Fill the gaps by using these key words from the text

particularly important for all the 
trees you're going to run into 
when you drive around New 
York City." And then he puts a 
fake parking ticket on them. 
"Violation: Earth," it says. 
"Open your eyes, take a few 
deep breaths, and get honest 
with yourself… Why do you 
need 
such a huge car? This is not 
a militarized zone." 
Ron DeFore, the 
communications director of 
SUV Owners of America 
(SUVOA), says if anyone like 
Weinstock touched his SUV, 
he would "hire a private 
detective to find him and have 
him thrown into jail for 
damaging private property." 
He is tired of 
environmentalists criticising 
Americans for their choice of 
vehicle. He believes their 
arguments about the 
environment and safety are 
wrong. His message to them? 
"Get on with your life and stop 
complaining." 
SUVs, and their military 
equivalent, the Hummer, 
have made "light trucks" the 
most successful category the 
US car industry has ever 
known and one of the most 
profitable. But they are also 
extremely controversial, 
mainly because of their 
reputation for using large 
quantities of petrol. SUVs are 
hated by environmentalists. 
SUVs were set alight by 
protesters in Pennsylvania; in 
Washington state they have 
had their windshields 
smashed; in Massachusetts 
they were spray-painted with 
the slogan: "No Blood for Oil". 
The message from SUVOA's 
founder on its website 
begins: "Is this a Great 
Country or What? Yes it is." 
Why? "Because we have the 
freedom to own and operate 
the vehicles of our choice 
and to express our belief that 
freedom must not be 
diminished because some 
people dislike SUVs." During 
the war in Iraq, Hummer 
drivers regarded their choice 
of vehicle as a patriotic act. 
"When I turn on the TV, I see 
Humvees everywhere, and 
I'm proud," Sam Bernstein 
told the New York Times. 
“American soldiers in Iraq are 
not driving Audis!”
According to the 
environmentalists, SUV 
drivers do not care about the 
environment. Once again, it 
is all about oil. Federal 
statistics show that four-
wheel-drive SUVs average 
17.3 miles per gallon and on 
some larger models that goes 
down to just 12 miles a 
gallon. Hummers are even 
worse. In comparison, the 
average petrol-fuelled saloon 
manages 30mpg. Each 
person in the USA consumes 
about 4.5 times more energy 
©Macmillan Publishers Ltd 
Taken from the News section in
www.onestopenglish.com 

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than the world average, so 
the debate over SUVs is 
linked to what responsibility 
America has to the rest of the 
world and how it should fulfil 
that responsibility. "You could 
say that the American way is 
to do what you want when 
you want," says Weinstock. 
"But there's another American 
way where people work 
together for the good of 
everyone and we try to set 
an example for the rest of the 
world." 
So far the protests have had 
little effect on the American 
conscience. Sales of SUVs 
continue to grow faster than 
those of any other type of car. 
One of the reasons that the 
protests have had such little 
effect is that while the SUV's 
fuel consumption makes a big 
difference to the environment, 
it has little effect on the pocket. 
At about $1.67 a gallon (3.8 
litres), gasoline in America is 
so cheap that an extra five 
miles to the gallon would save 
the average American only 
$135 a year.