Over the past 50 years, expansive, low density communities have proliferated at the edges of many cities in the United States and Canada, creating a phenomenon known as suburhan sprawl . Andres Duany, Elizabeth Flater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, a group of prominent town planners belonging to a movement called New Urbanism, contend that suburban sprawl contributes to the decline of civic life and civility. For reasons involving the flow of automobile traffic, they note, zoning laws usually dictate that suburban homes, stores, businesses, and schools be built in separate areas, and this separation robs people of communal space where they can interact and get to know one another. It is as difficult to imagine the concept of community without a town square or local pub, these town planners contend, as it is to imagine the concept of family independent of the house. Suburban housing subdivisions, Duany and his colleagues add, usually contain homes identical not only in appearance but also in price, resulting in a de facto economic segregation of residential neighborhoods. Children growing up in these neighborhoods, whatever their economic circumstances, are certain to be ill prepared for life in a diverse society. Moreover, because the widely separated suburban homes and businesses are connected only by "collector roads," residents areforccd to drive, often in heavy traffic, in order to perform many daily tasks. Time that would in a town center involve social interaction within a physical public realm is now spent inside the automobile, where people cease to be community members andinstead become motorists, competing for road space, often acting antisocially. Pedestrians rarely act in this manner toward each other. Duany and his colleagues advocate development based on early-twentieth century urban neighborhoods that mix housing of different prices and offer residents a "gratifying public realm" that includes narrow, tree-lined streets,parks, corner grocery stores, cafes, small-neighborhood schools, all within walking distance. This, they believe, would give people of diverse backgrounds and lifestyles an opportunity to interact and thus develop mutual respect. Opponents of New Urbanism claim that migrationto sprawling suburbs is an expression of people"s legitimate desire to secure the enjoyment and personal mobility provided by the automobile and thelifestyle that it makes possible. However, the New Urbanists do not question people"s right to their own values; instead, they suggest that we should take a more critical view of these values and of the sprawl-conducive zoning and subdivision policies that reflect them. New Urbanists are fundamentally concerned with the long-term social costs of the now-prevailing attitude that individual mobility, consumption, and wealth should be valued absolutely, regardless of their impact on community life.

单选题 Based on the text, which of the following best defines the word "sprawl"(Line 2, Paragraph 1)?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：“Sprawl”一词是本文的核心词汇，本题既考查考生对生词意思的理解，又考查考生对文章大意的理解。文章中多处出现“Sprawl”一词，而第一段则是对这个词语意思也是对本文所论述对象的解释说明。“expansive”(扩张的)，“low—density”(低密度社区)，通过这两个词考试应该能够猜出“sprawl”是扩展、发散的意思，更准确的说．应该是以一种不规则的杂乱随意的方式拓展。文章后面更是对这种“Suburban sprawl”现象给出具体说明，比如提到社区的房子、商业、学校等建筑都彼此相隔很远，人们需要驾车出行等等．都是对城市向郊区扩展现象的具体说明。因此A是正确选项，BCD毫无根据，丝毫不接近本意。

单选题 According to the second paragraph, "communal space" is to "community" as______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：本题考查考生对第二段尤其是第二段最后一句内容意义的理解。第二段讲到由于郊区的住户、商店、商业，以及学校都建在分隔开来的区域，因而人们没有了可以彼此交流彼此熟识的公共空间。最后一句这样说，这些城市规划师们认为．脱离了城市广场或者当地酒吧就难以想象社区的概念，就像脱离了房子就难以去想象家的概念一样。可以总结为“城市广场或者当地酒吧”VS．“社区”相当于“房子”VS．“家”，而题目中，“城市广场或者当地酒吧”就是“公共空间”．因此B项正确。ACD项都是一种并列关系，“城市广场”“当地酒吧”“商业”“学校”“商店”“图书馆”都属于“公共空间”，因此均不正确。

单选题 According to Paragraph 4, which one of the following is not characteristic of early-twentieth century urban neighborhoods?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：本题考查考生对第四段中二十世纪早期城市社区的特点，难度较低，考生只需回到第四段，逐项对照，不难发现ABD项均在第四段描述当中，只有C项不是，需要注意的是，题目问的是哪一项“不是”……的特点。实际上，C项“迫使居民不得不在交通繁忙时段驾车出行”恰恰正是郊区扩展现象的表现形式，在第三段中有具体论述，这正是倾向于二十世纪早期城市社区模式的新城市主义者们反对郊区扩展现象的原因之一。因此选择C项。

单选题 To which of the following statements would New Urbanists most likely agree?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：本题考查考生对文章所述城市郊区扩展现象的特点以及这种现象的反对者们所持观点的理解和把握，具有一定的难度。首先应该清楚文章讨论的对象是郊区扩展现象，而他的对立面则是新城市主义，本题问得是新城市主义者们的观点。A选项出现在第二段第一句，这些新城市主义者们认为郊区扩展促成了群体生活和社交文明的衰退(declinc)，而非兴盛(thriving)，这是出题人故意设置的迷惑选项。B选项出现在第三段新城市主义者们对郊区扩展现象弊端的具体论述当中，提到在这些社区长大的孩子们一定会对将采社会的多样化准备不足，而B选项却偷换概念，将suburban neighborhoods变成了笼统意义上的urbanneighborhoods，因此错误。C选项出现在最后一段，恰恰是新城市主义的反时者们所持的观点。也就是郊区扩展现象的特点，因此错误。在文章第四段中说道，“丹尼和他的同事们提倡以20世纪早期城市社区为基础进行发展”，丹尼和他的同事们就是新城市主义的代表，而以20世纪早期城市社区为基础进行发展就意味着二十世纪早期城市社区应该成为现代社区发展的模板，因此D是正确选项。

单选题 According to the passage, the New Urbanists cite which one of the following as a harmful result of the need for people to travel extensively every day by automobile?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：本题考查考生对第三段后丰段关于新城市主义者们对于郊区的人们不得不大量驾车出行以解决日常事务这一现象的论述的理解。第三段最后提到在这种情况下，人们不再是社区成员，成了争抢马路空间的汽车司机，常常表现的妨害公共利益(acting antisocially)，B项正确，只是换了一种说法而已。ACD选项均是出题者对于郊区扩展现象中人们大量驾车出行所造成结果的合理推断，具有很强的迷惑性，但是文中均没有提到，因此错误。