Click the player button at the beginning of each sentence to hear it read aloud. Place the cursor on an underlined word to see a definition in the status bar below and click on it for more information. For residents of most parts of this country, existing without an automobile would be almost inconceivable. Owning a car in New York City, however, is more of a liability than an advantage. Insurance costs are prohibitively high, parking spaces notoriously unavailable, and the prospect of commuting via city streets and expressways eminently unappealing. Access to an automobile becomes a true necessity only when attempting to leave the city. This is the predicament in which I now found myself . For years, I had gotten along without a car, but now that I was ready to depart from the city, my vehicular deficiency posed a serious problem. From Chance, by Mark Feder |