2021考研英语一真题阅读答案及解析
It has become a grimlyreliable annual ritual:every January the cost of travelling bytrain rises, imposing a significant extra burden on those whohave no option but to use the rail network to get to work orotherwise.This year's rise, an average of 2.7 percent, may bea fraction lower than last year's, but it is still well above theofficial Consumer Price Index(CPI)measure of inflation.Successive governments have permitted such increases on thegrounds that the cost of investing in and running the railnetwork should be borne by those who use it, rather than thegeneral taxpayer.Why, the argument goes, should a car-driving pensioner from Lincolnshire have to subsidise thedaily commute of a stockbroker from Surrey?Equally there isa sense that the travails of commuters in the South East, manyof whom will face among the biggest rises, have received toomuch attention compared to those who must endure therelatively poor infrastructure of the Midlands and the North.However, over the past12 months, those commuters have alsoexperienced some of the worst rail strikes in years.It is allvery well train operators trumpeting the improvements theyare making to the network, but passengers should be abl