雅思阅读考前练习：Advantages of public transport!备考雅思考试的小伙伴，在备考的雅思阅读的过程中，一定要多加练习。更多
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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.
Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has five marked paragraphs, A-E.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Avoiding an overcrowded centre
ii A successful exercise in people power
iii The benefits of working together in cities
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iv Higher incomes need not mean more cars
v Economic arguments fail to persuade
vi The impact of telecommunications on population distribution
vii Increases in travelling time
viii Responding to arguments against public transport
1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
Advantages of public transport
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A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University’s Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities around the world. This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system.
The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some European and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. Professor Peter Newman, ISTP Director, pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live.
According to Professor Newman, the larger Australian city of Melbourne is a rather unusual city in this sort of comparison. He describes it as two cities: ‘A European city surrounded by a car-dependent one’. Melbourne’s large tram network has made car use in the inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other Australian cities. The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests a recent change in many people’s preferences as to where they live.
Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. In the past, the case for public transport has been made on the basis of environmental and social justice considerations rather than economics. Newman, however, believes the study demonstrates that ‘the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in economic as well as environmental terms’.
Bicycle use was not included in the study but Newman noted that the two most ‘bicycle friendly’ cities considered — Amsterdam and Copenhagen — were very efficient, even though their public transport systems were ‘reasonable but not special’.
It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good public transport by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. One objection is climate. Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars against climate and found ‘zero correlation’.
When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. For example, Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities in the world as hilly.
A In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over another is politics: ‘The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.’ He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, federal money was granted to build a new road. However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over whether to spend the money on light rail instead. The rail proposal won and the railway worked spectacularly well. In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. Newman notes that Portland has about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time.
B In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work. Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination. However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl, causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher.
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C There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. The example of European cities refutes that. They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars — creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.
D Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. It found that pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. Instead, the proposal advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations.
E It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP team’s research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together. ‘The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.’
Questions 6-10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
6 The ISTP study examined public and private systems in every city of the world.
7 Efficient cities can improve the quality of life for their inhabitants.
8 An inner-city tram network is dangerous for car drivers.
9 In Melbourne, people prefer to live in the outer suburbs.
10 Cities with high levels of bicycle usage can be efficient even when public transport is only averagely good.
Questions 11-13
Look at the following cities (Questions 11-13) and the list of descriptions below.
Match each city with the correct description, A-F.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
11 Perth
12 Auckland
13 Portland
List of Descriptions
A successfully uses a light rail transport system in hilly environment
B successful public transport system despite cold winters
C profitably moved from road to light rail transport system
D hilly and inappropriate for rail transport system
E heavily dependent on cars despite widespread poverty
F inefficient due to a limited public transport system
以下是本篇阅读题目的答案解析，大家在做完以上阅读题目之后可以进行参考：
Question 1
答案： ii
关键词：people power exercise
定位原文: A段第1句“In fact…”
解题思路：“The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.”就是暗示人民成功地履行了权利。
Question 2
答案： vii
关键词： increase travelling time
定位原文: B段最后1句“However…”
解题思路: 最后一句中的However是完成此题的关键。本段首句提到通勤时间在过去至少六百年中都维持不变，很有误导作用，但是接下来的However又引出...causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher, commuting 对应heading中的travelling。
故正确答案是vii。
Question 3
答案： iv
关键词：higher incomes not more cars
定位原文: C段前两句“There is…”
解题思路: 第2句的refutes that 表示否定了第1句的观点，因此只有iv符合。
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Question 4
答案： i
关键词: avoid overcrowded centre
定位原文: D段最后1句“Instead…”
解题思路: instead是一个转折连接词，后面的观点与前者刚好相反。上一句说 pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach，刚好证明我们应该避免造成一个过度拥挤的市中心。
Question 5
答案： iii
关键词：working together
定位原文: E段第3句“The explanation…”
解题思路: 定位句强调了人们在相关的领域一起工作非常重要，iii对应这个自然段内容。
Question 6
答案： FALSE
关键词：ISTP study
定位原文: 第1段第2、3句“The study compared…”
解题思路: 原文说的是thirty-seven cities around the worlds，与题干表述相互抵触。
Question 7
答案： TRUE
关键词： efficient / improve the quality
定位原文: 第2段最后1句“...these more efficient cities…”
解题思路: “创造出更好的居住环境”就是“改善了居民的居住环境”。
Question 8
答案：NOT GIVEN
关键词：inner-city/ tram network/ dangerous/ car drivers
定位原文: 第3段第3句“Melbourne’s large…”
解题思路: 谈到有轨电车系统使汽车的使用率降低了许多，但并未谈及私家车驾驶者。
Question 9
答案：FALSE
关键词： Melbourne/ outer suburbs
定位原文: 第3段最后1句“The explosion…”
解题思路: as to =concerning 就……方面;关于。这句话正说明人们喜欢住在近郊而非远郊。
Question 10
答案： TRUE
关键词： bicycle/ public transport
定位原文: 第5段的唯一一句话“Bicycle use…”
解题思路: averagely good与 reasonable but not special是同义表达。
Question 11
答案: F
关键词：Perth
定位原文: 第2段第1句和第4句
解题思路: 第二段第一句说Perth有minimal public transport，即相当于题干中的limited public transport system，下面又说Perth之外的一些城市是more efficient cities，所以正确答案为F。
Question 12
答案： D
关键词：Auckland
定位原文: 第7段第2句
解题思路: 提到 it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network，所以 Auckland 当然是hilly，既然“难以建立很好的轨道系统”，当然是不适合建这样的系统了。正确答案是D。
Question 13
答案：C
关键词：Portland
定位原文: A段的倒数第3句“The rail proposal…”
解题思路: 轨道运行良好肯定是盈利的。正确答案是C。
以上是网为大家分享的雅思阅读考前练习：Advantages of public transport，希望能够对大家更好的进行备考有帮助。
