问答题【2014年真题】（2014下）It sounds so promising. A network of dedicated cycle routes runs through a city，withair pumps to fix flat tires, footrests to lean on while taking breaks and trash cans that are specially angled, so you can throw in empty water bottles without stopping.

Best of all, you can cycle on those routes for long distances without having to make way for cars and trucks at junctions and traffic lights, according to the official description of the Cycle Super Highways, which are under construction here as part of the Danish capital’s efforts to become carbon-neutral by 2025.

Are they as good as they sound? These days it is hard to find a big city that doesn’t make grandiose claims to encourage cycling, and harder still to find one that fulfills them. Redesigning congested traffic systems to add bike lanes to overcrowded roads is fiendishly difficult, especially in historic cities with narrow cobbled streets like Copenhagen. But as its cycling program sounds so ambitious, I went there to try it.

Maybe I’d be less cynical if I lived in Amsterdam，Cologne or any other city with decent cycling facilities. But as a Londoner，I’ve learned the hard way to be suspicious whenever politicians promise to do anything bike-friendly. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, is a keen cyclist，who issues policy papers with auspicious titles like “Cycling Revolution” and has continued his predecessor’s biking program by introducing a cycle-rental project and building new bike lanes.

So far, so good. You may think, unless you have braved the potholes, parked trucks and construction debris that obstruct those lanes，many of which appear to have been designed by someone who has never seen a bicycle, let alone ridden one.

Luckily for Copenhagen's cyclists, their system has been more thoughtfully designed. The capital is a compact, reasonably flat city which is naturally bike-friendly, and even its old cycle routes are wider and better maintained than London’s. More than a third of Copenhageners already bike to work or school, mainly on short journeys of an average of 5 kilometers, or 3 miles.

The city's traffic planners hope to encourage people to cycle for longer distances creating the cycling equivalent of freeways, which will provide fast, direct routes of up to 22 kilometers into the center. A total of 28 highways are planned, providing 495 kilometers of dedicated bike tracks. The first one from the western suburb of Albertslund opened in April 2012, followed a year later by the second, from Farum, northwest of the city.

What are the super highways like? Judging by my experience of the Farum route, they’re great. Impressive though the air pumps，footrests and angled trash cans are, the biggest thrill was pedaling through the “green waves” of uninterrupted green traffic lights， which have been programmed to prioritize cyclists over cars.

It was also cheering to see bikers chatting while cycling two or three abreast in“conversation lanes”. Like most urban bikers，I usually value the practical benefits of cycling, as a speedy means of transport and convenient form of exercise，but the Farum route made itas pleasurable as zipping along empty country lanes. The planners hope the foil network will eventually encourage a 30-percent increase in cycling among Copenhagen^ commuters, which would be hugely beneficial in terms of reducing the city9s C02 emissions and health care costs.