阅读理解
Not too many decades ago it seemed "obvious" both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people''s natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin (亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the "obvious" is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.
Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.
These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community''s population size and its social heterogeneity (多样性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan (见多识广者的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
单选题
Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the first paragraph?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】辨认事实题。题目询问下面哪个陈述最能描述文章第1段的结构。在文章第1段作者通过“however”提出了两种完全不同的观点，“Not too many decades ago it seemed obvious’both to the general public and to sociologists that modem society has changed people''s natural relations(就在几十年前，对于普通大众和社会学家而言，现代社会‘明显地’改变了人们的自然关系)”和“However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the‘obvious’is not true(然而，最近几年，越来越多的研究表明，那些“明显”的事情并不真实)”。因此，应该选A项。
单选题
According to the passage, it was once a common belief that urban residents ____________.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】推断题。题目询问根据文章，人们一度普遍认为城市居民——。根据文章第1段“Not too many decades ago it seemed ‘obvious’both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people''s natural relations，loosened their responsibilities to kin(亲戚)and neighbors。and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances(就在几十年前，对于普通大众和社会学家而言，现代社会‘明显地’改变了人们的自然关系，使他们的亲情、邻里观念变得淡薄，取而代之的是彼此之间萍水相逢的表面关系)”，由此可推断，B项与文章的内容相符，故而正确。
单选题
One of the consequences of urban life is that impersonal relationships among neighbors ____________.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推断题。题目询问都市生活的一个后果就是邻居之间没有感情的这种关系会_______。根据文章第3段“If neighbors are strangers to one another，they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers(如果邻里之间互不相识，他们就不大会清扫隔壁老夫妇门前的过道，也不会帮忙照看一下小捣蛋)”，故C项正确。B项是原因，不是结果。
单选题
It can be inferred from the passage that the bigger a community is, ____________.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推断题。题目询问根据文章可推断出，社区越大，____________。根据文章第3段“Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan(见多识广者的)outlook，to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles，to vote for leftist political candidates，and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups，unpopular political groups，and so-called undesirables(而且大城市的居民比小城镇的居民见多识广，对传统的亲情角色承担更小的责任，有可能投票选举左翼政党候选人，对非传统的宗教团体、不得人心的政团组织或所谓的讨人嫌者更能容忍)”，因此，C项与文章所表达的意思相符。