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

1.E

2.D

3.B

4.A

5.F

【解析】

試題分析: 本文以城市化為中心，講述了城市由過去規(guī)模小，農(nóng)民人口多，到后來現(xiàn)代化之后，城市規(guī)模逐漸變大，農(nóng)民人口逐漸減少的現(xiàn)象，反應(yīng)了社會的變遷。在過去的兩個世紀(jì)中工業(yè)革命打破了城市和鄉(xiāng)村的平衡，現(xiàn)在一個美國的農(nóng)民就能夠供給一百個非農(nóng)業(yè)人口的糧食。

1.考查對語境的理解和上下文的推理判斷能力。根據(jù)前句“The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago”和后句nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural (鄉(xiāng)村的) villages.可知此處講的是以前城市的情況，縱觀選項(xiàng)只有E選項(xiàng)內(nèi)容涉及到了過去的城市情況，內(nèi)容符合語境，選E。

2.考查對語境的理解和上下文的推理判斷能力。根據(jù)前一句的“ Britain was only the beginning”可以判斷后面要講述逐漸的一種變化，英國只是個開始，因此D選項(xiàng)內(nèi)容Soon many other industrial nations become urban societies.可以承接上文，選D。 句意：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.考查對語境的理解和上下文的推理判斷能力。根據(jù)前一句的“Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms”可知目前超過82%的美國人住在城市，只有2%的人住在農(nóng)場，由此可以推斷下一句應(yīng)該介紹其余人們的情況，而B選項(xiàng)中the rest恰好對此做出了補(bǔ)充，因此選B。句意：其余的人住在城鎮(zhèn)里。

4.考查對語境的理解和上下文的推理判斷能力。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，由此推斷城市里居住的人肯定要少，規(guī)�？隙ê苄。�選A。句意：這種原因?qū)е铝顺鞘幸?guī)模很小。

5.考查對語境的理解和上下文的推理判斷能力。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，選F。

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