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  3. Three Yale University professors agreed in a panel discussion tonight that the automobile was what one of them called "Public He

Three Yale University professors agreed in a panel discussion tonight that the automobile was what one of them called "Public He

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问题     Three Yale University professors agreed in a panel discussion tonight that the automobile was what one of them called "Public Health Enemy No. 1" in this country. Besides polluting the air and congesting the cities, cars are involved in more than half the disabling accidents, and they contribute to heart diseases "because we don’t walk anywhere any more", said Dr. H. Richard Weinerman, professor of medicine and public health. Dr. Weinerman’s sharp indictment of the automobile came in a discussion of human environment on Yale Reports, a radio program broadcast by Station WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut. The program opened a three-part series on "Staying Alive". "For the first time in human history, the problem of man’s survival has to do with his control of man-made hazard. " Dr. Weinerman said. "Before this, the problem had been the control of natural hazards. "
    Relating many of these hazards to the automobile, Arthur W. Galston, a professor of biology, said it was possible to make a kerosene-burning turbine car that would "lessen smog by a very large factor". But he expressed doubt that Americans were willing to give up moving about the countryside at 90 miles an hour in a large vehicle. "America seems wedded to the motor car—every family has to have at least two, and one has to be a convertible with 300 horsepower". Professor Galston continued. "Is this the way of life that we choose because we cherish these values?"
    For Paul B. Sears, Professor Emeritus of Conservation, part of the blame lies with "a society that regards profit as a supreme value, under the illusion that anything that’s technically possible is, therefore, ethically justified. " Professor Sears also called the country’s dependence on its modern automobiles "lousy economies", because of the large horsepower used simply "in moving one individual to work". But he conceded that Americans have painted themselves into a comer by allowing the national economy to become so reliant on the automobile industry.
    According to Dr. Weinerman, automobiles, not factories, are responsible for two thirds of the smog in America’s cities, and the smog presents the possibility of a whole-new kind of epidemic, not due to one germ, but due to polluted environment. "Within another five to ten years, it’s possible to have an epidemic of lung cancer in a city like Los Angeles. This is a new phenomenon in health concern," he said.
    "The solution," he continued, "is not to find a less dangerous fuel, but a different system of inner city transportation. Because of the increasing use of cars, public transportation has been allowed to wither and degenerate, so that if you can’t walk to where you want to go, you have to have a car in most cities. " This, in turn, Dr. Weinerman contended, is responsible for the "arteriosclerosis" of public roads, for the blight of the inner city and for the middle class movement to the suburbs.
The term "painted themselves into a corner" in the third paragraph means______.
选项 A、become painters
B、increased their wealth
C、trapped themselves
D、made themselves colorful
答案C
解析 词义推断题，文章对于美国人对汽车的过分依赖持怀疑态度，认为这是把自己逼入死胡同的行为，可知选C项。联系上下文可知，此短语带有明显的不满语气，而A、B、D项完全不沾边，可轻易排除。
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