| cause global warming, pick up, sharing cars, get stuck in a traffic jam, are addicted to, make excuses, protect the environment, do a lot of harm |
Many people often
Too many cars
Is traffic a big problem where you live? Increased cycling may be the answer. Where are the best places to live and cycle? A new report lists the best bike—friendly cities around the world.
Top of the list is Amsterdam, the bike capital of the world. An incredible 40% of all traffic movements are by bicycle. There’s an extensive network of safe, fast and comfortable cycle routes. Copenhagen, the city of bikes, is a city where 32% of workers cycle to work because it’s fast and easy. Berlin is another European city that’s great for cycling. The city has about 80 kilometres of bike lanes, and 50kilometres of pavement paths. Cycling accounts for 12% of total street traffic.
Barcelona has been praised for its cycle service “Bicing”. It’s a bicycle service that allows users to take bicycles from any of the 100 stations spread around the city. Later, they can leave them at any other bike station inside the urban area of the city. The city has created a “green ring” that surrounds the city area with a bike path. There are 3,250 parking spaces for bikes at street level at present. Barcelona City is also building a new underground car park for bicycles.
The UK has its cycle friendly cities too. Bristol is the birthplace of “Sustrans” the cycle-route charity which was formed 30 years ago. One of their projects was turning an old rail line between Bristol and Bath into a bike route. Other bike friendly cities in the UK include Cambridge and York. Cambridge is an old city but has still managed to build good cycle infrastructure (基础设施), and cyclists are considered at every stage of any new developments.
Bicycle is a most popular means of transportation in China. Nowadays, riding a bicycle is also a good way to support low-carbon living. Beijing can be one of the best bike-friendly cities in China. There are many riding routes in Beijing for outdoor-lovers to explore. Cyclists can get close enough to experience the history and culture of Beijing, including the Forbidden City, Drum Tower, the Water Cube etc.
1. What are the bike-friendly cities mentioned in the passage?2. What makes Amsterdam the bike capital of the world?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
·Cyclists can leave their bikes anywhere in Barcelona.
4. As far as you know, what has been done to make Beijing a bike-friendly city?
3 . The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.
Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.
Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.
These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”
“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”
Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”
“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”
“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”
1. What is the purpose of the Drive LAB?| A．To explore new means of transport. | B．To design new types of cars. |
| C．To teach people traffic rules. | D．To find out older driver’s problems. |
| A．It keeps them independent. | B．It helps them save time. |
| C．It builds up their strength. | D．It cures their mental illnesses. |
| A．Ensure their safety with the help of technology. |
| B．Improve their diving skills. |
| C．Provide advice on repairing their cars. |
| D．Organize regular physical checkups. |
| A．A New Model Electric Car | B．Keeping Older Drivers on the Road |
| C．A Solution to Traffic Problems | D．Driving Services for Elders |
Amsterdam has become very popular with cyclists because of the convenience for bicycles. In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans came up with an idea
Some bullet trains don’t run on tracks at all. They fly over them. They
6 . When it comes to lowering our carbon emissions (排放), it seems that nothing is simple. Electric vehicles (EVs) act as an example of potential greenwash. “They seem very attractive at first sight,” writes The Next Web in a report. “When we look more closely, it becomes clear that they have a substantial carbon footprint.”
The rare earth metals and costly minerals included as essential ingredients in EV batteries are not renewable. What’s more, their extraction (提炼) is often anything but green.
So the question is: is it worth it? Just how much emission reduction can EVs justify? Luckily, a life cycle assessment has been done to give us some answers.
“A life cycle analysis of emissions considers three phases,” writes The Next Web. “the manufacturing phase, the use phase, and the recycling phase.” In the manufacturing phase, the battery is to blame. “Emissions from manufacturing EV batteries were estimated to be 3.2 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), 1/4 of those from an electric car, 13 tons of CO2. Those were bigger than emissions from gas cars, 10.5 tons of CO2.” If the vehicle life is assumed to be 150,000 kilometers, emissions from the manufacturing phase of an electric car are higher than gas cars.”
In the use phase, the source of electricity the consumer is using to power their car comes into play in a major way. “To understand how the emissions of electric car vary with a country’s renewable electricity share, consider Australia and New Zealand,” continues the report. “In 2018, Australia’s share of renewables in electricity was about 21%. In contrast, the number in New Zealand’s was about 84%. Electric car emissions in Australia and New Zealand are estimated at about 170g and 25g of CO2 per km respectively. As a consumer, our car is only as green as our country’s energy mix.”
Finally, in the recycling phase, we look at vehicle dismantling(拆除), vehicle recycling, battery recycling, and material recovery. “The estimated emissions in this phase, based on a study, are about 1.8 tons for a gas car and 2.4 tons for an electric car. This difference is mostly due to the emissions from battery recycling, which is 0.7 tons,” shows in the report. “While electric cars cause more greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars do, it's important to note the recycled batteries can be used in subsequent batteries. This could have significant emissions reduction benefits in the future. For complete life cycle emissions, the study shows that EV emissions are 18% lower than gas cars.”
So here’s the takeaway: EVs are greener. Maybe they’re not as green as we thought. There’s certainly room for improvement. But the real challenge lies in speeding the global energy transition toward greener energy-production.
1. Why is a life cycle analysis of emissions made?| A．To illustrate the advantages of EVs. |
| B．To show how gas cars outperform EVs. |
| C．To weigh the environmental impact of EVs. |
| D．To examine the energy sources of gas cars and EVs. |
| A．By giving instructions. | B．By highlighting features. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．Recycling of batteries. | B．Overall driving distance. |
| C．Manufacturing technology. | D．Government’s energy policy. |
| A．EVs are worthy of the praise they have received. |
| B．EVs are not successful for their environmental downsides. |
| C．EVs will no longer be widely accepted for their emissions. |
| D．EVs are not truly green until their energy sources become green. |
Once a small county in mountains and little-known to the rest of China, Chongli in Hebei Province, where most of the snow sports
A warning system to prevent drivers from falling asleep was introduced at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services,
Recently, police in Mumbai have come up with a new system to punish those who cannot wait at traffic lights
假如你是李华，你们学校将组织学生参观首都博物馆（the Capital Museum）。请参考下面提供的信息，给来自英国的交换生Chris写一封邮件，告诉他活动安排。
邮件的开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数。
| Time | July 12 |
| Activities | listen to a lecture on Chinese history try on traditional Chinese clothes and do a role-play learn to make a teapot and take it home … |
How’s everything going?
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Best regards,
Li Hua
