Question

Three Yale University professors agreed in a discussion that the automobile was what one of them called “Public Health Enemy No．1 in this century．” Besides polluting the air and overcrowding the cities, cars are involved in more than half the disastrous accidents, and they contribute to heart disease “because we won’t walk anywhere any more”, said Richard Weinaman, professor of medicine and public health．

Speaking of many of those man-made dangers of the automobile, Arthur W．Galson, professor of biology, said it was possible to make a kerosene-burning turbine car that would “lessen smog by very large factor”．But he expressed doubt whether Americans were willing to give up moving about the countryside at 90 miles per hour in a large vehicle．“Americans seem wedded to the motor car—— every family has to have at least two, and one has to be a convertible （敞篷车） with 300 horsepower,” Professor Galson continued．“Is this the way of life that we choose because we treasure these values?”

For Professor Sears, part of the blame lies with “a society that regards profit as a supreme value, under the illusion that anything that’s technically possible is, therefore, morally justified”．Professor Sears also called the country’s dependence on its modern automobiles “terrible economics” because of the large horse-power used simply “moving one individual to work”．But he admitted that Americans had painted themselves into a corner by allowing the national economy to become so dependent on the automobile industry．

“The solution,” Dr．Weeinerman said, “is not to find a less dangerous fuel but a different system of inner city transportation．Because of the increasing use of cars, public transportation has been allowed to wither （衰弱） and grow worse, so that if you can’t walk to where you want to go, you have to have a car in most cities,” he declared．This, in turn, Dr．Weinerman contended, is responsible for the “arteriosclerosis （动脉硬化）” of public roads, for the pollution of the inner city and for the middle-class movement to the suburbs．

1．The main idea of the passage is that ____．

A．Americans are fond of their cars

B．public transportation in America is well-developed

C．American cars are too fast

D．automobiles endanger health

2．It can be inferred from the passage that ____．

     A．people are more interested in fast automobiles than in their health

     B．Americans feel more closely tied to their cars than to their wives

     C．kerosene-burning engines would pollute the environment more than gasoline-burning engines do

     D．kerosene-burning cars would go faster than gasoline-powered cars

3．In paragraph 3, Professor Sears implies that ____．

     A．technology is always good for people

     B．technology is not always good for people

     C．financial profit is more important than environmental protection in the society

     D．American people care about both environmental pollution and technological development

4．According to Dr．Weinerman, the solution is that ____．

     A．public transportation should be improved so that people can become less dependent on their cars

     B．people should get rid of their cars and take bus to work

     C．one family should own just one car

     D．a fuel less dangerous than gasoline must be found

Answer 1

DACA