英語四級閱讀練習(xí)精選內(nèi)容整理：城市發(fā)展

英語四級閱讀練習(xí)是提升英語能力不可或缺的環(huán)節(jié)。通過深入的閱讀練習(xí)，我們不僅能夠錘煉語言技巧，還能有效擴充四級考試的詞匯庫，進一步加深對語法知識的理解。這種綜合性的學(xué)習(xí)方式，無疑為全面提升英語水平打下了堅實的基礎(chǔ)。以下，我們將以一篇城市發(fā)展的文章為例，進行英語四級閱讀練習(xí)。

英文原文

Mass transportation revised the social andeconomic fabric of the American city in threefundamental ways. It catalyzed physicalexpansion, it sorted out people and land uses, andit accelerated the inherent instability of urban life.

大眾運輸以三種基本方式重塑了美國城市的社會經(jīng)濟結(jié)構(gòu)。它推動了物理擴張，對人口和土地利用進行了分類，并加速了城市生活固有的不穩(wěn)定性。

By opening vast areas of unoccupied land forresidential expansion, the omnibuses, horserailways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to fourtimes more distant form city centers than they were in the premodern era. In 1850, forexample, the borders of Boston lay scarcely two miles from the old business district; by theturn of the century the radius extended ten miles.

通過開發(fā)大片未占用的土地用于住宅擴張，公共汽車、馬拉軌道車、通勤火車和電動軌道車將定居區(qū)域向城市中心以外擴展了兩到四倍的距離，比前現(xiàn)代時期更遠。例如，1850年，波士頓的邊界距離老商業(yè)區(qū)僅有兩英里；到世紀(jì)之交時，半徑擴展到了十英里。

Now those who could afford it could live farremoved from the old city center and still commute there for work, shopping, andentertainment. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major citysparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urbansprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recordedwithin the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas. Over the same period, another 550,000 were plotted outside the city limits but within the metropolitan area. Anxiousto take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers added 800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years – lots that could have housedfive to six million people.

現(xiàn)在，那些買得起房子的人可以遠離舊城市中心居住，同時仍可以通勤上班、購物和娛樂。幾乎每個主要城市周邊土地的新增可通達性引發(fā)了房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)的爆炸式增長，并推動了我們現(xiàn)在所說的城市蔓延。例如，在1890年至1920年間，芝加哥市界內(nèi)記錄了約25萬個新住宅地塊，其中大部分位于外圍地區(qū)。在同一時期，芝加哥市界外但位于大都市區(qū)的地塊又規(guī)劃了55萬個。急于利用通勤的可能性，房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商在短短三十年內(nèi)就為芝加哥地區(qū)增加了80萬個潛在建筑用地——這些地塊可以容納五六百萬人。

Of course, many were never occupied; there was always a huge surplus of subdivided, but vacant, land around Chicago and other cities. These excesses underscore a feature ofresidential expansion related to the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl wasessentially unplanned. It was carried out by thousands of small investors who paid littleheed to coordinated land use or to future land users. Those who purchased and prepared landfor residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders where transit lines andmiddle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond toit. Chicago is a prime example of this process. Real estate subdivision there proceeded muchfaster than population growth.

當(dāng)然，許多地塊從未被占用；芝加哥和其他城市周圍總是存在大量被分割但空置的土地。這些過?，F(xiàn)象凸顯了與大眾運輸增長相關(guān)的住宅擴張的一個特點：城市蔓延基本上是未經(jīng)規(guī)劃的。它是由成千上萬的小投資者進行的，他們很少關(guān)注協(xié)調(diào)土地利用或未來的土地使用者。那些購買并準(zhǔn)備土地用于住宅用途的人，尤其是預(yù)計會有交通線路和中產(chǎn)階級居民入住的城市邊界附近或以外的土地，他們的行為與其說是響應(yīng)需求，不如說是創(chuàng)造需求。芝加哥就是這一過程的典型例子。那里的房地產(chǎn)細分速度遠遠超過了人口增長速度。

問題

1. With which of the following subjects is the passage mainly concerned?

A. Types of mass transportation.

B. Instability of urban life.

C. How supply and demand determine land use.

D. The effect of mass transportation on urban expansion.

2. Why does the author mention both Boston and Chicago?

A. To demonstrate positive and negative effects of growth.

B. To exemplify cities with and without mass transportation.

C. To show mass transportation changed many cities.

D. To contrast their rate of growth.

3. According to the passage, what was one disadvantage of residential expansion?

A. It was expensive.

B. It happened too slowly.

C. It was unplanned.

D. It created a demand for public transportation.

4. The author mentions Chicago in the second paragraph as an example of a city,

A. that is large.

B. that is used as a model for land development.

C. where the development of land exceeded population growth.

D. with an excellent mass transportation system.

答案解析

1. D 公共交通運輸對城市擴展的影響。文章開門見山提出這一點“公共交通運輸從三個根本方面改變了美國城市的社會和經(jīng)濟結(jié)構(gòu)。”后面文章內(nèi)容就是三方面的具體化。

2. C 說明公共交通改變了許多城市。答案箭第一段第四句“舉例說，1850年，波士頓市界離老的商業(yè)地區(qū)幾乎不到2英里，到了這世紀(jì)末，其半徑擴至10英里?，F(xiàn)在供得起的人們可以住得很遠，遠離老的城市中心，仍然來回去那里上班、購物和娛樂”。第七句，“舉例說，在1890至1920年期間，據(jù)記載，芝加哥市界內(nèi)有約250，000個新的住宅樓區(qū)大多數(shù)設(shè)在郊區(qū)。經(jīng)過同樣這段時期，市區(qū)外，但仍在芝加哥大都市地區(qū)內(nèi)，又計劃建造了550，000個住宅樓區(qū)?！?/span>

3. C 沒有計劃。見第二段第三句起“城市擴展蔓延根本無計劃，好幾千個小的投資商進行擴展，毫不考慮相互協(xié)調(diào)配合利用土地，也不考慮未來土地利用?！?/span>

4. C(第二段中以芝加哥城市例子說明)土地開發(fā)超過人口增長速度。答案詳見第二段“這些購買和置備土地建設(shè)住宅，特別是購置臨近城市或就在市界外的土地，搶在交通線路和中產(chǎn)階層的居民進去之前。他們這樣做的目的是創(chuàng)造一種需求，也是響應(yīng)這種需求。芝加哥就是這種過程的典型例子。那里的房地產(chǎn)小塊土地比人口增長快得很多很多?！?/span>

以上就是英語四級閱讀練習(xí)：城市發(fā)展的文章示例，希望這些練習(xí)能夠成為你英語學(xué)習(xí)路上的得力助手，助你輕松應(yīng)對四級考試！