首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
I live in a street of enormous late-Victorian houses. Most have been converted into flats, but quite a number are now private pr
I live in a street of enormous late-Victorian houses. Most have been converted into flats, but quite a number are now private pr
admin
2013-09-23
85
问题
I live in a street of enormous late-Victorian houses. Most have been converted into flats, but quite a number are now private prep schools. The result is traffic mayhem. At 8: 30 every term time morning, and at 3:30 every afternoon, our otherwise moderately busy road becomes a hooting, shouting nose-to-tail hell of jostling SUVs desperate to take possession of one of the few parking slots, deposit or retrieve their child, and escape before one of the many hovering par-king wardens can get them.
11 years ago my daughter started school in Bedford, a town whose main industry is education, with four large private schools, five state upper schools, two sixth-form colleges, three universities, and countless junior, middle and first schools. We lived 12 miles away, and during term time the traffic jams often began 10 miles out. Timing was hair-trigger; if the school bus left at 7:40, the children got to school at 8:20; if it left at 7:50, they wouldn’t arrive until after 9. Every morning, the town was within an ace of gridlock. One disastrous day the local train company decided to discontinue the schoolkids’ trains on a local branch line. It was the last straw; the resulting extra cars meant that the whole place seized up, and no one got anywhere until mid-morning. A perfect demonstration of the virtues of rail travel.
It’s hard to pinpoint the moment when driving your child to school became the norm. Personally, I either cycled or walked, calling for a friend en route. Only one of the children in my class came by car, an event so exceptional that I still remember the registration number. But now no sane parent would let a city kid cycle; and if you want to let a first-schooler walk unsupervised, even in the most tranquil community, you must run the gauntlet of other parents. My daughter knew her way to school from the age of five; it was a 10-minute walk, I crossed her over the biggest road and let her go. "Aren’t you frightened?" one outraged mum demanded. What of? Paedophiles behind the hedge? Drivers on the pavement? She didn’t, probably couldn’t, specify. But her bogey-ridden world is today’s norm.
So everyone feels they must accompany young children to school. And how else to do that but by car? " I can’t get to school on time without the car, " said one mother picking up her child near our house. What she means, of course, is it’s easier. She could get up earlier, and walk or take the bus. But cars change our perception of what is possible, and of what we are entitled to. And it is this mindset that makes the reduction of transport emissions, vital if we are to stop global warming, so problematic.
Meanwhile, here’s an idea. Why not make the provision of school buses mandatory for all schools, state or private, that accept children outside a walkable catchment area? That would be safe, reliable, environmentally better than hundreds of individual cars, and less nerve-racking for all. In the private sector, it would be cheaper and less wearing than a daily par-king fine. And it might even begin to make local state schools truly local.
What’s the main industry of Bedford?
选项
A、Coal.
B、Iron and steel.
C、Car.
D、Education.
答案
D
解析
细节题。从文章第二段中“11 years ago my daughter started school in Bedford,a town whose main industry is education…”可知答案为[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/zWLK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Acommonassumptionabouttheprivatesectorofeducationisthatitcatersonlytotheelite.【C1】______recentresearchpoints
Acommonassumptionabouttheprivatesectorofeducationisthatitcatersonlytotheelite.【C1】______recentresearchpoints
Itisfutiletodiscussthematterfurther,because______goingtoagreeuponanythingtoday.
Alltheschools______becauseoftheearthquake,studentsandteachershadtogobackhome.
Untilthen,hisfamily______fromhimforsixmonths.
Themansittingoppositemesmileddreamily,asif______somethingpleasantinthepast.
Whyaredivorcessocommonatpresent?
FamilyandYouthServicesCurrently,thereisagapintheinformationateacherreceivesaboutteachingstudentswithcert
TheissueconcerningwhocontrolstheInternetwillbediscussed______.
DavidBeckham,themostrecognizablefaceintheworld’smostpopulargame,wasthebiggestnewsmakerininternationalsportsin
随机试题
在某台Cisco路由器上配置了命令snmp-severcommunitypublicRW.以下说法正确的是()。
关于××区××路西延部分道路施工期间禁止通行的通告二O一三年第2号经有关部门批准,××区××路西延部分道路将进行施工。为保证施工期间的道路交通安全与畅通
做击实试验进行备料,已知土的天然含水量为3.5%,今预制备试样干质量为1800g,含水量分别为9%、11%、13%、15%、17%的湿土样,则每个试样应称取多少湿土?湿土内应加多少水?
竖井净断面尺寸确定的依据包括()。
关于设备寿命的说法,正确的是()。
在我国,实行最高限价属于政府对市场价格的()。
曾在哪里选过秀女?
结合学术动态谈谈不平等条约对近代中国政治的影响。(浙江大学2000年中国近代史真题)
下列英、汉短语中,不属于偏正结构的是()。
A、 B、 C、 D、 C
最新回复
(
0
)