Question

     With a growing number of people in San Francisco choosing not to own a car,German carmaking company BMW has decided to branch out into car-sharing services with 70 cars spread around the city,first in 14 locations,with a further 100 being added gradually.

    “This is not an A-to-A service A-to-B” says Richard Steinberg,chief executive of the DriveNow scheme(方案) ，pointing out that members can pick up a car downtown for the half-hour drive to the airport for only $12,compared with about $40-50 for a taxi.

Whether that is possible in real life depends on traffic,of course. A midmoming drive from Union Square down Highway 101 to the airport takes just 22 minutes; however,driving back during the rush hour takes twice as long.

    Most of the cars that are stuck in San Francisco's traffic jams are giving off all sorts of harmfiil gas. But not DriveNow’ s BMW ActiveE cars.

    “All the cars in San Francisco are electric,” Mr Steinberg says.

     In San Francisco,handing back the car to DriveNow is easy — just pick one of its drop-off points,park and walk away. There are no forms to fill in,no time-consuming(耗时的) rules.

Several other carmakers and other players within the motor industry are experimenting with similar schemes,for example Daimler,s Car2go scheme,which is operated in many cities around the world.

    “We picture a future where car-sharing members outnumber car owners in big cities around the world” says Car2go spokesman Andreas Leo.

    Franck Leveque,from company Frost & Sullivan,agrees. 

    “Car sharing is growing at a pace we have not seen before,” he says. “By 2020 we believe there will be 15 million members of car-sharing schemes in Europe alone,Nyith 140,000 vehicles in operation."

28. What does the underlined part “branch out into” probably mean?

   A. Start offering.        B. Stop improving.

   C. Make use of.          D. Take control of.

29. The DriveNow scheme .

   A. works better in rush-hour traffic

   B. makes city driving less dangerous

   C. encourages people to buy a cheap car

   D. allows drivers to pay money to use a car

30. What' s special about BMW ActiveE cars?

   A. They drive much faster than other cars.

   B. They never get stuck in heavy traffic.

   C. They don't harm the environment.

   D. They need less gas to run.

31. What does Franck think of the future of car sharing?

   A. Worrying.           B. Hopeful.

   C. Uncertain.          D. Disappointing.

Answer 1

28. A 29. D 30. C 31. B

28. A.词义猜测题。根据划线部分前后的对比 carmeking company 和 car-sharing services以及该段丰的 with 70 cars spread around the city,first in 14 locations,with a further 100 being added gradually 可知，德国 汽车制造商宝马公司决定开创汽车共享这项新业务。

29. D。细节理解题°。根据第二段中的 members can pick up a car downtown for the half-hour drive to the airport for only $12可知，DriveNow 这一方 案让人们可以付费租用汽车。

30. C.推理判断题。根据第四段中的 Most of the cars ... are giving off all sorts of harmful gas. But not DriveNow’ s BMW ActiveE cars 以及 第五段中的All the cars in San Francisco are electric 可知，宝马公司 的ActiveE系列汽车是充电式的，很环保。

31. B.推理判断题。根据Franck在最后一段说的“汽车共享正在以前所未 有的速度增长，到2020年仅欧洲就 将有1500万名汽车共享的会员，会 有14万辆车投入汽车共享业务”可 以推断，他对汽车共享的前景感到非常乐观。