Topic 70 Have automobiles improved modern life? I support the statement that automobiles have caused serious problems

I support the statement that automobiles have caused serious problems. While automobiles have brought us many conveniences, they surely have brought us many undesirable consequences (нежелательных последствий), of which three can be singled out (могут быть выделены): traffic congestion (пробки), air pollution, and highway accidents.

I've kept up a friendship with a girl I was at school with twenty years ago. — Я поддерживаю дружбу с девочкой, с которой мы вместе ходили в школу двадцать лет назад.

Automobiles have congested (заполонили) city streets. The problem is more obvious when the masses of motor vehicles enter or leave cities at peak traffic hours. The constantly (постоянно) growing number of automobiles throughout the world (по всему миру) has made the congestion problem worse and worse because planners and engineers simply cannot find a solution to keep up with the increasing volume of traffic growth. The widespread use of automobiles for business travel has also led (также привело) in many cities to a decline (к снижению) in public-transit systems, which result in more and more use of private cars, and exacerbate (усугубить) the congestion problems.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that - Данная проблема осложняется тем, что

Air pollution is another problem caused by the automobile. Car exhausts commonly contribute half the atmospheric pollutants in large cities and even more in cities where atmospheric and topographic conditions cause the smog formation. Although many cities require the installation of catalytic converters and other controls on motor vehicles to restrict (ограничить) the emission of pollutants, the concentration of many thousands of motor vehicles in large cities has given the problem a new dimension (размер).

Under these distressing circumstances what could I do? — Что я мог сделать при таких печальных обстоятельствах?

Highway accidents create a distressing toll of fatalities (грустные потери несчастный случай с летальным исходом) and injuries wherever there is widespread use of automobiles. Each year there are hundreds of thousands of motor vehicle fatalities worldwide and about 50,000 in the United States alone. The social and economic costs of such accidents are enormous. Efforts to improve highway safety have been successful in most countries, but a reduction in the ratio of fatalities and injuries per distance traveled is often offset (компенсируется) by increases in numbers of accidents because of the ever-growing use of motor vehicles.

In short, automobile has brought us more bane (бич, проклятие, гибель) than boon (удобство). We should take public transportation whenever possible, and reduce the number of cars running in urban streets.