题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
山西省太原市第五中学2016-2017学年高一下学期英语5月月考试题
Americans drove more miles in 2015 than any year since the U.S. government started keeping records 45 years ago. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDT) recently reported that Americans drove a record of 3.148 trillion miles last year. In case you are wondering, that is enough to take 337 round trips from Earth to Pluto.
There are a number of reasons why Americans are driving more miles. The social experts agree that the first is the price of gas, which has dropped to the level of the year 2004 in the past year. The American Automobile Association (AAA) said that the average price of gas was just $1.71 a gallon. That could be the lowest price since 2004.
P.J. Sriraj, a director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Chicago, notes that the lower cost to fill up a car is just one reason. Another reason is that more Americans are back to work after the 2008 economic recession, and they drive to their jobs.
Besides, more Americans have to travel a long distance every day between home and the office. There are a lot of Americans who must travel more than 45 miles per day for their jobs. And as for many, there is not enough public transportation.
Because of the heavy traffic, roads are becoming more and more crowded. While modern cars are more fuel-efficient, the improvement is not enough to offset more cars on the road. “There is no doubt that driving more will make the air dirtier,” said P.J. Sriraj. And many Americans showed a great concern in a recent survey.
Favorite Books for Kids
◆Me and Marvin Gardens by A. S. King Image Source: Scholastic This middle-grade novel is perfect for introducing kids to recycling, but with a fun science fiction story. Obe lives on his family's farmhouse that was built a hundred years ago-and now it's being taken over by developers. While adventuring on the land, he discovers a creature, Marvin Gardens, which only eats plastic. Kids will love this charming story. Available from Amazon, $11.89 | |
Wrinkle in Time: A Guide to the Universe by Kari Sutherland Image Source: Disney Publishing World Wide Kids may get excited to see A Wrinkle in Time. While the original novel may be too hard of a read for them right now, they can dive into the fantastical world the film takes place in with this awesome guide to the characters and locations. Available from Amazon on March 6, $11.04 | |
◆Rivers of Sunlight by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm Image Source: Scholastic Get kids going green with a little help from this educational picture book! Filled with excellent artwork and helpful explanations, these pages are filled with important lessons about the Earth. Kids will learn about how the sun keeps the ocean currents(流)moving and how the sun can power all living things—it's pretty amazing. Available from Amazon, $7.67 | |
◆How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk Image Source: Penguin Random House Pearl's sandcastle keeps getting ruined by puppies (who could be mad at that?). So she teams up with her Robot friend Pascal to solve the problem with code(编码). Combining the fun of building a sandcastle with the discovery of coding, a future engineer will love paging through this story. Available from Amazon on May15, $16.99 |
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