The U.S. government’s push to decrease the nation’s output of greenhouse gases by increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars Americans drive is arousing again an emotional argument: Does driving a small, fuel-efficient car make you more likely to die on the road?
Engineers and statistical analysts can point to data that suggest more-efficient cars don’t necessarily put motorists at greater overall risk. But most of us care less about the “overall” risk than we do about ourselves. Driving a big Chevrolet Tahoe SUV makes many of us believe we are safer than we would be in a smaller car — even if statistical measures across a large population of vehicles and all kinds of car accidents suggest the advantage of safety isn’t quite as wide as SUV owners believe.
The Obama government has put the fuel-efficiency and safety question back on the front burner by calling for new-vehicle fuel economy to rise to an average of 35 miles per gallon (加仑) by 2020 from about 25 mpg today. That goal could move higher if the government decides to adopt California’s requirement to cut vehicle greenhouse-gas giving off, which would result in stricter mileage standards.
Those moves, and the effects of last summer’s gas-price shock, are driving auto makers to offer cars such as the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Daimler AG’s Smart For Two — which get the kind of mileage today that law says should be the average in a decade. Beyond that, auto makers will launch a wide range of new compact (紧凑的) vehicles, and decrease production of large, body-on-frame SUVs.
That’s leading to new concerns about “green safety”, a term for managing the balance between reducing vehicle size for efficiency and adding safety and protection features that tend to make vehicles heavier and less efficient. Undoubtedly, further work has to be done before Americans make the choice.The U.S. government requires to improve the fuel efficiency in order to ________.
A. push Americans to drive smaller cars
B. reduce the output of greenhouse gases
C. drive auto makers to produce fewer SUVs
C. cause Americans to make an argumentAccording to Paragraph 2, engineers and analysts’ idea ________.
A.fails to relieve people of their worry about safety |
B.persuades people to purchase smaller cars instead of SUVs |
C.is based on research and therefore persuasive enough |
D.makes people think of their safety as well as others’ |
About the Obama government’s new moves, the auto makers are ________ and average
Americans are ________.
A.uncertain; positive | B.doubtful; uncertain |
C.supportive; positive | D.positive; uncertain |
The best title for the text should be ________.
A.New Law Reduces Greenhouse Gases Output |
B.Can Small Cars Overcome Accident Fears? |
C.New Compact Cars Gets Popular in the U.S. |
D.Do We Have to Follow the Government? |
(四)
A
One sixth of undergraduates (本科生) in Beijing this year have registered at a driving school . The students , mostly from majors such as business management or international trade , will finish there driving courses within 20 days or so .
Training costs have dropped to ,2,600yuan for students , according to the Haidian Driving School in Beijing . The price is not really low , but students will accept it , seeing it as an investment (投资) in their future . Familiarity with the operation of computers and fluent English are the basic skills graduating students need to find a job . But a driver’s permit has become another factor.
“In the job market , owning a driver’s permit sometimes strengthens a graduating student’s competitiveness for a good position ,” says Zhou Yang , an undergraduate at the China University of Political Science and Law .
Cars will become a necessary part of many people’s lives in the coming years , and it’s difficult to get a permit out of campus because of the pressures on working people’s time . “Having a full-time job after graduation offers limited time to learn to drive . We senior students have plenty of spare time , plenty of opportunities to learn.”
Xu Jian , an official at the driving school, said undergraduates were very able and serious , and could grasp in an hour what it took ordinary people four hours to learn . In this driving school, middle-aged people , young women and college students are the main customers .
To get a driver’s permit , a beginner is now required to have at least 86 hours’ practice before the final road test .
56.The undergraduates are learning to drive because .
A.they like to drive cars
B.they need this skill to find a good job .
C.most of them will be able to buy cars in the future
D.they want to become full-time drivers after graduation
57.Which of the following is Xu Jian’s opinion of students learning to drive ?
A.He decided it was a waste of money and time .
B.He thought they must learn it at school .
C.He thought they would spend three times more time .
D.He agreed that young people had an advantage in learning to drive .
58.Which of the following would be the best title of this passage ?
A.Students Learn to Drive B.Welcome to Driving School
C.It’s Better to Learn to Drive at College D.Students Pay Less to Learn to Drive Now
E
BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident.
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates(最新报道)on the rescuers’ progress.
The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a.m-more than three hours after it happened. “It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine.
The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group.
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p.m. Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later.
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for
30 to 35 years. The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each. The company has not released the names of the miners.
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect (remove) the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that. “ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. High levels of carbon monoxide were detected shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided(减退), authorities said.
72. According to the passage, we can infer that ________.
A. all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive
B. communication with the trapped miners was cut off
C. the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time
D. the rescue started as soon as the accident happened
73. If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour.
A. 1,000 feet B. 2,400 feet C. 1,200feet D. 4,800feet
74. Where can the passage be seen?
A. In a magazine. B. In a newspaper.
C. In a science book.. D. On an advertisement.
75. Which of the following shows the position where the miners were trapped?
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