Section B
Passage One
[26]One of the complaints of city residents, not surprisingly, is the lack of parking. This problem is partly caused by all the abandoned cars on the streets. It has been estimated by A to Z Towing Inc., a nationwide tow-truck agency, that over one million cars are abandoned on the streets and alleyways of the nation's cities. Each year, approximately a third of those cars are removed and destroyed. [27]The rest of the cars, which are not removed, take up parking spaces and make neighborhoods look run-down.
A survey of twenty cities by A to Z reports that as much as 30 million dollars is spent annually to tow away and dismantle abandoned vehicles. One city alone, Los Angeles, spends five million dollars a year to control the accumulation of abandoned cars on its streets. Even though the city spends so much money on the program, it is always fighting a losing battle as more and more cars are constantly coming off the production line.
On the other hand, Boston, which spends most of its money on museums and libraries, does not appropriate tax money to clean abandoned cars off the streets. [28]In Boston the problem has been dealt with by a non-profit government agency called Street Horizons, which uses the money from the recycling of metal in the cars to pay for the cost of towing them. The program in Boston sounds good although it has not completely reached financial independence from the federal government yet. Until a truly self-sufficient program for removing old cars is developed, it will remain a serious problem.
Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26. What is the problem with abandoned cars?
正确答案：C
解析：推断题。文章开篇就指出城市居民经常抱怨停车场地少，其中一个原因就是由街上被抛弃的旧车所致，故C为正确答案。
27. What does A to Z Towing Inc. say about the abandoned cars?
正确答案：C
解析：短文提到，A to Z Towing Inc.估计有100多万辆车被遗弃在大街小巷，每年大约有1/3被拖走或销毁，剩下的车没有拖走。由此可知没拖走的车所占比例约为2/3，故C正确。选项D的little与短文接下来提到的各个城市花费了大量的金钱来处理abandoned cars不符。
28. How has Boston dealt with the abandoned cars?
正确答案：B
解析：细节题。在波士顿，这一问题由一家名为Street Horizons的非赢利性政府机构通过回收利用废旧汽车来解决，故B为正确答案。
