单选题
The problems of the American cities -- pollution,
crime, transportation, a lack of planning -- are bad, but they were worse in the
so-called "good old days", according to Dr Charles Adrian. He gives pollution
from automobiles as one example. He agrees that it may be bad now, but he states
that there was a lot of pollution from horses and other animals in American
cities in the 19th century. "Most cities had their own
slaughterhouses (屠宰场) where cows and pigs were killed a century ago.
They were careless about throwing out the remains of the animals and that sort
of thing," he said. "And no measure was taken for waste disposal."
Some of the problems that bothered people living in the cities during
that period are still with us -- poor planning, problems in low-income
neighborhoods, police relations, and public transportation.
"Pollution was a very important problem for city governments in the last
century, particularly with regard to water supplies," Dr Adrian said. "They had
some idea that water could be polluted, but they didn't know how. Trying to get
pure water was a big problem." "People like to talk about the
good old days, but, actually, the cities of the 19th century were dirty.
Communicable diseases like smallpox were great concerns. The infant death rate
was high, and there were other dangers as well."
单选题
In Dr Adrian's opinion, today's American cities are ______.
A. worse than the cities in the "good old days"
B. better than the cities in the so-called "good old days"
C. more seriously polluted than in the "good old days"