Passage Eight
Mass transportation revised the social and economic fabric of the American city in three fundamental ways. It catalyzed physical expansion, it sorted out people and land uses, and it accelerated the inherent instability of urban life. By opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the omnibuses, horse railways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more distant form city centers than they were in the premodern era. In 1850, for example, the borders of Boston lay scarcely two miles from the old business district; by the turn of the century the radius extended ten miles. Now those who could afford it could live far removed from the old city center and still commute there for work, shopping, and entertainment. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within 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. Anxious to 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 housed five to six million people.
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 of residential expansion related to the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl was essentially unplanned. It was carried out by thousands of small investors who paid little heed to coordinated land use or to future land users. Those who purchased and prepared land for residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders where transit lines and middle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond to it. Chicago is a prime example of this process. Real estate subdivision there proceeded much faster than population growth.
1.With which of the following subjects is the passage mainly concerned?
[A] Types of mass transportation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
IELTS考情分析:《剑桥雅思9》烤鸭备考福音
如何利用2013年寒假冲刺雅思高分
雅思备考:十大细节助烤鸭超6争7
雅思剑9即将发布:阅读判断题考点全指导
雅思口语指导:如何扩展考试中的Part 2
雅思图表作文杀手锏:提分词汇大总结
揭秘“要命阅读题”的三种思维策略
雅思写作满分作文“万能方法”四则
雅思口语:让考官易懂的基本回答结构
雅思剑9发布:名师盘点阅读备考七大真经
雅思阅读:9月考试预测及要注意四大要点
雅思口语三步练 新学期“如鸭得水”
细节决定成败:盘点雅思写作地道表达
雅思剑9即将发布:夺取听力高分的三种能力
高效备战雅思听力:语音词汇技巧全面指导
雅思知识普及:春节十五天,天天不重样
雅思阅读:7月考试解析及8月预测
雅思口语机经:11月3日4日考试话题汇总
雅思备考:三大必杀帮你冲刺雅思阅读高分
烤鸭自述:3000词汇量如何拿下雅思阅读7分
《剑桥雅思9》揭示雅思听力备考新方向
不得不看:决定雅思阅读成败的三个细节
深度解读剑9口语题型 预测雅思考察新重点
雅思听力8大技巧助你考试现场从容应战
雅思口语:听得勤读得广写得多说得频
雅思考官提示口语测试四点定成败
剑9出炉 雅思写作题型与考试趋势分析
《剑桥雅思9》解析:揭秘口语考试出题规律
IELTS复习指南:雅思大作文7分探秘
有的放矢:透析雅思口语四大评分标准
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |