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  3. Traffic statistics paint a gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes

Traffic statistics paint a gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes

游客2023-11-20  21
问题      Traffic statistics paint a gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes, some rapidly growing US cities have simply built more roads. But traffic experts say building more roads is a quick-fix solution that will not alleviated the traffic problem in the long run. Soaring land costs, increasing concern over social and environmental disruptions caused by road building, and the likelihood that more roads can only lead to more cars and traffic are powerful factors bearing down on a 1950s-style construction program①.
     The goal of smart-highway technology is to make traffic systems work at optimum efficiency by treating the road and the vehicles traveling on them as an integral transportation system. Proponents of the advanced technology say electronic detection systems, closed-circuit television, radio-communication, ramp metering variable message signing, and other smart-highway technology can now be used at a reasonable cost to improve communication between drivers and the people who monitor traffic②.
     Pathfinder, a Santa Monica, California-based smart-highway project in which a 14-mile stretch of the Santa Monica Freeway, making up what is called a "smart corridor," is being instrumented with buried loops in the pavement.  Closed-circuit television cameras survey the flow of traffic; while communication linked to property equipped automobiles advise motorists of the least congested routes or detours.
    Not all traffic experts, however, look to smart-highway technology as the ultimate solution to traffic gridlock. Some say the high-tech approach is limited and can only offer temporary solutions to a serious problem.
     "Electronics on the highway addresses just one aspects of the problem: how to regulate traffic more efficiently," explains Michael Renner, senior researcher at the world-watch Institute. "It does not deal with the central problem of too many cars for roads that cannot be built fast enough. It sends people the wrong message. They start thinking ’yes, there used to be a traffic congestion problem, but that’s been solved now because we have advanced high-tech system in place." Larson agrees and adds, "Smart highway is just one of the tools that we use to deal with our traffic problems. It is not the solution itself, just pan of package. There are different strategies."
     Other traffic problem-solving options being studied and experimented with include car-pooling, rapid mass-transit systems, staggered or flexible work hours and road pricing, a system whereby motorists pay a certain amount for the time they use a highway③.
     It seems that we need a new, major thrust to deal with the traffic problems of the next 20 years. There has to be a big change and a long way to go.  [br] Which of the following best describes the organization of the whole passage?
选项 A、Two contrasting views of a problem are presented.
B、A problem is examined and complementary solutions arc proposed or offered.
C、Latest developments are outlined in order of importance.
D、An introduction is explained with its importance emphasized.
答案 B
解析 逻辑结构题。文章的结构还算明晰。本文首先提出交通堵塞问题，接着介绍高科技解决方案，重点介绍了smart-highway，指明特点和不足，不是最终方案；最后提出当前其他的解决方案。所以选择B.
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