According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain
improvements to the main commuter rail line would increase
ridership dramatically. The authority plans to finance these
improvements over the course of five years by raising automobile
tolls on the two high-way bridges along the route the rail line
serves. Although the proposed improvements are indeed needed, the
authority’s plan for securing the necessary funds should be
rejected because it would unfairly force drivers to absorb the
entire cost of something from which they receive no benefit.
119.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the
effectiveness of the authority’s plan to finance the proposed
improvements by increasing bridge tolls?
(A) Before the authority increases tolls on any of the area
bridges, it is required by law to hold public hearings at which
objections to the proposed increase can be raised.
(B) Whenever bridge tolls are increased, the authority must pay a
private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting
machines.
(C) Between the time a proposed toll increase is announced and the
time the increase is actually put into effect, many commuters buy
more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase.
(D) When tolls were last increased on the two bridges in question,
almost 20 percent of the regular commuter traffic switched to a
slightly longer alternative route that has since been improved.
(E) The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate
Automobile Club that has registered strong opposition to the
proposed toll increase.
答案是D. 如何判断这个20%是不是significant呢? 比如原价$1, 现在涨到
$3, 这样即使有20%的人绕开, 依然还有(3-1)x80%=240%的收入啊.
题目并没有给出effectiveness的具体定义, 没有说明到底钱收少了影响大,
还是钱收晚了影响大,所以C答案也可能是正确答案. 并且C中人们也可以一次
就把2到3年的费提前交了, 这样的话与20%比较也说不上谁减少的多.
请大家指教一下.
119.
Increasing bridge tolls might not increase revenues if such
increases prompt a significant percentage of regular bridge users
to switch to alternative routes. Choice D says that a previous
increase prompted such switches. Choice D, by establishing a strong
precedent for commuters’ responding to higher tolls by avoiding
them altogether, raises doubts about the plan’s effectiveness and
is thus the best answer.
Choices A and E suggest that the plan might face opposition but not
that it will be defeated not that the anticipated revenue will not
be generated. Therefore neither A nor E is correct. Weighed against
five years’ projected revenues, the considerations raised in
choices B and C would not have a significant impact. Thus neither B
nor C is correct. | 
