Passage 8

As machines go，the car is not terribly noisy，nor terribly polluting，nor terribly dangerous；and on all those dimensions it has become better as the century has grown older.The main problem is its prevalence，and the social costs that ensue from the use by everyone of something that would be fairly harmless if，say，only the rich were to use it.It is a price we pay for equality.

Before becoming too gloomy，it is worth recalling why the car has been arguably the most successful and popular product of the whole of the past 100 years—and remains so.The story begins with the environmental improvement it brought in the 1900s.In New York city in 1900，according to The Car Culture，a 1975 book by J.Flink，a historian，horses deposited 2.5 million pounds of manure（糞）and 60,000 gallons of urine（尿）every day.Every year，the city authorities had to remove an average of 15,000 dead horses from the streets.It made cars smell of roses.

Cars were also wonderfully flexible.The main earlier solution to horse pollution and traffic jams was the electric trolley bus（電車）.But that required fixed overhead wires，and rails and platforms，which were expensive，ugly，and inflexible.The car could go from any A to any B，and allowed towns to develop in all directions with low-density housing，rather than just being concentrated along the trolley or rail lines.Rural areas benefited too，for they became less remote.

However，since pollution became a concern in the 1950s，experts have predicted—wrongly—that the car boom was about to end.In his book Mr.Flink argued that by 1973 the American market had become saturated，at one car for every 2.25 people，and so had the markets of Japan and Western Europe（because of land shortages）.Environmental worries and diminishing oil reserves would prohibit mass car use anywhere else.

He was wrong.Between 1970 and 1990，whereas America’s population grew by 23%，the number of cars on its roads grew by 60%.There is now one car for every 1.7 people there，one for every 2.1 in Japan，one for every 5.3 in Britain.Around 550 million cars are already on the roads，not to mention all the trucks and motorcycles，and about 50 million new ones are made each year worldwide.Will it go on？Undoubtedly，because people want it to.

1.As is given in the first paragraph，the reason why the car has become a problem is that______.

A.poor people can’t afford it

B.it is too expensive to maintain

C.too many people are using it

D.it causes too many road accidents

2.According to the passage，the car started to gain popularity because______.

A.it didn’t break down as easily as a horse

B.it had a comparatively pleasant odor

C.it caused less pollution than horses

D.it brightened up the gloomy streets

3.What impact did the use of cars have on society？

A.People were compelled to leave downtown areas.

B.People were able to live in less crowded suburban areas.

C.Business along trolley and rail lines slackened.

D.City streets were free of ugly overhead wires.

4.Mr.Flink argued in his book that cars would not be widely used in other countries because______.

A.the once booming car market has become saturated

B.traffic jams in those countries are getting more and more serious

C.expensive motorways are not available in less developed countries

D.people worry about pollution and the diminishing oil resources

5.What’s wrong with Mr.Flink’s prediction？

A.The use of automobiles has kept increasing worldwide.

B.New generations of cars are virtually pollution free.

C.The population of America has not increased as fast.

D.People’s environmental concerns are constantly increasing.

參考譯文

就機器而言，汽車并非十分喧鬧，污染也不嚴重，危險性也不大；隨著時代的不斷發展，所有這些方面將會變得越來越好。但主要問題是汽車的廣泛流行，以及人人都使用汽車而帶來的社會代價。但假設只是有錢人使用它，那么所造成的危害是相當小的。這就是為平等付出的代價。

在我們把話題變得消沉之前，還是值得回憶一下為什么汽車大概已經成為過去100年里最成功和最流行的產品，而且現在仍然是。這要從20世紀改善環境說起。根據歷史學家J.Flink在1975年出版的《汽車文化報道》一書，1900年在紐約，馬每天要在公路上留下25萬磅的馬糞和6萬加侖的馬尿。每年，城市相關機構不得不從街道上清除平均15萬匹死馬，這使得汽車的氣味聞起來簡直就像玫瑰般芳香。

汽車也是非常靈活的。早期解決馬匹污染和交通堵塞的方式就是電車，但那要求固定的空中電纜、軌道和站臺，這使得電車不僅昂貴、難看，也不靈活。小汽車則可以從任意A點到任意B點，允許城鎮可以向任何方向發展，成為低密度居住區，而不是僅僅集中在電車和軌道附近。同時邊遠地區也受益匪淺，因為它們似乎不那么遙遠了。

然而，自從交通污染在20世紀50年代成為焦點之后，專家們曾經錯誤地預測汽車的繁榮很快就要結束。Flink在他的書中曾說：到1973年為止，美國汽車市場已經飽和，平均每225個美國人就有一輛車，在日本和西歐由于土地有限，所以汽車市場已趨于飽和。對于環境的擔憂和正在減少的石油存儲量將會限制大規模地使用汽車。

他錯了。1970～1990年，美國人口增加了23%，公路上的汽車增長了60%?，F在每17人就有1輛汽車，在日本每2.1人有1輛汽車，英國每5.3人有1輛汽車。現在大約有55億輛汽車行駛在公路上，還沒算上所有的卡車和摩托車，每年大約要制造5000萬輛新車。這種情況還會繼續嗎？毋庸置疑，因為人們希望如此。

解題之路

1.選B。第一段的第二句話：汽車的主要問題是普及以及隨之而來的社會的費用。故選B，養車很花錢。

2.選C。推理題。第二段：紐約能生產發出玫瑰氣味的轎車，人們不用聞馬排出的屎尿的惡臭。

3.選B。推理題。第三段：汽車可以從A地到B地，使得城鎮朝各個方向發展，減少人口的稠密度。low-density housing低稠密居住條件。

4.選D。細節題。第四段的最后一句：環境問題和減少的石油儲藏會阻礙世界上任何其他地方汽車的普及。

5.選A。推理題。第五段：用具體的數字說明Mr.Flink的預測錯誤。

詞匯精解

noisy adj.嘈雜的，聒噪的，喧鬧的

polluting adj.有污染的

dimension n.尺度，維度，角度

prevalence n.盛行，流行

fairly adv.公正地，相當地，非常

harmless adj.無害的

ensue vi.接著出現

say adv.例如

gloomy adj.黑暗的，陰沉的，暗淡的，消沉的

recall vt.回想，記起，回憶

arguably adv.可論證地，可能，大概

remain vi.保持，殘存，依然，依舊

direction n.指示，趨勢，說明，方向

housing n.住宅，住宅群

concentrated adj.濃縮的，集中的

trolley n.電車

remote adj.偏僻的，細微的，遙遠的

predict vt.預言，預報，預測

boom n.隆隆聲，繁榮

diminish v.變小，減少

reserve n.儲備（物），儲備量

prohibit vt.阻止，禁止

argue v.爭論，辯論，認為

saturate v.浸透，飽和

flexible adj.柔軟的，可變形的，靈活的

platform n.月臺，講臺，平臺

inflexible adj.不屈的，頑固的，不靈活的

shortage n.不足，缺乏

worldwide adv.世界范圍內

undoubtedly adv.不可懷疑地，毫無疑問地

難句解析

1.The main problem is its prevalence，and the social costs that ensue from the use by everyone of something that would be fairly harmless if，say，only the rich were to use it.

【參考譯文】但主要問題是汽車的廣泛流行，以及人人都使用汽車而帶來的社會代價。但假設只是有錢人使用它，那么所造成的危害是相當小的。

【結構分析】這是一個主從復合句，可以切分為：（The main problem is its prevalence，and the social costs）（that ensue from the use by everyone of something）（that would be fairly harmless//if，say，only the rich were to use it//）。第一部分是主干，即主系表結構；第二部分是that引導的the social costs的定語從句，其中的of something是the use的后定語，本應直接置于the use之后，但因后面還有對something的修飾內容，所以只能將something置于最后；第三部分是that引導的something的定語從句，其中出現了if引導的條件狀語從句，it指代something，say是副詞，表舉例說明，相當于for example。

【知識鏈接】ensue from來自于……；the rich富人

2.Before becoming too gloomy，it is worth recalling why the car has been arguably the most successful and popular product of the whole of the past 100 years—and remains so.

【參考譯文】在我們把話題變得消沉之前，還是值得回憶一下為什么汽車已經成為過去100年里最成功和最流行的產品，而且現在仍然是。

【結構分析】這是一個主從復合句，可以切分為：（Before becoming too gloomy），（it is worth recalling//why the car has been arguably the most successful and popular product of the whole of the past 100 years—and remains so//）。第一部分是Before引導的時間狀語；第二部分是主句，即形式主語句，it指代后面why引導的從句，該從句由兩部分組成，即why the car has been…and remains so，so指代前面的一句話：the car…past 100 years。

【知識鏈接】be worth doing值得做……

3.The car could go from any A to any B，and allowed towns to develop in all directions with low-density housing，rather than just being concentrated along the trolley or rail lines.

【參考譯文】小汽車則可以從任意A點到任意B點，允許城鎮可以向任何方向發展，成為低密度居住區，而不是僅僅集中在電車和軌道附近。

【結構分析】這個句子的主干是：The car could go…and allowed…to develop，from any A to any B是范圍狀語；in all directions是方式狀語，with low-density housing…the trolley or rail lines是結果狀語。

【知識鏈接】in all directions各個方向；low-density低密度的；rather than而不是；rail line鐵路線

4.In his book Mr.Flink argued that by 1973 the American market had become saturated，at one car for every 2.25 people，and so had the markets of Japan and Western Europe（because of land shortages）.

【參考譯文】Flink在他的書中曾說：到1973年為止，美國汽車市場已經飽和，平均每225個美國人就有一輛車，在日本和西歐由于土地有限，所以汽車市場已趨于飽和。

【結構分析】這個句子的主干是Mr.Flink argued that…，that引導的賓語從句的主干是：the American market had become saturated…and so had the markets…Europe，and之后的句子運用了倒裝結構，正常語序是：the markets…Europe had so，at…2.25 people是結果狀語。

【知識鏈接】because of由于；land shortage土地有限