Question

    Starting next month, people in Washington will be able to rent a bicycle day and night with a membership card. A new company called SmartBike will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in the city. “There’s a lot of stress on our transit systems,” said Jim Sebastian, who manages bicycle and pedestrian programs for Washington’s Transportation Department. Offering another choice, Mr Sebastian said, “It will help us reduce traffic jam and pollution, as well as parking problems.” In the deal, the company will have the advertising rights in the city’s bus shelters and it has reached a similar deal with San Erancisco. Chicago and Portland, Ore. , are also considering the program.

For a $40 annual membership fee, SmartBike users can check out three-speed bicycles for three hours at a time. The program will not provide helmets (头盔) but does encourage their use. Similar programs have proved successful in Europe. The Vé1ib program in Paris and Bicing in Barcelona, Spain, both started around a year ago and already offer thousands of bicycles. Mr Sebastian, who started trying to bring bike-sharing to Washington even before its success in Paris and Barcelona, said he believed that the program could grow within a year and hoped that it would eventually offer 1 000 bicycles.

“But studies showed that many bikes would get stolen in a day, or within a few weeks,” said Paul DeMaio, a Washington-area bike-sharing consultant. Improved technology allows programs to better protect bicycles. In Washington, SmartBike users who keep bicycles longer than the three-hour maximum will receive demerits and could eventually lose renting privileges. Bicycles gone for more than 48 hours will be considered lost, with the last user charged a $200 replacement fee.

The low cost could be one of the program’s major selling points. At George Washington University in Foggy Bottom, one of the program’s 10 locations, students were unsure how often they would use SmartBike, but said its price made it worth a try.

 

70．The program can help the city in the following ways EXCEPT ________.

A. protecting the environment                            B. reducing the traffic jam

C. giving more traveling choices                        D. making more money

71．From the text, we can know ________.

A. the SmartBike company can only make money by renting the bikes

B. there are many other cities which show great interest in the program

C. the SmartBike company will be the first one to run bike-renting business

D. the SmartBike company will have 1 000 bicycles at the renting spots

72．What is the problem the SmartBike DC facing?

A. The bike technology should be improved.              B. Their bikes would get lost.

C. There are too few renting spots available.              D. There are too few bikes.

73．What will attract the customers most in the program?

A. Low price.        B. Great convenience.           C. New idea.          D. High quality.

Answer 1

DBBA