托福试题_阅读理解模拟题及答案8

　　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

　　(5) trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more

　　distant from 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 would afford it could live far

　　removed from the old city center and still commute there for work, shopping, and

　　(10) 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

　　(15) 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

　　(20) 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,

　　(25) 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

　　(B) Instability of urban life

　　(C) How supply and demand determine land use

　　(D) The effects of mass transportation on urban

　　expansion

　　2. The author mentions all of the following as effects

　　of mass transportation on cities EXCEPT

　　(A) growth in city area

　　(B) separation of commercial and residential

　　districts

　　(C) changes in life in the inner city

　　(D) increasing standards of living

　　3. The word "vast" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) large

　　(B) basic

　　(C) new

　　(D) urban

　　4. The word "sparked" in line 11 is closest in

　　meaning to

　　(A) brought about

　　(B) surrounded

　　(C) sent out

　　(D) followed

　　5. Why does the author mention both Boston and

　　Chicago?

　　(A) To demonstrate positive and negative effects

　　of growth

　　(B) To show that mass transit changed many cities

　　(C) To exemplify cities with and without mass

　　transportation

　　(D) To contrast their rates of growth

　　6. The word "potential" in line 16 is closest in

　　meaning to

　　(A) certain

　　(B) popular

　　(C) improved

　　(D) possible

　　7. The word "many" in line 19 refers to

　　(A) people

　　(B) lots

　　(C) years

　　(D) developers

　　8. According to the passage, what was one

　　disadvantage of residential expansion?

　　(A) It was expensive.

　　(B) It happened too slowly.

　　(C) It was unplanned.

　　(D) It created a demand for public transportation.

　　9. The author mentions Chicago in the second

　　paragraph as an example of a city

　　(A) that is large

　　(B) that is used as a model for land development

　　(C) where land development exceeded population

　　growth

　　(D) with an excellent mass transportation system

　　参考答案：

　　DDAAB DBCC