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  3. The first time anybody knew about Dutchman Frank Siegmund and his family was when workmen tramping through a field found a narro

The first time anybody knew about Dutchman Frank Siegmund and his family was when workmen tramping through a field found a narro

admin2010-08-21  59
问题      The first time anybody knew about Dutchman Frank Siegmund and his family was when workmen tramping through a field found a narrow steel chimney protruding through the grass. Closer inspection revealed a chink of sky-light window among the thistles and when amazed investigators moved down the side of the hill they came across a pine door and a brass knocker set into an underground building. The Siegmunds had managed to live undetected for six years outside the border town of Breda, in Holland. They are the latest in a clutch of individualistic homemakers who have burrowed underground in search of tranquility.
     Most, falling foul of strict building regulations, have been forced to dismantle their individualistic homes and return to more conventional lifestyles. But subterranean suburbia Dutch- style, is about to become respectable and chic. Seven luxury homes cosseted away inside a high earth-covered noise embankment next to the main Tilburg city road recently went on the market for $ 296,500 each. The foundations had yet to be dug, but customers queued up to buy the unusual part-submerged houses.
     Building big commercial buildings underground can be a way to avoid disfiguring or threatening a beautiful or environmentally sensitive landscape. Indeed many of the buildings which consume most land such as cinemas, supermarkets, theatres, warehouses or libraries have no need to be on the surface since they do not need windows. There are big advantages, too, when it comes to private homes. A development of 194 houses which would take up 14 hectares of land above ground would occupy 2.7 hectares below it, while the number of roads would be halved. Under several meters of earth, noise is minimal and insulation is excellent.
     In Europe, the obstacle has been conservative local authorities and developers who prefer to ensure quick sales with conventional mass-produced housing. But the Dutch development was greeted with undisguised relief by South Limburg planners because of Holland’s chronic shortage of land. In the US, where energy-efficient homes became popular after the oil crisis of 1973, 10,000 underground houses have been built. A terrace of five homes, Britain’s first subterranean development, is under way in Nottinghamshire.  Italy’s outstanding example of subterranean architecture is the Olivetti residential centre in Ivreg.
     Not everyone adapts so well, and in Japan scientists at the Shimizu Corporation have developed "space creation" system which mix light, sound, breezes and scents to simulate people who spend long periods below ground. Underground offices in Japan are being equipped with virtual windows and mirrors, while underground departments in the University of Minnesota have periscopes to reflect views and light.
     Frank Siegmund and his family love their hobbit lifestyle. Their home evolved when he dug a cool room for his bakery business in a hill he had created. During a heat-wave they took to sleeping there. "We felt at peace and so close to nature," he says, "Gradually I began adding to the rooms. It sounds strange but we are so close ro the earth we draw strength from its vibrations. ’
Many developer prefer mass-produced houses because they ______.
选项
答案ensure quick sales/are sold quickly
解析 由第四段第一句“In Europe，the obstacle has been conservative local authorities and developers who prefer to  ensure quick sales with conventional mass-produced housing．”可知在欧洲，在地下建住房的障碍主要来自保守的地方政府和开发商。他们更喜欢建造大批量传统的房子来保证快速销售。可见，正确答案为“ensure quick sales”或“are sold quickly”。
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