When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can’t take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We’d take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn’t like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom’s friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where’s the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I’m writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn’t try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
【小题1】Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?

A.Having a car ride.
B.Taking the train twice.
C.Buying more than one toy.
D.Touring the historic district.
【小题2】According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?
A.Building confidence in herself.
B.Reducing her use of private cars.
C.Developing her sense of direction.
D.Giving her knowledge about vehicles.
【小题3】The underlined word “paralyzed” (in Para. 5) is closest in meaning to “_______”.
A.displayed
B.justified
C.ignored
D.ruined
【小题4】Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of?
A.Airplane.
B.Subway.
C.Tram.
D.Car.


New train route opens from China to Germany
A container(集装箱) train left Beijing on Wednesday on its way to Hamburg, Germany. The new service was welcomed as real progress made in international rail cooperation.
The train will travel about 9,800 kilometers through six countries, including China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The trip has gained support from those in customs declaration and clearance.
Zhang Mingli, chairman of China Conainer Transportation Co., said, “This can be seen as a breakthrough in our cooperation. Today , railway officials from six countries are here to witness this event. This is very important to the development of the Asia-Europe Continental Bridge. This means of transportation has great potential for the countries involved.”
Cargo on board includes electronic products, textiles and shoes. The trip to Hamburg, Germany will take 18 days. The same trip would take at least 40 days by container ship.
Tomasl Palaszewski, vice president of Polish Natiional Railway, said, “There is big potential for container transportation to Europe.  The ceremony today shows that it will bring big benefits to all of us. So we hope that it will not only be a pilot train, but a permanent connection between China and Europe.”
Railway officials from the six countries will discuss detailed measures to advance container transportation.
Experts expect that the new land route will take a big slice of the pie of Chinese­-EU trade. But improvements in Chinese railway networks will still matter. China has plans to invest huge amounts of money to build up 18 railway container terminals in the coming five years.
63. The purpose of this passage is to _______.
A. tell us about a new train route from China to Germany
B. promote the relationships between China and Europe
C. introduce a newly-developed container train
D. improve Chinese railway conditions
64.The new train route from China to Germany will______.
A. be opened in the coming five years          B. strengthen the Chinese-EU trade
C. make it convenient for us to visit Germany    D. take the place of container ships
65.From this passage, we know that_____.
A. it was China alone that built the new train route
B. not all of the countries along the new train route will support the event
C. one of the problems in railway cooperation between countries is customs declaration and clearance
D. the train mainly carries grains from China to Europe
66.The underlined word “pilot” most probably means ______.
A. guide       B. beginning      C. cooperative   D. cargo
67. From this passage, we can safely conclude that ______
A. there will be more and more railway cooperation between China and Europe
B. more and more Chinese will have better chances to visit Europe
C. Europeans enjoy Chinese electronic products
D. China-EU trade will depend on this newly-developed cargo train

When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can’t take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks(街区) to the rail station. We’d take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn’t like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom’s friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate(不适当的) one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where’s the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I’m writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn’t try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
【小题1】Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?

A.Having a car ride.
B.Taking the train twice.
C.Buying more than one toy.
D.Touring the historic district.
【小题2】According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?
A.Building confidence in herself.
B.Reducing her use of private cars.
C.Developing her sense of direction.
D.Giving her knowledge about vehicles.
【小题3】The underlined word “paralyzed” (in Para. 5) is closest in meaning to “_______”.
A.displayedB.JustifiedC.IgnoredD.destroyecl
【小题4】Which means of transportation does the writer probably have a dislike of?
A.Subway.B.Airplane.C.Tram.D.Car.

The economic growth that many nations in Asia and increasingly Africa have experienced over the past couple of decades has transformed hundreds of millions of lives – almost entirely for the better. But there’s a byproduct to that growth, one that’s evident – or sometimes less than evident – in the smoggy, smelly skies above cities like Beijing, New Delhi and Jakarta. Thanks to new cars and power plants, air pollution is bad and getting worse in much of the world, and it’s taking a major toll (伤亡人数,代价) on global health.

How big? According to a new analysis published in the Lancet, more than 3.2 million people suffered deaths from air pollution in 2010, the largest number on record. That’s up from 800,000 in 2000. And it’s a regional problem: 65% of those deaths occurred in Asia, where the air is choked by diesel soot (内燃发动机烟雾) from cars and trucks, as well as the song from power plants and the dust from endless urban construction. In East Asia and China, 1.2 million people died, as well as another 712,000 in South Asia, including India. For the first time ever, air pollution is on the world’s top – 10 list of killers, and it’s moving up the ranks faster than any other factor.

So how can air pollution be so damaging? It is the very finest soot – so small that it roots deep within the lungs and then enters the bloodstream – that contributes to most of the public – health toll of air pollution including death. Diesel soot, which can also cause cancer, is a major problem because it is concentrated in cities along transportation zones affecting overpopulated areas. It is thought to contribute to half the deaths from air pollution in urban centers. Fro example, 1 in 6 people in the U.S. live near a diesel – pollution hot spot like a rail yard, port terminal or freeway.

We also know that air pollution may be linked to other non – deadly diseases. Fortunately in the U.S. and other developed nations, urban air is for the most part cleaner than it was 30 or 40 years ago, thanks to regulations and new technologies like the catalytic converters (催化式排气净化器) that reduce automobile emissions. Govemments are also pushing to make air cleaner – see the White House’s move last week to further tighten soot standards. It’s not perfect, but we’ve had much more success dealing with air pollution than climate change.

Will developing nations like India eventually catch up? Hopefully – though the problem may get worse before it gets better. The good news is that it doesn’t take a major technological advance to improve urban air. Switching from diesel fuel to unleaded (无铅燃油) helps, as do newer and cleaner cars which are less likely to send out pollutants. Power plants – even ones that burn mineral fuels like coal – can be fitted with pollution – control equipment that, at a price, will greatly reduce smog and other pollutants.

But the best solutions may involve urban design. In the Guardian, John Vidal notes that Delhi now has 200 cars per 1,000 people, far more than much richer Asian cities like Hong Kong and Singapore. Developing cities will almost certainly see an increase in car ownership as residents become wealthier – and that doesn’t have to mean deadly air pollution. Higher incomes should also lead to tougher environmental regulations, which is exactly what happened in the West. We can only hope it happens before the death toll from bad air gets even higher.

1.What tends to give rise to the highest death toll according to the passage?

A.The lack of tight environmental protection standards.

B.The increasing numbers of the diesel cars and trucks.

C.The frighteningly high death rate from deadly cancer.

D.The world’s serious air pollution such as soot and dust.

2.The “byproduct” (Paragraph 1) most probably refers to     .

A.consequence      B.solution       C.reform         D.design

3.The basic reason why so many people die from air pollution is that       .

A.the diesel soot is too small to be seen

B.the diesel soot is much too poisonous to breathe

C.the diesel soot roots in lungs and gets into blood

D.the diesel soot can also contribute to deadly cancer

4.According to the passage, the writer actually wants to convince the readers that        .

A.the global economic growth is mainly to blame for air pollution and climate change

B.the developing countries are repeating the same mistakes as the developed ones made

C.the ecological situation and air pollution in India are becoming worse and worse

D.the unbeatable air is increasingly becoming a major killer throughout the world

5.By describing urban design as “the best solution” in the last paragraph, the writer means that        .

A.the making of tougher environmental regulations alone is of little use

B.more sever regulations should be made to handle air pollution

C.the urban construction in western developed countries is the best choice

D.the pace of development has to be slowed down to reduce air pollution

 

Imagine, one day, getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours, and then, after a full day of work, going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.

 Sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic, with the development of China’s high-speed railway system. And that’s not all. China has an even greater high-speed railway plan to connect the country with Southeast Asia, and eventually Eastern Europe.

China is negotiating(谈判) to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 1 0 to 15 years, eventually reaching London and Singapore.

China has proposed three such projects. The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly to Germany. The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.  

If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward, people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days.The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard. And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.

    China’s bullet train(高速列车), the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou, already has the World’s fastest average speed. It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.

Of course, there are some technical challenges to overcome. There are so many issues that need to be settled, such as safety, rail gauge(轨距), maintenance(保养) of railway tracks. So, it’s important to pay attention to every detail. But the key issue is really money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.

China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital(资本的)investment. Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.

It’ll be a win-win project. For other countries, the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business, tourism and so on, not to mention the better communication among those countries.

For China,such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources, but would also help develop China’s far west.We foresee that in the coming decades, millions of people will migrate to the western regions,where the land is empty and resources unused. With high-speed trains, people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all. And they’ll trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.

1. China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because     

A.      China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions[来源:.com]

B.      China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways

C.      China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries

D.      the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation, business and tourism

2. According to the passage,the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is     

A. technical issues                B. safety of the system  

C. financial problems              D. maintenance of railway tracks

3.Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude

   towards China’s high-speed railway plan?

       A. Critical.   B. Reserved.    C. Doubtful     D. Positive.

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

       A. New Railway Standards   B. Big Railway Dreams

       C. High-speed Bullet Trains     D. International Railway Network

 

 

 

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