Question

Urbanization

Until relatively recently, the vast majority of human beings lived and died without ever seeing a city. The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago.    1._ . In fact, nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural (鄉(xiāng)村的) villages. It was not until the 20th century that Great Britain became the first urban society in history--- a society in which the majority of people live in cities and do not farm for a living.

Britain was only the beginning.   2._  .The process of urbanization--- the migration (遷移) of people from the countryside to the city--- was the result of modernization, which has rapidly transformed how people live and where they live.

In 1990, fewer than 40% of Americans lived in urban areas. Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms.    3.     .

Large cities were impossible until agriculture became industrialized. Even in advanced agricultural societies. It took about ninety-five people on farms to feed five people in cities.   4.       . Until modern times, those living in cities were mainly the ruling elite(精英) and the servants, laborers and professionals who served them. Cities survived by taxing farmers and were limited in size by the amount of surplus food that the rural population produced and by the ability to move this surplus from farm to city.

Over the past two centuries, the Industrial Revolution has broken this balance between the city and the country.       5.  . Today, instead of needing ninety-five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non-farmers.

A．That kept cities very small.

B．The rest live in small towns.

C．The effects of urban living on people should be considered.

D．Soon many other industrial nations become urban societies.

E. But even 200 years ago, only a few people could live in cities.

F. Modernization drew people to the cities and made farmers more productive.

G. Modern cities have destroyed social relations and the health of human beings.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.E

2.D

3.B

4.A

5.F

【解析】

文章大意：文章的主題是城市化，講述了城市化由過去城市規(guī)模小，農(nóng)民人口多，到后來現(xiàn)代化之后，城市規(guī)模大，農(nóng)民人口少的現(xiàn)象，體現(xiàn)了產(chǎn)量的增加，社會的變遷。

1.根據(jù)前一句“The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago”可知，此處講的是以前城市的情況，即第一座城市僅僅是5500年才出現(xiàn)的，甚至200年前，也只有很少一部分人生活在城市中。其他幾個選項沒有關于以前城市的描述。故選擇E

2.根據(jù)前一句的“ Britain was only the beginning”可知，英國只是個開始，關鍵詞beginning, 因此后面出現(xiàn)的是soon, 句意為，英國只是個開始，很快，其他工業(yè)國家也變成了城市化社會。

3.根據(jù)前一句的“Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms”目前，超過82%的美國人住在城市，只有2%的人住在農(nóng)場，在講完了82%和2%之后，還有剩下的人呢，住在哪里呢？因此可以推斷出，下一句講述的是the rest即，其余的人住在什么地方。因此，選擇B，意為，其余的人住在城鎮(zhèn)里。

4.推理判斷，根據(jù)前一句的”It took about ninety-five people on farms to feed five people in cities”可知，要有95個人在農(nóng)場里工作，才能養(yǎng)活5個城市里的人，因此城市里居住的人肯定要少，規(guī)�？隙ê苄。�因此選擇A項，意為這種原因?qū)е铝顺鞘幸?guī)模很小。

5.根據(jù)后面的“ Today, instead of needing ninety-five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non-farmers”可知，現(xiàn)在一個美國人在農(nóng)場里工作，可以養(yǎng)活100多個非農(nóng)美國人，因此現(xiàn)代化讓農(nóng)民更加多產(chǎn)，讓更多的人可以居住在城市里。