Question

  When my brother and I were young,my mum would take us on Transportation Days.

It goes like this： You can’t take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home,walking two blocks to the rail station. We’d take the train into the city centre,then a bus,switching to the tram,then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district,but we didn’t like the way the horses were treated,so we never did. At the end of the day,we took the subway to our closest station,where Mum’s friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.

  The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mum taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的).She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and,above all,a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.

  Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform,nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car,if you have one,becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one,limiting both your mobility and your wallet.

  On Transportation Days,we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy,but the transportation was the point. First,it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older,my mum helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself： How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets,and where to get them? What track,what line,which direction,where’s the stop,and will I get wet when we go under the river?

  I’m writing this right now on an airplane,a means we didn’t try on our Transportation Days and,we now know,the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mum met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.

(   ) 1. Which was forbidden by Mum on Transportation Days?

   A. Having a car ride.

   B. Taking the train twice.

   C. Buying more than one toy.

   D. Touring the historic district.

(   ) 2. According to the writer,what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?

   A. Building confidence in herself.

   B. Reducing her use of private cars.

   C. Developing her sense of direction.

   D. Giving her knowledge about vehicles.

(   ) 3. The underlined word “paralyzed”(in Para. 5) is closest in meaning to      

   A. displayed   B. justified

   C. ignored   D. ruined

(   ) 4. Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of?

   A. Airplane.

   B. Subway.

   C. Tram.

   D. Car.

Answer 1

[文章大意]本文記敘了作者小時候母親帶著她和弟弟過交通曰的情形，即在這一天他們要乘坐各種交通工具，但每種交通工具只能乘坐一次。母親認為依賴小汽車不利于孩子想象能力和自信心的培養。

1. B細節理解題。由第二段"…You can't take any means of transportation more than once."可知，"交通日"的規則是這一天任何交通工具乘坐不能多于一次。故B項正確。

2. A推理判斷題，文章第三段提到"交通日不僅僅意味著母親教給他們出行方式，更重要的是母親認為依賴小汽車是想象力，尤其是自信心的失敗"。所以交通日最大的好處是"建立自信"。故A項正確。

3. D詞義猜測題。作者年齡稍長，母親幫助她解開許多交通方面的困惑，否則她會因為對于未知的恐懼而"打消"親自嘗試的念頭。ruin毀滅，毀壞。故D項正確。

4. A推理判斷題。由文章最后一段可知，作者是坐在飛機上寫這篇文章的。而飛機是他們在交通日所沒有嘗試過的，現在他們知道它是最臟也最能污染環境的交通工具。由此可以推斷，作者最不認同的交通工具就是飛機。故A項正確。