同等学力阅读理解练习及解析(一).pdfVIP

同等学力阅读理解练习及解析(一) In spring of 2004, when US gas prices hit US $2 a gallon, University of Washington senior Jo Blue kept on driving. After Hurricane Katrina last August, prices topped US $3 a gallon. But Blue kept driving. Now, when prices have leveled -at about US$ 2.25, she still commutes an hour everyday to her job as a swim coach. Blue has to get to work and public transportation is not an option. Buses to the suburb where she works are infrequent, so Blue has no choice but to spend US$30aweekongas. High gas prices, which began to soar in 2004, have Americans-whose way of life depends oncars-complaining, butnotdoingmuchtochange thecountry’scarculture. Like Blue, most Americans, except those in major cities, drive to work. Many live in sprawling suburbs which are accessible only by car. The average American spends 55 minutes eachday behindthe wheel, accordingto the US Department ofTransportation. In 2003, the US’s 290,000residentsregistered237,000vehicles. Many experts say that this car driven lifestyle is unsustainable. “An event like Hurricane Katrina demonstrates how constrained and fragile the energy supply is now,” said Barry Silverthorne,producerof “TheEndofSuburbia”,adocumentaryaboutAmericancarculture. In the 1950s, King Hubert, a geologist working for Shell, a major US oil company, predictedthat therate ofoil extraction（提取）couldnotcontinuetoincrease forever.Onceall the high quality or easiest-to-reach oil was extracted, oil would become progressively scarcer and moreexpensiveuntilthesupplyrunsoutaltogether. Many major oil fields in the Middle East have reached or will soon reach their peaks, says Megan Qinn, director of the Community Solution, an organization that promotes sustainable development. Though most experts agree the US should become less dependent on cars, few have addressedtheissue of “how”. “Deep down in America many of us have a sense that we are about to hit