming decade, the U. S. and other countries will have to deal with these issues or else face unacceptable economic, health-related and political costs. It is unlikely that oil prices will remain at their current low level or that other nations will accept a large and growing US contribution to global climatic change.
    Policymakers and industry have four options: reduce vehicle use, increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles, switch to less harmful fuels, or find less polluting driving systems. The last of these — in particular the introduction of vehicles powered by electricity — is ultimately the only sustainable option. The other alternatives are attractive in theory but in practice are either impractical or offer only marginal improvements. For example, reduced vehicle use could solve traffic problems and a host of social and environmental problems, but evidence from around the world suggests that it is very difficult to make people give up their cars to any significant extent. In the US, mass-transit ridership and carpooling have declined since World War II. Even in Western Europe, with fuel prices averaging more than $1 a liter(about $4 a gallon)and with easily accessible mass transit and dense populations, cars still account for 80 percent of all passenger travel.
    Improved energy efficiency is also appealing, but automotive fuel economy has barely made any progress in 10 years. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, burned in internal-combustion engines, could be introduced at relatively low cost, but they would lead to only marginal reductions in pollution and greenhouse emissions(especially because oil companies are already spending billions of dollars every year to develop less polluting types of gasoline).
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
选项 A、The decline of public transportation accounts for increased car use in Western Europe.
B、Cars are popular in Western Europe even though fuel prices are fairly high.
C、The reduction of vehicle use is the only sustainable option in densely populated Western Europe.
D、Western European oil companies cannot sustain the cost of developing new-type fuels.
答案B
解析 本题是判断题。根据文章，西欧公共交通使用率的下降并不是小汽车使用量上升的原因，而是相反。因此，A不是答案。文章第2段指出，汽车行业及政策制定者有4种选择，其中前3种都是理论上成立，实践上有很大难度。只有第4种，即选择类似于电动动力的系统才是可行的现实选择。因此，C不是答案。文章最后一段告诉我们：“虽然更少污染的燃料可以以较低成本投入使用，不过欧洲的石油公司已开始投入数十亿美元用于开发降低汽油污染的技术。”因此，D也足不合题意的。
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