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  3. By 2010 the European Commission predicts transcontinental freight traffic will have risen 50 percent as a result of European exp

By 2010 the European Commission predicts transcontinental freight traffic will have risen 50 percent as a result of European exp

admin2014-02-20  58
问题     By 2010 the European Commission predicts transcontinental freight traffic will have risen 50 percent as a result of European expansion, and much of that will have to cross the enormous obstacle of the Alps. Right now the only practical way for most heavy traffic to get through is by truck and tunnel. And while that could change if safer and cleaner rail lines were opened, the chances are that won’t happen anytime soon.
    Several private trucking companies have adapted quickly and creatively to the demands of European unification. Some of the bigger truckers trace cargoes with the Global Positioning System and sophisticated computers. And if trucks also bring more road hazards and pollution, at present there is no alternative. Right now only 8 percent of European merchandise moves by rail, compared with more than 40 percent in the United States. Delays are so common that the average speed for freight is about 18km an hour.
    The railways have had trouble outgrowing a heritage of national rivalries and open warfare between Europe’s countries. The result is what another European Commission report calls "a mosaic of badly interconnected national systems. " Language barriers remain a problem, requiring crew changes at some borders. Switching systems and signals differ.
    And efficiency is more of a dream than a goal. Europe’s railroads still have to deal with "phantom trains" that run so late that they combine with others and disappear from the railroad’s records. In an era when many companies depend on a "just-in-time" inventories to make a profit, railroads are rarely on time at all.
    Yet there is little official enthusiasm for changing the system. The reality is that governments have helped create the imbalance between road and rail in Europe—and government action will likely be needed to fix it. The French emphasis on using rail to move people instead of goods, for instance, has helped cripple freight service. "All the investments went to passenger traffic," says Denis Doute, director of freight services for the French rail company SNCF. Freight trains have had to find "windows" to run in between passenger trains, unlike those in the United States, which often travel on separate tracks. The further development of the freight network requires massive investments to modernize existing infrastructure and open new ones. However, the political will to fund that kind of investment is lacking, which means the citizens will have to hold their noses for a while longer.
From the second paragraph, we can infer that the major reason for the road hazards is that
选项 A、the Global Positioning System is not advanced enough
B、the volume of freight traffic on the roads is too heavy
C、the bigger truckers are not so flexible and efficient
D、the trucks and tunnels are too heavily loaded
答案B
解析 推断题。第二段首先指出一些比较大的货运公司利用先进的技术来跟踪货物运输，所以货车交通事故并不是由于技术不先进造成的，这样我们就排除了选项A。最后两句将欧洲的货物运输手段与美国的相比，欧洲绝大部分货物都是通过公路运输，旨在说明货运交通流量的拥挤是造成交通事故的真正原因，所以本题的正确答案为B。
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