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Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
One of the most common images of an advanced, Western-style culture is that of a busy, traffic-filled city. Since their first (36) ______ on American roadways, automobiles have become a (37) ______ of progress, a source of thousands of jobs and an almost inalienable right for citizens’ personal freedom of movement. In recent (38) _______, our “love affair” with the car is being (39) ________ directly to the developing world, and it is increasingly (40) _______ that this transfer is leading to disaster.
American’s almost complete dependence on automobiles has been a terrible mistake. As late as the 1950s, a large (41) ________ of the American public used mass transit. A (42) ________ of public policy decisions and corporate scheming saw to it that countless (43) ________ and efficient urban streetcar and intra-city rail systems were dismantled. (44) ___________________________________________________. Our lives have been planned along a road grid—homes far from work, shopping far from everything, with ugly stretches of concrete and blacktop in between.
Developing countries are copying Western-style transportation systems down to the last detail. (45) _________________________________________________________. Pollution control measures are either not strict or nonexistent, leading to choking clouds of smog. Gasoline still contains lead, which is extremely poisonous to humans. (46) _____________________________________________________________________.
In addition to pollution and traffic jams, auto safety is a critical issue in developing nations.
