Unit 3. English File Intermediate.

Read the text.

A radical transport system

As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, there has been a huge increase in China’s urban population. With so many more people also able to afford cars, China’s cities now have some of the biggest traffic congestion problems and produce more pollution than any other country in the world.

But one Chinese engineer, Youzhou Song, has designed an exciting solution: the straddling bus (a bus which goes across and above part of the road, like a moving bridge). This bus, which looks like a train, holds passengers on the top level while cars can continue to drive beneath. The bus, travelling at about 40 kilometres an hour, will not move as fast as a car, but it will never have the problems of traffic jams. It is as wide as two lanes of the road, but it won’t slow down the traffic. It can carry 1,200 passengers, and replace up to 40 conventional buses, saving 860 tons of fuel and 2,640 tons of carbon emissions per year. As it also runs on a combination of electricity and solar power, it offers a much greener, cleaner, quieter and more economical form of transport. It is also three times faster and ten times cheaper to build than the same length of underground railway. Designed with a huge window in the top of the bus, it is also a lighter and more cheerful way to travel!

Choose the correct answer.

The traffic has got _____ in China in recent years.