单选题 Urban life has always involved a balancing of opportunities and rewards against dangers and stress; its motivating force is, in the broadest sense, money. The presence of huge numbers of people inevitably involves more conflict, more traveling, the overloading of public services and exposure to those deviants and criminals who are drawn to the rich pickings of great cities.
As a defense against these developments, city dwellers tend to use various strategies to try and reduce the pressures upon themselves; contacts with other people are generally made brief and impersonal; doors are kept locked and so on. There are other strategies, too, which are positively harmful to the individuals, for example, reducing awareness through drugs or alcohol. Furthermore, all these defensive forms of behavior are harmful to society in general. Lack of informal social contact and indifference to the misfortunes of others, are amongst the major causes of urban crime.
Present day architecture and planning have enormously worsened the human problems of urban life. People have been forced to leave their familiar homes, usually to be rehoused in tower blocks which are inconvenient. This destruction of established social structures is the worst possible approach to the difficulties of living in a town or city. Instead, every effort should be made to conserve the human scale of the environment, and to retain familiar landmarks.

单选题 According to the author, living in a city causes stress because there are so many people who are ______.
A．in need of help
B．naturally aggressive
C．likely to commit crime
D．anxious to succeed
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据原文第一段可以知道正确答案应该为D。
单选题 The author thinks that crime is increasing in cities because ______.
A．criminals are difficult to trace in large populations
B．people do not communicate with their neighbors
C．people feel anonymous there
D．the trappings of success are attractive to criminals
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据原文第一段中deviants and criminals who are drawn to the rich pickings of great cities. 即“受城市的财富吸引而来的罪犯也越来越多”可知，正确答案为D。
单选题 According to the article, what is the worst problem facing people living in cities?
A．Crime.
B．Finding somewhere to live.
C．Social isolation.
D．Drugs and alcoholism.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。从文中最后两句This destruction of established social structures is the worst...可知，社会孤立是城市生活的最大问题。因此选C。