The problems of getting around the city of Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. Its population has increased eightfold since 1980 and swells by half a million people every year. United Nations projections anticipate it will become a megacity within seven years as its population passes 10 million, reaching 13.4 million by 2035. Daniel Hoornweg for the Global Cities Institute forecasts the city could be home to an incredible 73.7 million people by 2100.
Today, four out of five of its people live in single-storey informal settlements on the spreading edges of the city, where the journey to and from the centre regularly takes over two hours. It can be longer if rain turns the dirt roads to mud.
Even in the middle of the day, traffic frequently slows to a stop without warning. It is not unusual for cars and minibuses to queue for 20 minutes at a key intersection. A single suburban rail line serves residents in a few areas to the south but is tiny in the context of the wider city. Outside the centre many rely on boda boda (motorbike taxis) to navigate the narrow side streets and potholed mud roads that make up much of the metropolis. Their safety record is scandalous.
Dar es Salaam's reliance on four arterial roads into the city is a legacy of the colonial government that planned the city at the start of the 20th century to cater for a population of 35,000. Most of the current growth is made up of young people arriving from the countryside to find work, and as the population has exploded, Dar es Salaam has grown around those four highways. Nearly all the expansion is happening on the periphery, and nearly all takes place informally without any agreed strategy.
But Dar es Salaam is pinning its hopes on a solution that could offer a different model for Africa's megacities, giving them an alternative to a future controlled by the private car. Unlike many cities on the continent, Dar es Salaam isn't trying to build a metro. It has chosen a less exciting but cheaper and more achievable method: the bus.
The DART bus rapid transit (BRT) system runs on bus lanes separated from other traffic, mostly in the middle of the road to reduce stoppages. Ticket purchase and control takes place at stations prior to boarding and the buses are step-free, which means the entire route is accessible to people using wheelchairs or who are travelling with baby buggies.
'The new buses are much, much better,' says Paulas George, a young IT worker. He takes the bus every day and it has cut his journey time by two-thirds. He says it is not perfect, though, complaining that drivers often refuse to turn on the air conditioning to save fuel.
That is not the only problem. A shortage of buses after a serious flood at the main depot during the rainy season means the system is carrying 200,000 people a day – half the expected capacity. Smartcards can't be used as the mechanical readers aren't working either, forcing passengers to buy individual paper tickets for every journey. Each is printed with a scannable QR code, but there are no scanners. Staff stand by the gates and tear tickets as people enter. As a result, queues are considerable at peak times.
Morogoro Road to the north-west of the city was phase I of the BRT project. Phases II and III will install bus lanes along Nyerere Road to the south-west and Kilwa Road to the south. Construction on both routes is due to start imminently. Phase IV, towards Bagamoyo in the north, is in the preliminary design stage. 'Much of the city will have access to a world-class transport system within the space of a few years,' says Chris Kost, the Africa director of ITDP (the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy). All phases are being planned to high standards and, once complete, a third of city residents will be within a short walk of the BRT network.
The ITDP regrets Africa's obsession with metros. 'With a metro, an international firm will often just parachute in its own system,' says Kost. 'Bus rapid transit allows existing stakeholders to get involved. That's what we did in Dar es Salaam and what we're planning in Nairobi, where the bus bodies will be built in the city and local operators will look after tickets, fare collection and IT ...Bus rapid transit has been transformational for Dar es Salaam. For millions of people in African cities, this is their best hope of ever being connected.'
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
关键字：population， more rapidly than，previously predicted
答案位置：第 1 段第 1—2 行
题解：题目：达累斯萨拉姆的人口增长速度比先前预测的速 度更快。
解析：首先介绍一个考生需注意的关键字判定方法， 如果题目中的专有名词是文章标题，或者文章就是在描述它，比如本文的 Dar es Salaam，它出现在标题、全文每个段落，和每道判断题里，那么它就不再是关键字，只需关注该题其他信息点即可。如本题我们要关注的就是，该城市的 population 的增长速度是否比预测的更快。文中提及了该城市人口增长了八倍 （population has increased eightfold），但并未说明是否有先前预测，或者是否比预测更高 / 更低。因此答案为 NOT GIVEN。
关键字：most of the residents， live in high-rise blocks，edge
答案位置：第 2 段第 1—2 行
题解：题目：达累斯萨拉姆的大多数居民居住在城市边缘的高层住宅楼里。
解析 : 本题要判定大部分居民居住的位置，是否在城市边缘的高楼。原文在描述人口定居情况时，使 用“four out of five…people live in…”，对应题干里的“most of the residents”这一概念；而后文指出，这些人都居住在城市不断扩张的边缘区域（spreading edges of the city），这与题目描述的 on the edge of the city 符合。但文中提及这些人居于单层非正式聚居区里（single-storey informal settlements），这与题目中的 high-rise blocks 相矛盾。因此答案为 FALSE。
关键字：residents， consulted， views on the suburban rail line
答案位置：第 3 段第 3—4 行
题解：题目：达累斯萨拉姆规划郊区铁路线路时有征求过当地居民的意见。
解析：本题要判定建造铁路有没有征求本地居民意见。 文中提及关键字 suburban rail line 时，只说到了城市只有这一条铁路，是为南部少数地区提供服务的，它的规模微不足道等信息，并未提及建造之初有没有征求当地居民的意见。因此答案为 NOT GIVEN。
关键字：majority， present residential development， unplanned
答案位置：第 4 段倒数第 1—2 行
题解：题目：目前达累斯萨拉姆的大部分住宅开发都是缺乏规划的。
解析：文中提到由于入城务工青年的增多导致人口暴增（exploded），城市不断围绕这四条公路向外扩 张（grown）。这种扩张提示了题目中的关键字 present residential development 已经出现。后文指出，几乎所有（nearly all）开发扩张（expansion）都发生在城市边 缘，而且几乎都是（nearly all）不正式地（informally） 展开，没有统一的发展战略（without any agreed strategy）。此处 nearly all 代表了题目中的 majority，而 informally 和 without any agreed strategy 则都符合题目中 unplanned 的描述，所有成分一一对应。因此答案为 TRUE。
关键字：authorities， decided to follow，plan adopted by，a large number of African cities
答案位置：第 5 段第 1—3 行
题解：题目：达累斯萨拉姆的政府部门决定采用许多非洲城市所采取的公共交通方案。
解析：本题要判定，该政府采取的城市交通方案，是不是很多其他非洲城市所采用的。文中在指出该市交通乱象的根源之后（第 4 段），使用 but 作为转折， 指出该市正把希望寄托于（pinning its hopes on）一套全新方案，有望为非洲特大城市提供不同发展模 式（a different model）。这里以市名作主语，暗示着题目中关键字 authorities 已经出现，之后作者进一步陈述——与非洲许多城市不同（unlike many cities on the continent），该市没有（isn't trying）建地铁，而是选择了（chosen）公交车。此处 unlike，结合上文政府寄希望于 a different model，都表明了官方做出了与非洲其他许多城市不同的选择，这与题目中 decided to follow 相反。因此答案为 FALSE。
