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  3. The changing profile of a city in the United States is apparent in the shifting definitions used by the United States Bureau of

The changing profile of a city in the United States is apparent in the shifting definitions used by the United States Bureau of

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问题     The changing profile of a city in the United States is apparent in the shifting definitions used by the United States Bureau of the Census. In 1870 the census officially distinguished the nation’s "urban" from its "rural" population for the first time. "Urban population" was defined as persons living in towns of 8, 000 inhabitants or more. But after 1900 it meant persons living in incorporated places having 2, 500 or more inhabitants.
    Then, in 1950 the Census Bureau radically changed its definition of "urban" to take account of the new vagueness of city boundaries. In addition to persons living in incorporated units of 2, 500 or more, the census now included those who lived in unincorporated units of that size, and also all persons living in the densely settled urban fringe, including both incorporated and unincorporated areas located around cities of 50, 000 inhabitants or more. Each such unit, conceived as an integrated economic and social unit with a large population nucleus, was named a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area(SMSA).
    Each SMSA would contain at least(a)one central city with 50, 000 inhabitants or more or(b)two cities having shared boundaries and constituting, for general economic and social purposes, a single community with a combined population of at least 50, 000, the smaller of which must have a population of at least 15, 000. Such an area included the county in which the central city is located, and adjacent counties that are found to be metropolitan in character and economically and socially integrated with the country of the central city. By 1970, about two-thirds of the population of the United States was living in these urbanized areas, and of that figure more than half were living outside the central cities.
    While the Census Bureau and the United States government used the term SMSA(by 1969 there were 233 of them), social scientists were also using new terms to describe the elusive, vaguely defined areas reaching out from what used to be simple "towns" and "cities". A host of terms came into use: "metropolitan regions" , "polynucleated population groups" , ’’Conurbations" , "metropolitan clusters" , "megalopolises" , and so on.
According to the passage, why did the Census Bureau revise the definition of urban in 1950?
选项 A、City borders had become less distinct.
B、Cities had undergone radical social change.
C、Elected officials could not agree on an acceptable definition.
D、New businesses had relocated to larger cities.
答案A
解析 逻辑推理题。题干中的Census Bureau，in 1950为关键词，是原文第二段首句的重现，据此对原文进行定位。本题要求选出Census Bureau要对城区定义进行修改的原因，对比原文，take accountof(考虑到……)后的内容为答案，原文中的city与选项A重现，boundaries与选项A中的borders为同义替换，原文中的vagueness(模糊)与选项A中的less distinct为意思相同的表达。故答案为A。
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