When
fighting in Iraq was at
its height, Hummer drivers
regarded their choice of
vehicle as a patriotic act.
"When I turn on the TV, I see
wall-to-wall Humvees, and I'm
proud," Sam Bernstein told
the New York Times. "They're
not out there in Audi A4s," he
said of the troops.
Someone who drives an
SUV, according to its critics,
does not care about the
environment.
At the heart of
this controversy, like so many
here in recent years, is
America's favourite drug - oil.
Federal figures show that
four-wheel-drive SUVs
average 17.3 miles per gallon
and on some larger models
that goes down to 12.
Hummers are even worse. In
comparison, the average
petrol-fuelled saloon
manages 30mpg. In a country
where, according to the US
department of energy, per-
capita energy consumption
has been about 4.5
times
greater than the world
average, the debate over
SUVs is linked to the broader
national debate - namely
what responsibility America
has to the rest of the world
and how it should go about
fulfilling it. "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 pull together for
the common good 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 climb faster than
those of any other type of car.
One
of the reasons that the
protesters' entreaties may
have converted so few is that
while the SUV's fuel
consumption makes a big
difference to the environment,
it has little effect on the
wallet. 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.
The Guardian Weekly
©Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Taken from the News section in
www.onestopenglish.com
Match the beginnings with the endings:
Environmentalists are opposed to SUVs becau
se ….
The fake parking tickets that protesters place on SUVs ….
The communications director of SUVOA believes that ….
SUVs are ….
The war in Iraq made SUV owners feel that ….
In general SUVs …
US per-
capita energy consumption ….
The environmentalists’ protests have fallen on deaf ears because ….
a. … is more than 4 times the world average.
b. … the arguments of the environmentalists are false.
c. … their choice of car was a patriotic act.
d. … they cause more damage to the environment
than ordinary
cars.
e. … consume about 45% more fuel than ordinary cars.
f. … the price of fuel is not an issue in the USA.
g. … the most successful type of car in US automobile history.
h. … question the owners’ need to buy such large vehicles.
Find two wo
rds which mean ‘false’.
Find a word which means ‘damage’.
Find a word which means ‘complaining’.
Find a word which means ‘famous’ and ‘representing a particular idea’.
Find a word which means ‘critics’ or ‘opponents’.
Find a word which means ‘a family car’.
Find a two-
word expression which means ‘to co
-
operate’.
Find a word which means ‘strong requests’.
©Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Taken from the News section in
www.onestopenglish.com
Fill the gaps with these verbs from the text.
fulfil
turn on
have
express
provoke
put
make
set
go
to ____________ an example
to ____________ an effect
to ____________ someone in jail
to ____________ controversy
to ____________ a belief
to ____________ the TV
to ____________ a responsibility
to ____________ a difference
to ____________
to war
Make a list of the points for and against owning SUVs.
Should the sale of large cars be banned?
©Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Taken from the News section in
www.onestopenglish.com