单选题
{{B}}Passage One{{/B}} Money may not be
flowing much in Thailand's capital these days, but something more unlikely is
traffic. Motorists like to joke that it took the International Monetary Fund to
unclog Bangkok's notoriously jammed thoroughfares.
Before the economy crashed last summer, Bangkok was famous for its
round-the-clock gridlock. Stories of how people coped became urban lore. Thais
bought custom-made vans equipped with TVs and microwave ovens. On the endless
trips home after school and work, parents would serve family dinners, then the
kids would do their homework and change into pajamas before finally arriving.
One company did a booming business in plastic disposable toilets. Consumers
could get just about anything, from McDonald's hamburgers to prescription
medicine, delivered via motorbike. The solution for
easing congestion turned out to be simple: economic catastrophe. Rising fuel
costs, coupled with lost jobs and declining incomes, mean people are making
fewer trips. About 20,000 cars have been repossessed, while new-car buying has
dwindled from about 900 a day a year ago to just 300 now. Bus rider ship is up;
taxi trips are down. So many cabbies are having trouble making enough fares to
cover gas and car rental that hundreds of taxis are sitting idle every
day. Thinner wallets also mean people are spending less
time in bars, restaurants, movie theaters and shopping malls. Instead, they're
staying home. The government, much maligned in the past
for botching up mass transit construction, deserves credit as well. New
expressways have opened, and some of the construction that has blocked traffic
lanes for years has been cleared. The good times may not last, however, at least
for motorists. If traffic flow is in fact a reliable economic indicator,
Thailand may be on the rebound. "The last few days," says taxi driver Boonlarb
Srikam, "I've noticed the traffic getting busy again." Bring out those portable
toilets.
单选题
According to the passage, they can do all of the following in their
vans EXCEPT______.
A. watching TV
B. having meals
C. doing homework
D. taking showers
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 依据文章第二段,泰国人可以在车上吃饭,做功课,但不包括洗澡。显然选择D。
单选题
The author mentions a company that sells disposable toilets in order
to show that______.