41.    

In the two years following the unification of Germany in 1989, the number of cars owned by residents of East Germany and the total distance traveled by cars in East Germany both increased by about 40 percent.  In those two years, however, the number of East German residents killed each year as car occupants in traffic accidents increased by about 300 percent.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disproportionate increase in traffic fatalities?

(A) The average number of passengers per car was higher in the years before unification than it was in the two years after.

(B) After unification, many people who had been living in East Germany relocated to West Germany.

(C) After unification, a smaller proportion of the cars being purchased by East German residents were used vehicles.

(D) Drivers who had driven little or not at all before 1989 accounted for much of the increase in the total distance traveled by cars.

(E) Over the same two-year period in East Germany, other road users, such as motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians, experienced only small increases in traffic fatalities.

不明白为什么选D

原文要求解释的就是一个数字的差异，新车增加了40%，但是事故增加了300%

如果增加的新车的车主都是新司机，那肯定危险系数就比较大了。：）D的意思。

需要一个条件使得相差悬殊的数据能够在理论上衔接。

说明之前的evidence都是正确的。

因此使用里面的主要名词the owners and distance，可以推出选项中均存在这两个名词或者同意词并说明之间关系的答案就是正确的。

 个人愚见。

想請問 那A不可以嗎?

(A) The average number of passengers per car was higher in the years before unification than it was in the two years after.

車上的人 平均變多了 不是表示說 萬一出事 也多一點人受傷嘛?