Passage Three
Twenty years ago London could have claimed the title “Smog City, Europe”. Three fourths of its smoke is gone now and the remarkable change was caused by a series of killer fogs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The worst of these settled over London on December 5th, 1952. For four continuous days the city’s normal daily death rate of over 50, in all, some 4,000 extra deaths that winter were blamed on the incident. More such fogs came in the winters that followed. Each gave people a big alarm.
In 1956 Parliament passed the Clean Air Act, declaring that factories and homes in critical areas of the city must switch from soft high sulphur coal to less smoky fuels: hard coal, gas, electricity, or oil. Inevitably there were economic problems and complaints, both to householders and to industries. But, with each passing year, London’s air grew clearer.
London has proved that the veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone. In sunny Spain, Madrid has joined the ranks of fog cities. In Italy, acid from smog cuts into centuries old sculpture. And each rain here in Washington washes more acid onto our marble buildings and monuments.
The massive struggle to clean our air began so recently that victory seems far off. But we have taken an important step and we realize we must do something. In the frequency quoted words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. Which city’s buildings are not suffering from smog now?
【解析】選[B]。根據(jù)短文內容可知，目前Madrid, Italy, Washington的煙霧污染都很嚴重，只有倫敦成功地驅散了城市上空的煙霧(London has proved that veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone)，即只有London的建筑物不受煙霧的侵害，[B]項正確。
34. Where was the article probably published?
【解析】選[C]。文中的And each rain here in Washington...表明了說話人所在的地點： Washington。Washington是美國的首府，所以本文很可能是在美國發(fā)表的，[C]為答案。
35. Which of the following can best describe the main idea of the article?
【解析】選[D]。由上題可知，作者身在華盛頓，表現(xiàn)出了對城市污染狀況的憂慮。由此推斷，作者之所以提到倫敦這個成功控制煙霧的榜樣，應是想呼吁美國人也開始朝這方面努力。選項[D]與此推斷相符，為答案。
Twenty years ago London could have claimed the title “Smog City, Europe”. Three fourths of its smoke is gone now and the remarkable change was caused by a series of killer fogs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The worst of these settled over London on December 5th, 1952. For four continuous days the city’s normal daily death rate of over 50, in all, some 4,000 extra deaths that winter were blamed on the incident. More such fogs came in the winters that followed. Each gave people a big alarm.
In 1956 Parliament passed the Clean Air Act, declaring that factories and homes in critical areas of the city must switch from soft high sulphur coal to less smoky fuels: hard coal, gas, electricity, or oil. Inevitably there were economic problems and complaints, both to householders and to industries. But, with each passing year, London’s air grew clearer.
London has proved that the veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone. In sunny Spain, Madrid has joined the ranks of fog cities. In Italy, acid from smog cuts into centuries old sculpture. And each rain here in Washington washes more acid onto our marble buildings and monuments.
The massive struggle to clean our air began so recently that victory seems far off. But we have taken an important step and we realize we must do something. In the frequency quoted words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. Which city’s buildings are not suffering from smog now?
【解析】選[B]。根據(jù)短文內容可知，目前Madrid, Italy, Washington的煙霧污染都很嚴重，只有倫敦成功地驅散了城市上空的煙霧(London has proved that veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone)，即只有London的建筑物不受煙霧的侵害，[B]項正確。
34. Where was the article probably published?
【解析】選[C]。文中的And each rain here in Washington...表明了說話人所在的地點： Washington。Washington是美國的首府，所以本文很可能是在美國發(fā)表的，[C]為答案。
35. Which of the following can best describe the main idea of the article?
【解析】選[D]。由上題可知，作者身在華盛頓，表現(xiàn)出了對城市污染狀況的憂慮。由此推斷，作者之所以提到倫敦這個成功控制煙霧的榜樣，應是想呼吁美國人也開始朝這方面努力。選項[D]與此推斷相符，為答案。