Changing to electric vehicles makes sense. Now it can make cents, too. France on Wednesday announced a program to get high gas consumption old cars off the road by offering a grant（补助金）to buy an electric bike.
A French driver can get $2,991 towards a new e-bike. The grant is high enough to buy a quality e-bike. To receive the grant, the driver has to ensure their old car to be taken off the road and scrapped(报废). Replacing the highly inefficient gas-powered vehicles will help France meet its the Paris Agreement goals to keep global warming below 2℃. In 2018, 200countries-including France-agreed to the Paris Rulebook that details the way countries can relieve climate change and this includes limiting greenhouse gas emission(排放). Other benefit to the programme is to get cars off crowded roads. After all, e-bikes take up far less room. And cleaner air due to fewer pollutants is also a big plus.
A similar program was introduced in Norway. The project for the old car was actually spearheaded by the country’s government. Drivers applied to receive a grant for up to $1,200 to buy a bicycle, e-bike, e-motorcycle, or even public transportation credits for turning in their old vehicles. More than 8,500 people applied for the grant. Finland also has a similar grant, which is used to help fund more than 1,000 low emission cars,2,000 e-bikes, and 200public transportation tickets. “For the first time it is recognized that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number, ” Olivier Schneider of the French Federation of Bicycle Users said.
Since the French grant is more than twice the amount of the Finnish and Norwegian ones, it should be more successful. Getting a large number of high gas consumption off the road will go a long way in helping to reduce emissions, road crowdedness, and less pollution in the air.
【小题1】Why does France give drivers a grant to buy electric bikes?| A．To help repair old cars. | B．To help electric bike sellers. |
| C．To make the economy better. | D．To protect the environment. |
| A．Electric bikes are popular with the French. |
| B．Preventing global warming is difficult to achieve. |
| C．The French programme is not more costly than Norway. |
| D．France has announced the conditions of getting the grant. |
| A．corrected | B．added | C．led | D．discussed |
| A．He is a news reporter. | B．He is a novel writer. |
| C．He is an e-bike buyer. | D．He is a French driver. |
