解答篇
解题4步骤
1. 阅读短文，抓关键信息
Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government grant program. Its aim is to ensure that small communities once served by commercial airlines do not lose air services. The EAS now plans to build airports in remote rural communities that are more than 110 km away from a commercial airport. Several benefits are stated in support of the program.

First, the service is aimed at farmers, fishermen, small miners, loggers and others working in remote areas. Without air connections, some of these towns have no convenient connection with the outside world. The air subsidy program attempts to make it possible for people living in rural areas to enjoy the same access to air travel as people in cities.

Second, the service can also boost the local economy. Communities once distant from population and transport centers now become local tourist destinations. Skagway, Alaska, for example, is a day’s sail from the state capital of Juneau. But, by a small plane, it is only a half-hour trip. With the advent of a small local passenger service, the little burg turned from a ghost town in the early 1980’s to a tourist destination receiving nearly a million visitors a year by the year 2000. The vast majority were cruise ship tourists brought from Juneau by air.

Finally, the program provides a modest economic stimulant as it encourages the purchase of small aircraft and the development of local airports. Also, the sales of fuel and aircraft maintenance provide an extra shove to seasonal and sluggish local economies.

2．记笔记，转述关键信息
假说：
【原文摘要】 Essential Air Service (EAS) → build airports / remote rural communities
/ > 110 km ← commer~ airport
【笔记转述】 Essential Air Service (EAS) finds three benefits to build airports in remote rural communities that are more than 110 kilometers away from big airports.

根据1
【原文摘要】 air travel: people / rural areas = people / cities
【笔记转述】 The air subsidy program plans to allow people living in both rural areas and cities to enjoy the same air travel.

根据2
【原文摘要】 service → ↑ local economy
【笔记转述】 The service can also promote the development of local economies of rural areas.

根据3
【原文摘要】 ↑ purchase small aircraft & ↑ local airport
【笔记转述】 The program aims to encourage the purchase of small aircraft and boost local airports.

3． 听讲座，抓关键信息
Keeping small communities linked to the outside world. Useful…noble even, right? Yes…sometimes. It’s that “sometimes” I want to talk about now, because EAS also has its critics. And when you listen, the critics make some serious points.

If your town is 110 km away from a commercial airport, what would you do? You can drive to the airport. And how long does it take you to drive 110 km in the country? Probably two hours. So the time people spent on rural roads is about the same amount of time people living in cities would take to get to the airport. So the EAS should not subsidize the people in rural communities as they can use other means of transportation to get to big airports in cities.

Second, if you’re going to subsidize local economies, why not subsidize the cities? The migration pattern in the U.S. over the past seventy years has been from the country to cities. Why pump money into remote rural areas? Since airlines move more people into the city than out, why not subsidize the major urban areas? It’s a natural process.

Finally, it will be prohibitively expensive if we decide to continue EAS. Many aircraft companies have discontinued the production of small aircraft. The parts necessary to keep the small planes flying are therefore comparatively expensive. Plus, the cost of replacement and maintenance will definitely be rising, and building small airports is no longer economical. In a word, the motives behind EAS are praiseworthy. The thinking, especially from an economic standpoint, is pretty sloppy.

4. 记笔记，转述关键信息
反驳
【原文摘要】 EAS / critics → serious points
【笔记转述】 The critics of EAS’s plan raise serious points.

理由1
【原文摘要】 dr → airport
EAS × ↑ ppl / rural ∵ other trsp → airport
【笔记转述】 People living in rural areas can drive or take other means of transportation to airports in larger cities. EAS should not support them by building an airport further out.

理由2
【原文摘要】 if ↑ local econ~, ↑ cities
∵ air → ppl → city, ×out
【笔记转述】 Providing subsidies to cities is the key to boosting the local economy. The reason is
that airplanes take more people into cities than out.

理由3
【原文摘要】 comp~× ↑ small aircraft
parts → ↑ $
cost / repl~ & maint~ ↑
【笔记转述】 Most aircraft companies have stopped producing small aircraft. So the parts for operating small planes are very expensive, let alone the cost of replacement and maintenance. 

 

 

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