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It’s easy to dismiss as absurd the federal government’s ideas for plugging the chronic funding gap of our national parks. Can anyone really think it’s a good idea to allow Amazon deliveries to your tent in Yosemite or food trucks to line up under the redwood trees at Sequoia National Park?
But the administration is right about one thing: U.S. national parks are in crisis. Collectively, they have a maintenance backlog of more than $12 billion. Roads, trails, restrooms, visitor centers and other infrastructure are crumbling.
But privatizing and commercializing the campgrounds would not be the panacea that the Interior Department’s Outdoor Advisory Committee would have us believe. Campgrounds are a tiny portion of the overall infrastructure backlog, and concessionaires in the parks hand over, on average, only about 5% of their revenues to the National Park Service.
Moreover, increased privatization would certainly undercut one of the major reasons why 300 million visitors come to the parks each year: to enjoy nature and get a respite from the commercial drumbeat that overwhelms daily life.
The real problem is that the parks have been chronically starved of funding. We conducted a comprehensive survey examining how U.S. residents view their national parks, and we found that Americans place a very high value on them—whether or not they actually visit them. The peer-reviewed economic survey of 700 U.S. taxpayers, conducted by mail and internet, also found that people would be willing to pay a significant amount of money to make sure the parks and their programs are kept intact. Some 81% of respondents said they would be willing to pay additional taxes for the next 10 years to avoid any cuts to the national parks.
The national parks provide great value to U.S. residents both as places to escape and as symbols of nature. On top of this, they produce value from their extensive educational programs, their positive impact on the climate through carbon sequestration, their contribution to our cultural and artistic life, and of course through tourism.
The parks also help keep America’s past alive, working with thousands of local jurisdictions around the country to protect historical sites—including Ellis Island and Gettysburg—and to bring the stories of these places to life. The parks do all this on a shoestring. Congress allocates only $3 billion a year to the national park system—an amount that has been flat since 2001 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) with the exception of a onetime boost in 2009 as part of the Obama stimulus package. Meanwhile, the number of annual visitors has increased by more than 50% since 1980, and now stands at 330 million visitors per year.
1. What problem are U.S. national parks faced with ________.
2. Increased privatization of the campground may ________.
3. According to para. 5, most respondents in the survey would ________.
4. The national parks are valuable in that they ________.
5. It can be concluded from the text that the national park system ________.

问题1选项
A.decline of business profits
B.inadequate commercialization
C.lack of transportation services
D.poorly maintained infrastructure
问题2选项
A.spoil visitor experience
B.help preserve nature
C.bring operational pressure
D.boost visits to parks
问题3选项
A.go to the national parks on a regular basis
B.advocate a bigger budget for the national parks
C.agree to pay extra for the national parks
D.support the national parks’ recent reforms
问题4选项
A.lead the way in tourism
B.have historical significance
C.sponsor research on climate
D.provide an income for the locals
问题5选项
A.is able to cope with staff shortages
B.is able to meet visitor’ demands
C.is in need of a new pricing policy
D.is in need of a funding increase
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