The private car has long played an important role in the United States. In 1971 eighty—three percent of American families owned at least one car, and twenty--three percent had more than one. By giving workers rapid, convenient transportation, the car has freed them from having to live near their place of work. This has helped develop the growth of the suburbs, but it has also led to traffic problems in the city. In addition, the car has caused neighborhood ties to be weak by making it easy to keep up friendship at a distance and to enjoy leisure activities far from home.
For farm families the car is a great comfort. It has relieved their loneliness, making it possible for them to travel to town frequently for business and for pleasure, and also to transport their children to distant schools.
Family life has been affected in various ways. The car helps to keep families together when it is used for picnics, outings, camping trips, and other shared experiences. However, when teenage children use or own one, they can easily escape from their parents. For some--young or old--using a car leads to dangerous traffic accidents caused by carelessness or by deliberate breaking of driving laws. In 1971, over 5,000 people were killed in car accidents in the U. S., and many more were injured. This number has been somewhat reduced by the gas shortage which has decreased driving to some degree and has also lowered the speed limit.
For many Americans the car is something necessary as well as convenient. But for some, it is also a mark of social status, an important middle--class symbol, and for young people, a sign of becoming an adult. Altogether, cars mean much to Americans.
1. The car makes it possible for workers to
A. work in the suburbs
B. make more friends
C. live farther from factories
D. work fewer hours
2. It can be inferred from the passage that before the farmers owned cars,
A. it was not convenient for them to live on their farms
B. they did not feel lonely living on their farms
C. they could not send their children to schools
D. they could only travel to town frequently for business but not for pleasure
3. Of the car's side effects, the author doesn't mention
A. air pollution
B. traffic problems
C. weak neighborhood ties
D. teenagers' escape from parents
4. From the passage, we can guess that
A. there will be fewer car accidents in the United States
B. the car will cause personal relationship to be weaker
C. people cannot live happily without cars in the United States
D. the car will be merely a mark of social status
5. What's the main idea of the passage?
A. The car has two sides as anything else.
B. The car plays an important role in American life.
C. Some people are not aware of the car's effects on teenagers.
D. The car has advantages though it causes troubles and dangers.