U1W5: Smart Cars for Clean Air

With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?

• We should look for new sources of gasoline.

• The automobile was the best invention ever

• We need to make cars that do not pollute the air

• The government should stop production of all cars.

Read this sentence from the article.

It is clearly time to rethink how we use cars in our daily lives. The prefi x re- can mean either “again” or “back.”

Which answer choice uses re- in the same way as rethink ?

• read

• reheat

• resource

• reward

What reason from the text best supports the author’s point of view that cars make life better for people?

• Hybrid cars can run on gasoline.

• Burning gasoline damages the environment.

• Hybrid cars do not require a lifestyle change.

• We rely on cars to take us anywhere we want to go

Which statement best states the author’s point of view about gas-powered cars?

• They are best used in city environments.

• They are the best form of transportation.

• They should be replaced with better cars for the environment.

• They should be donated to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Read this sentence from the article.

Hybrid vehicles currently coexist with gas-powered cars.

What does coexist mean?

• exit

• are born

• learn from each other

• are used at the same time

What is one effect of using a hybrid car?

• spending less time charging a car battery

• reducing traffic problems on the roads

• saving fossil fuels for other uses

• promoting safe driving habits

Read this sentence from the article. Environmentalists have talked about the dangerous effects of air pollution for decades.

The word decades includes the Greek root dekas, meaning “group of ten.”

What does decades mean?

• ten-year periods

• profi table years

• times in history

• ten dollars

Which statement supports the author’s point of view on transportation?

• It is not necessary to change driving habits.

• Cars are a convenient way to travel.

• People rarely use their cars.

• Cars are more important than the problems of pollution.

Read this sentence from the article.

The government could make it a precondition that all new car owners buy hybrids.

Based on this sentence, you can tell the prefi x pre- means

• after.

• against.

• before

• without.

Read this sentence from the article.

Transcontinental car manufacturers should be required to stop selling the gas-guzzling cars of yesterday.

The prefix trans- means “beyond” or “through.” What does the word transcontinental mean?

• near the continent

• under the continent

• above the continent

• across the continent