1 . One of the most important changes cities must make to improve life in them is to separate people from their cars. Even when you have a strong public transport system in moving people between population hubs, the last mile - that section between the railway station and someone’s home, for example - can lead to car use if it’s considered too far or too dangerous to walk.
The idea of a low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) - where cars are banned from quieter ‘rat runs’ (偏僻小路) to keep them on the major routes - has taken off in parts of the UK. LTNs attempt to filter out cars from residential streets using bollards, camera-controlled gates or even planters full of flowers placed across the road, while pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles can still pass.
Analysis for the active transport charity Sustrans found that “driving a mile on a minor urban road is twice as likely to kill or seriously injure a child pedestrian, and three times more likely to kill or seriously injure a child cyclist, compared to driving a mile on an urban A-road,” and that heavy car traffic in residential areas can lead to a rise in social isolation. LTNs reduce this danger, leading to a three-fold reduction in injuries, and have been shown to increase the number of visitors to local businesses.
Also popular are e-scooter hire trials, which are taking place in towns and cities including Middlesbrough, Bristol and Chelmsford. The trials see gaggles of electric scooters available to be picked up from street corners. The scooters are hired using an app and then, once they’re finished with, parked elsewhere inside the trial area, where they’re collected and recharged by the hiring company. A Department of Transport report on e-scooter use found they were “widely perceived to have environmental and convenience benefits,” but suffered from comparisons to children’s toys.
But that’s not all. The world’s first hub for demonstrating electric air taxis and drones opened in Coventry earlier this year. The taxis and drones based at the hub all take off and land vertically like helicopters and are being used to travel short journeys or deliver cargo.
Weaning us off our car addiction is one of the more difficult barriers standing between us and healthier cities. The first step that needs to be taken will be to tackle the dominance of the car.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．People are considered reliant on cars to travel. |
| B．Public transport system still needs improvement. |
| C．Pollution from cars has an impact on people’s life quality. |
| D．Residential areas are usually far away from the railway station. |
| A．It’s a way to encourage social interaction and local business. |
| B．It’s a series of measures to reserve the streets to walking residents. |
| C．It’s a system that employs high technology to keep cars on the main roads. |
| D．It’s a practice proved effective in keeping children safe from traffic accidents. |
P=Paragraph
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．To call on readers to construct a healthier city. |
| B．To promote the latest developments in car alternatives. |
| C．To introduce possible ways to get rid of dependence on cars. |
| D．To inform citizens of technological advances to tackle social problems. |
假定你是英国学生Peter，在北京一中学习，于5月1日给朋友Mary写信，谈论北京与伦敦的异同。内容如下：
| 伦敦 | 北京 |
| 汽车靠左行 | 汽车靠右行 |
| 交通方便 | 交通方便 |
| 阴天多 | 晴天多 |
| 懂汉语的人少 | 懂英语的人多 |
| 学生较放松 | 学生学习勤奋 |
【写作要求】
文章必须包括所有内容要点，但不要逐条翻译，可适当发挥使短文连贯；
字数：80-100词，信的开头、结尾已给出，不计入总词数；
参考词汇：convenient 方便的
Dear Mary,
I am writing to tell you something different between London and Beijing.
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That’s all for today. Please write to me.
Yours lovely,
Peter
