Reading comprehension 2: Read the passage below and choose A, B, C, or D to answer each question from 141 to 145. I
Reading comprehension 2: Read the passage below and choose A, B, C, or D to answer each question from 141 to 145.
I have just spent two days in Barcelona, one of the most densely populated urban settlements on Earth. There are 103 road intersections per square kilometre – high compared with Brasilia’s 41, or Shanghai’s Pudong area, which has no more than 17. And despite this high density, residents are proud to call the city home, walking or cycling short distances to work, or using the city’s first-class public transport network. Visitors are charmed by the maze of pedestrianised streets that thread their way through the assortment of four to seven- storey buildings constructed over the centuries, leading to squares where people sit at café tables under the shade of large trees.
But Barcelona is the exception, rather than the rule. The dominant trend now is actually for cities to spread outwards into the surrounding countryside, rather than to become more and more densely populated. This has disturbing consequences. The total area occupied by all the cement, concrete, asphalt and green spaces of all the world’s urban areas is roughly
1.5 million square kilometres. As the global urban population is expected to grow by some 50% over the next thirty years, a not unreasonable expectation is that the area occupied by the world’s cities will increase by the same amount. And as by far the most productive farmland is typically located close to where the bulk of the produce is consumed, it is these areas which, rather than increasing their harvest yield to feed growing populations, will be replaced by concrete. This is simply not sustainable.
Urban sprawl is particularly common in North American cities, such as Atlanta. Economic growth is often cited as the principal cause of this. However, the attraction of cheaper land in suburban areas, which allows for larger and larger properties, plays an equally significant role, with many citizens keen to escape the congestion, crime, and noise of the city. Many are involved in urban development, however, claim that planning laws which limit an area to one or two storeys also bear significant responsibility. The ready access to cheap land for urban sprawl in the States since the 1950s has encouraged the spread of cities outwards, and where land use is permitted, don’t have this additional influence. With urban sprawl being blamed for increased energy use, pollution and a decline in community cohesion, legislation needs to change sooner rather than later.
But this kind of destructive urban spread is not inevitable. Take one of Africa’s most exciting cities, the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where urbanisation is occurring more quickly than anyone thought possible. Government investment has transformed the city into a vast building site. Towering cranes are silhouetted against the African sky as the skeletons of high-rise buildings emerge in the urban core. And with funds and expertise brought in by Chinese companies, a light-rail system has been built that runs across the city, a remarkable achievement in a place where 80% of the population live in slums. This enables residents to commute easily from their high-density apartment blocks that have been shooting up across the city, and it has the added ecological benefit of lessening people’s reliance on the car and thus reducing their individual footprint.
Even urban areas designed very much with cars in mind are being transformed.
Perhaps the megacity that has most successfully avoided urban sprawl is Seoul, South Korea.
When the mayor decided to dismantle an eight-lane highway that used to run through the centre, he said, ‘Seoul is for people, not cars.’ In its place is a new canal and pedestrianised walkway. No alternative road was built, and although it may seem counterintuitive, this does seem to have prompted people to abandon their cars in favour of much greener modes of mass transit. This in turn has made further government investment in transport links more attractive.
The world’s urban population will continue to grow. The more it does so, the more important it will be to find ways to accommodate people in multi-centred, low-carbon, high- density cities built around efficient mass transport.
Trả lời cho các câu 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 dưới đây:
What does the word “silhouetted” in paragraph 4 most likely mean?
Đáp án đúng là: B
Đáp án cần chọn là: B
Which of the following best captures the main argument of the passage?
Đáp án đúng là: B
Đáp án cần chọn là: B
What can be inferred about Seoul’s urban transformation?
Đáp án đúng là: B
Đáp án cần chọn là: B
Which sentence best expresses the same idea as the following sentence from the passage? "Many are involved in urban development, however, claim that planning laws which limit an area to one or two storeys also bear significant responsibility."
Đáp án đúng là: A
Đáp án cần chọn là: A
Why does the author mention Addis Ababa’s light-rail system?
Đáp án đúng là: B
Đáp án cần chọn là: B
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