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  3. Fair Fares Railways: Cheaper Tickets Will Not Solve Rail’s Problems

Fair Fares Railways: Cheaper Tickets Will Not Solve Rail’s Problems

游客2023-12-09  20
问题           Fair Fares Railways: Cheaper Tickets Will Not Solve Rail’s Problems
    Most of the time, parliamentary committee reports embody every foreign stereotype of the British—dry, reserved and slightly dull, with only the occasional flash of sarcasm to lighten the mood. Not so those of the transport committee. Its latest report, on rail fares, accuses the rail industry of " holding passengers to ransom " with "extravagant" fares and an "impenetrable jungle" of ticket types.
    Some of these criticisms are fair. Ticketing arrangements, especially for long distance journeys, are Byzantine: the National Fares Manual describes over 70 ticket types within its 102 pages. Stung by public criticism, several big train companies, including Virgin, GNER and First Great Western, promise to simplify things.
    The MPS are on shakier ground with their complaints They point to the amount of state money given out to the railways— ￡4.4 billion this year, with ￡5. 3 billion planned for next year—and argue that train firms should be forced to cut prices. Costly tickets, they claim, are " pricing many passengers out of the market".
    That is a tough argument to sustain at a time when more people than ever are using the railways. On some parts of the network, overcrowding, not under-use, is the biggest problem, with commuter routes into big cities such as London, Leeds and Manchester especially jammed. Fares on these routes are already capped. That’s unwise, says Stephen Glaister of Imperial College. " If there is traffic jams in the system, then the economically correct solution is higher prices," he says. "Otherwise you just end up with shortages and queues." Giving railway firms greater freedom to set their own prices would let them spread demand around peak times, cutting traffic jams.
    The only way to reduce traffic jams and prices together is to do things like lengthening platforms and upgrading signals,. which would mean more people could be carried in the busiest areas. That would require tough decisions. A big improvement to the railway network would be expensive, and the government has shown little enthusiasm for increasing subsidies still further. Extra cash could be found by closing little-used (and heavily subsidised) rural lines, but that would be unpopular with fans of rail transport, who argue that branch lines provide a vital service to the poor and the earless.
    The report occasionally hints at such dilemmas, only to shy away from discussing them in a satisfactory way. The transport committee plans a broader look at rail policy next year. Perhaps then it will do a more thorough job. [br] Parliamentary committee reports are mentioned in the first paragraph to highlight______.
选项 A、typical characteristics of British people
B、general features of government reports
C、the peculiarity of the transport committee’s reports
D、wrong opinions about the rail industry
答案 C
解析 本题考查写作目的。文章首段提到了议会委员会报告、英国人的典型特点、交通委员会报告和对铁路行业的指控。考生需要在众多细节中梳理出作者的写作意图。提到英国人的典型特点是为了说明议会委员会报告的特点，即，这类政府报告总是呆板而保守。提到议会委员会报告是为了将其与交通委员会报告做比较，指出后者不呆板不保守。为了证明这一点，作者介绍了交通委员会报告的内容：对铁路行业的指控既生动又一针见血。因此[C]是作者通过议会委员会报告想要真正说明的。
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