七選五

　　(2013·北京)

　　Urbanization

　　Until relatively recently, the vast majority of human being 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 (遷徙) 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 1900, 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 ninety­five 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 ninety­five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non­farmers.

　　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 became 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.

　　文章大意：本文為記敘文，講述Urbanization(都市化)的形成與發(fā)展。

　　1.E　文章一開始就提到絕大對數(shù)的人沒有看到城市產(chǎn)生然后死了。第一座城市建于5,500年以前;后一句又提到：幾乎每個人都住在農(nóng)場或者小山村里。因此中間要填上的是E項：甚至是在200年以前，也只有少數(shù)的人生活在大城市里。

　　2.D　文章第一段說英國是第一個成為城市化社會的國家。第二段接下來說英國僅僅是個開始，這是因為許多別的工業(yè)國家也開始效仿英國，成為城市化的社會，因此D項為正確答案。

　　3.B　現(xiàn)在美國有82%的住在大城市里，有2%的住在農(nóng)場;剩下的16%左右要住在別的地方，即B項所描述的：其余的住在小城里。

　　4.A　上一句提到：即使在先進的農(nóng)業(yè)社會，要花95個人勞動才能養(yǎng)活大城市5個人，這只有一個結(jié)果：這使得城市很小。

　　5.F　前一句提到：在過去的兩百年里，工業(yè)革命打破了城鄉(xiāng)之間的平衡。后一句提到：現(xiàn)在，不是需要95個農(nóng)民養(yǎng)活5個城市人，1個農(nóng)民就能養(yǎng)活100多個非農(nóng)民。那中間只能填F項：現(xiàn)代化把更多的人吸引到城市里來，使得農(nóng)民更加多產(chǎn)。