Closed-circuit televisions make it easy for a large number of students to see everyth

A.Provide hard evidence for criminal prosecution

B.Apprehend criminals

C.Deter criminal activity

D.Increase guard visibility

growing US cities have simply built more roads. But traffic experts say building more roads is a quick-fix solution that will not alleviated the traffic problem in the long run. Soaring land costs, increasing concern over social and environmental disruptions caused by road building, and the likelihood that more roads can only lead to more cars and traffic are powerful factors bearing down on a 1950s-style. construction program①.

The goal of smart-highway technology is to make traffic systems work at optimum efficiency by treating the road and the vehicles traveling on them as an integral transportation system. Proponents of the advanced technology say electronic detection systems, closed-circuit television, radio-communication, ramp metering variable message signing, and other smart-highway technology can now be used at a reasonable cost to improve communication between drivers and the people who monitor traffic②.

Pathfinder, a Santa Monica, California-based smart-highway project in which a 14-mile stretch of the Santa Monica Freeway, making up what is called a "smart corridor," is being instrumented with buried loops in the pavement. Closed-circuit television cameras survey the flow of traffic; while communication linked to property equipped automobiles advise motorists of the least congested routes or detours.

Not all traffic experts, however, look to smart-highway technology as the ultimate solution to traffic gridlock. Some say the high-tech approach is limited and can only offer temporary solutions to a serious problem.

"Electronics on the highway addresses just one aspects of the problem: how to regulate traffic more efficiently," explains Michael Renner, senior researcher at the world-watch Institute. "It does not deal with the central problem of too many cars for roads that cannot be built fast enough. It sends people the wrong message. They start thinking 'yes, there used to be a traffic congestion problem, but that's been solved now because we have advanced high-tech system in place." Larson agrees and adds, "Smart highway is just one of the tools that we use to deal with our traffic problems. It is not the solution itself, just pan of package. There are different strategies."

Other traffic problem-solving options being studied and experimented with include car-pooling, rapid mass-transit systems, staggered or flexible work hours and road pricing, a system whereby motorists pay a certain amount for the time they use a highway③.

It seems that we need a new, major thrust to deal with the traffic problems of the next 20 years. There has to be a big change and a long way to go.

The compound word "quick-fix' (Line 2, Para. 1 ) is closest in meaning to ______.

A．an optional solution

B．an expedient solution

C．a ready solution

D．an efficient solution

Governments Are Trying

A 1990 United Nations survey revealed that the more highly developed countries spend an average of 2 to 3 percent of their annual budgets on crime control, while developing countries spend even more, an average of 9 to 14 percent. Increasing the size of the police force and providing it with better equipment takes priority in some localities. But results are mixed. Some Hungarian citizens complain: "There are never enough policemen to catch the criminals but always enough to catch traffic violators."

Many governments have recently found it necessary to pass tougher crime laws. For example, since "kidnapping is on the rise across Latin America," says Time magazine, the governments there have responded with laws that are "at once vigorous and ineffectual .... Passing laws is one thing," it admits, "applying them another."

It is estimated that in Britain more than 100,000 neighborhood watch schemes, covering at least four million homes, existed in 1992. Similar programs were implemented in Australia in the mid -1980's. Their aim, says the Australian Institute of Criminology, is to reduce crime "by improving citizens' awareness about public safety, by improving residents' attitudes and behaviour in reporting crime and suspicious events in the neighbourhood and by reducing vulnerability to crime with the help of property identification and installation of effective security devices."

Closed-circuit television is used in some places to link police stations with commercial premises. Video cameras are used by police, banks, and stores as a crime deterrent or as a tool for identifying lawbreakers.

In Nigeria the police have checkpoints on highways in efforts to apprehend robbers and carjackers. The government has set up a task force on trade malpractices to combat fraud. Policecommunity relations committees made up of community leaders inform. the police of criminal activity and people of questionable character.

Visitors to the Philippines note that homes are generally not left unattended and that many people have watchdogs. Businessmen employ private security guards to protect their businesses. Anti-theft devices for cars sell well. People who can afford to do so withdraw to tightly secured subdivisions or condominiums.

The London newspaper The Independent commented: "As confidence in the rule of law falls, citizens are organising the defence of their own communities in increasing numbers." And more and more people are arming themselves. In the United States, for example, it is estimated that every second household owns at least one gun.

Governments are constantly developing new methods of combating crime. But V. Vsevolodov, of the Academy of Home Affairs in Ukraine, points out that according to UN sources, so many gifted people are finding "unique methods of carrying on criminal activity" that "the training of law enforcement personnel" cannot keep up. Clever criminals funnel huge sums of money back into businesses and social services, merging with society and "gaining for themselves high positions in society."

What is the main reason for citizens to take in hand the defence of themselves？______

A．There are not enough policemen.

B．They do not trust the' rule of law.

C．The police force is inefficient.

D．Security devices do not work.