6 . The misery of my bike commute in Calgary, Alberta, is the river valley hill. It’s not particularly steep, but at about a mile long, I rarely climbed up without arriving with sweat. Studies have shown the prospect of arriving at work sweaty is one of the biggest _________ to getting would-be bike commuters out of their cars. That’s especially true in a city like Los Angeles, where _________ may face long routes , hills or hot streets with a lack of shade.
“Pedelec”, or pedal electric-assisted bikes like the one I rode, can end that worry. They look and act like traditional bicycles, but their motors make pedaling much easier when required. Sometimes called the most energy-efficient motorized mode of transportation ever built, they’re also incredibly green. The biggest barrier may be the outdated attitude that sees bikes only as a recreational athletic opportunity rather than a practical _________ option.
At a time when cities across North America are struggling to combat crippling traffic and reduce climate emissions, e-bikes have the _________ to ease the both problems. And yet ridership has yet to truly _______.About 152,000 e-bikes were sold last year in the U.S., a figure that would be more than 5 million if Americans used them at the same rate as western Europeans.
Many of the barriers to e-bike _________in North America are legislative. Patchwork rules treat e-bikes more like mopeds than traditional pedal bikes in some jurisdictions,meaning they are _______from bike lanes and from boarding public transportation.
Few places on the continent, _________, are better poised to break through barriers than California. Legislation was approved last year to encourage e-bike use, by legally differentiating the cycles from mopeds. In an attempt to head off worries about turbocharged machines flying down sidewalks and bike lanes at unsafe speeds, the law classifies bikes into different tiers to _______ lower-speed e-bikes, which top out at 20 mph, from faster-moving “speed pedelecs”, which are restricted from protected bike paths.
Amid these legislative ________, e-bikes have become more accessible to consumer. Finding them in bike shops isn’t as __________ as it once was, and their cost has fallen as the price of lithium-ion batteries has dropped. Today, a decent e-bike, while still __________, is comparable in price to a high-end mountain bike. After years of ____________over mixing pedal and motor power, cycling advocacy organizations also are finally throwing their support behind e-bikes. Dave Snyder, the executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, __________ the state’s new legislation based partly on the __________that e-bikes help out those who“just can’t ride as far or as fast as they need to”.
1. | A．advantages | B．processes | C．barriers | D．complements |
2. | A．riders | B．builders | C．customers | D．volunteers |
3. | A．production | B．communication | C．facilities | D．transportation |
4. | A．routine | B．potential | C．temporary | D．major |
5. | A．make of | B．carry on | C．bring up | D．take off |
6. | A．adaptation | B．adoption | C．adjustment | D．justification |
7. | A．proved | B．alerted | C．banned | D．authorized |
8. | A．however | B．unless | C．meanwhile | D．anyway |
9. | A．originate | B．combine | C．separate | D．satisfy |
10. | A．factors | B．benefits | C．limits | D．damages |
11. | A．proper | B．critical | C．sensational | D．difficult |
12. | A．expensive | B．distinctive | C．sensitive | D．intensive |
13. | A．trouble | B．concern | C．power | D．scale |
14. | A．favored | B．folded | C．referred | D．gifted |
15. | A．appeal | B．address | C．amount | D．advocate |
