Question

    The United States of America is faced with serious traffic problems. Too many cars travel on the freeways to and from the city. This heavy traffic causes delays and lots of pollution from cars that are using their engines but not moving anywhere. Many cars going nowhere is called a “traffic jam”.

While many cities in the United States have traffic problems, some of the worst are in Los Angeles, California, which is a big city with a large downtown area. One of the reasons why there is so much traffic is that few people use public transportation to get around.

Experts say one possible solution to the traffic problems in Los Angeles would be to make people want to use the public transportation system of buses instead of their own cars. People say the buses should be made easier, faster, less costly and more dependable than driving a car.

One suggestion is to reduce the cost of taking the bus. Also, Los Angeles could make the buses easier for people to use. The buses could travel to more places in the city. And there could be more special lanes on the freeways that only buses could drive in. These changes would make taking the bus faster and easier than driving a car.

Other experts have said that the best way to ease traffic problems is to charge people money to drive on the freeways. These charges, or tolls, would be for the most crowded roads. The tolls would be in effect during the times of a day when most people drive to work and home. These times in the morning and late afternoon are called “rush hour”. People would try to avoid driving on these roads, which would decrease the amount of traffic. Also, the money collected from these tolls could be used to improve the roads and public transportation system.

1.What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. Money charged when driving cars.

B. Causes of the heavy traffic jams.

C. Reasons to take public transportations.

D. Solutions to solving traffic problems.

2.Why does Los Angeles have some of the worst traffic problems?

A. Because it is a very big city with a large population.

B. Because most people like to get around by car.

C. Because public transportation is very popular there.

D. Because there are not enough roads there.

3.By marking out more special lanes on the freeways, they hope ________.

A. buses can travel to more places in the city

B. private cars can run much faster on them

C. buses seldom get stuck in the traffic jams

D. passengers can get on and off the buses easily

4.If people are charged on the most crowded roads during “rush hour”, ________.

A. less air pollution would be produced

B. there would be no traffic jam

C. the freeways would be more crowded

D. the number of cars on them would be smaller

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。本文中专家就洛杉矶的交通问题提出了许多解决方法，文 章主要讨论的正是这些方法中的几种。

1.主旨大意题。根据短文的内容可知主要为美国针对交通拥挤应该采取的措施，故选D。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段最后一句One of the reasons why there is so much traffic is that few people use public transportation to get around洛杉矶的人有交通拥挤的问题其中的原因是很少的人愿意乘坐公交车出门而是开着自家车出门，故选B。

3.细节理解题。第四段倒数第一、二句And there could be more special lanes on the freeways that only buses could drive in. These changes would make taking the bus faster and easier than driving a car.可知高速公路上可能会有更多的专用车道，只有公交车才能开进去。这些变化将使乘坐公共汽车比开车更快更容易。即人们希望高速公路的公交专用通道可以使得公交车不被堵在交通拥堵中，故选C。

4.细节理解题。最后一段倒数第二句People would try to avoid driving on these roads, which would decrease the amount of traffic.可知如果“交通高峰期”最拥挤的道路上要收费，人们会尽量避免在这些路上开车，这会减少交通流量。故选D。