Beijing plans to build huge free or low-cost parking lots（停车场）beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways to the downtown area.

The plan is just one of the many measures the city plans to take to reduce its traffic jams. Low or no parking fees would be used as economic leverage（杠杆作用）to reduce growing parking demands from urban areas.

Car owners living in the suburbs（郊区）will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads and take buses or subways to the downtown area. Statistics show that nearly one quarter of the city’s traffic flow is concentrated in the 62-square-kilometre downtown area within the Second Ring Road, which makes up only 12 percent of the city’s total area.

The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau receives between 400 and 500 calls reporting traffic jams every day and more than 90 percent of the roads are filled to capacity during rush hour every morning and evening. Part of the problem is the lack of easy links between bus routes, subways and cars.

According to the communication commission, half of the city’s investment in transportation will go towards public transit（公共交通）construction in the next few years, making a jump from the current only 20 percent. Moreover, Beijing plans to change its layout（布局）by building new city centers, such as at Yizhuang, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Changping, in a bid to reduce the traffic flow to the downtown.

The current layout of Beijing-expanded ring roads around the same center of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams. The downtown area is crowded with three business centers and one financial centre, as well as nearly 400 government organs and institutions.

Traffic experts say building more urban centers around Beijing may reduce the number of residents living in the suburbs and traveling long distances to work downtown every day, thus reducing traffic flow.

1. In the coming years, if a man beyond the Fourth Ring Road goes to work in the downtown of Beijing, he is encouraged to ____.

A. take buses or subways       B． take a taxi

C. drive the car quickly        D． park his car in a place which asks for no fees

2. According to this passage, while more and more people drive to work in rush hour in Beijing, it is likely to ____.

A. save time                     B． cause traffic jams

C. cause traffic accidents           D． reduce air pollution

3. The aim in building new city centers is to ____.

A. make it convenient for people to go shopping   B． develop its local resources

C. reduce the traffic flow to the downtown       D． solve the problem of more laid-off workers

4. The passage suggests the author ____.

A. is tired of driving to work

B. finds it costs less to take subways than to drive

C. is for the plan to reduce Beijing’s traffic congestion

D. has benefited a lot by driving to the downtown every day

 

Beijing plans to build huge free or low-cost parking lots（停车场）beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways to the downtown area.

The plan is just one of the many measures the city plans to take to reduce its traffic jams. Low or no parking fees would be used as economic leverage（杠杆作用）to reduce growing parking demands from urban areas.

Car owners living in the suburbs（郊区）will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads and take buses or subways to the downtown area. Statistics show that nearly one quarter of the city’s traffic flow is concentrated in the 62-square-kilometre downtown area within the Second Ring Road, which makes up only 12 percent of the city’s total area.

The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau receives between 400 and 500 calls reporting traffic jams every day and more than 90 percent of the roads are filled to capacity during rush hour every morning and evening. Part of the problem is the lack of easy links between bus routes, subways and cars.

According to the communication commission, half of the city’s investment in transportation will go towards public transit（公共交通）construction in the next few years, making a jump from the current only 20 percent. Moreover, Beijing plans to change its layout（布局）by building new city centers, such as at Yizhuang, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Changping, in a bid to reduce the traffic flow to the downtown.

The current layout of Beijing-expanded ring roads around the same center of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams. The downtown area is crowded with three business centers and one financial centre, as well as nearly 400 government organs and institutions.

Traffic experts say building more urban centers around Beijing may reduce the number of residents living in the suburbs and traveling long distances to work downtown every day, thus reducing traffic flow.

1.In the coming years, if a man beyond the Fourth Ring Road goes to work in the downtown of Beijing, he is encouraged to ____.

A. take buses or subways       B． take a taxi

C. drive the car quickly       D． park his car in a place which asks for no fees

2.According to this passage, while more and more people drive to work in rush hour in Beijing, it is likely to ____.

A. save time       B． cause traffic jams

C. cause traffic accidents       D． reduce air pollution

3.The aim in building new city centers is to ____.

A. make it convenient for people to go shopping       B． develop its local resources

C. reduce the traffic flow to the downtown       D． solve the problem of more laid-off workers

4.The passage suggests the author ____.

A. is tired of driving to work

B. finds it costs less to take subways than to drive

C. is for the plan to reduce Beijing’s traffic congestion

D. has benefited a lot by driving to the downtown every day

 

 

 二  完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

                The Parking-Lot（停车场）Sweeper

    Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in E1 Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.

         Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how    21 we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They   22    us with the ideas of family, faith and love.

    I got my first    23    job when I was ten. My dad injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He    24   space in a little shopping center and gave his shop the flowery name of Mr. Ben’s Coiffure.

    The owner of the shopping center    25   my Dad’s payment for cleaning the parking lot three    26  a week, which    27 getting up at 3 a.m. Mom and I helped    28 

dustbin and pick up rubbish by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I     29    sleep in the car on the way home.

    I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have     30   a lifetime. I obtained discipline（自律）and the importance of work, and learned at a(n)    31    age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests——in my    32   , school, homework and a job. This

   33    helped during my school years, when I worked 40 hours at a fast-food restaurant while taking a full    34   of college preparation courses.

    The hard work    35   off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to    36   

graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard.     37   , I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly（州议会）. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have     38  forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is value in all work and that if people are working to    39   for themselves and their families, that is    40   we should honor.

  21. A. important  B. different       C. competitive D. fortunate

  22. A. mixed         B. filled        C. piled         D. left

  23. A. true       B. new          C. real          D. good

  24. A. hired      B. bought              C. cleaned        D. created

  25. A. reduced     B. afforded       C. collected      D. charged

  26. A. mornings B. evenings      C. dawns     D. nights

  27. A. meant        B. overcame    C. admitted      D. allowed

  28. A. lift          B. empty      C. throw      D. hold

  29. A. must      B. need        C. would      D. should

  30. A. existed       B. lasted      C. kept         D. stayed

  31. A. small     B. exact       C. early        D. golden

  32. A. mind      B. way          C. part          D. case

  33. A. really     B. nearly      C. simply      D. merely

  34. A. piece     B. length      C. mass        D. load

  35. A. made     B. took         C. paid          D. started

  36. A. receive       B. offer         C. require             D. study

  37. A. Thus     B. Later          C. Again       D. Instead

  38. A. seldom       B. just           C. even         D. never

  39. A. account      B. enter       C. provide         D. call

  40. A. everything B. something   C. nothing         D. anything