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  3. Urban Development in the United States During the Nineteenth Century P1: Urbanized societies, in which a high proportion of the

Urban Development in the United States During the Nineteenth Century P1: Urbanized societies, in which a high proportion of the

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问题 Urban Development in the United States During the Nineteenth Century
P1: Urbanized societies, in which a high proportion of the population lives in cities, developed only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The process of urbanization has moved rapidly in the entire world since 1800, and the peak is not yet in sight. In the United States, early New England towns, formally disposed along wide elm-lined central roadways or commons, exhibit a conscious planning. In discussing the growth of cities in the United States in the nineteenth century, one cannot really use the term "urban planning", as it suggests modern concerns for spatial and service organization which, in most instances, did not exist before the planning revolution called the City Beautiful Movement that began in the 1890s. While there certainly were urban areas that were "planned" in the comprehensive contemporary sense of the word before that date, most notably Washington, D.C., these were the exception. Most "planned" in the nineteenth century was limited to areas much smaller than a city and was closely associated with developers trying to make a profit from a piece of land.
P2: Three forces particularly affected the configuration of urban and suburban areas in the nineteenth century: economics, transportation technology, and demographics. Added to these was the characteristic American preference for independent living, including separate neighborhoods for themselves by building mansions on large plots of land at the edges of the cities or in the countryside. Economic development stemmed from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th centuries transformed urban life and gave people higher expectations for improving their standard of living. The increased number of jobs, along with technological innovations in transportation and housing construction, encouraged migration to cities. People no longer had to live within walking distance of their jobs. Commuting into the city to work became easier and cheaper with constant transportation system improvements and increased ridership.
P3: Demographic patterns also accounted for the urbanization. Urban populations grew steadily due to rural immigrants gravitated to the cheap housing and to the promise of work in or near the center of cities or around factories and emigration from around the globe. As the 19th century drew to a close, the rapid development of cities served as both a uniting and dividing factor in American social, economic, and political life. Cities attracted a rich cross-section of the world’s population, creating a various, metropolitan atmosphere. At the same time, cities forced people from entirely different backgrounds to live and work together in close proximity for the first time, which contributed to diverse urban problems.
P4: Many nineteenth-century urban problems continue to plague cities today, especially those associated with sanitation and mega-fires resulted from lack of planning and regulation. The growth of cities outpaced the ability of local governments to extend clean water, garbage collection, and sewage systems into poorer areas, so conditions in cities deteriorated. Sanitary sewers at that time failed to stop the spread of typhoid, increased its infection rates downstream of sewer outlets, and the miasmatic gasses they were designed to mitigate turned out to not exist. It was not until the 1860s that any serious, concerted effort was made to develop proper systems for water delivery and sewage removal, which caused water contamination and the spread of disease by rodents and insects. During the 19th century, the United States was afflicted with many urban conflagrations and wildfires as tactical firefighting and prevention practices were underdeveloped. Construction with combustible materials coupled with close placement of buildings and the use of open flames in heating, cooking, and lighting meant that the potential for raging fires was ever present.
P5: Cities in the late 19th century were large, compacted, and impersonal places devoted to making money. Typically, development was both unplanned and unrestricted, with landowners making all choices of lot size, services, and street arrangement based only on their individual needs in the marketplace. Not surprisingly, corruption was rampant in city government and city services, in the construction industry, and among landlords and employers. High rents, low wages, and poor services produced misery in the midst of abrupt economic growth.
P2: Three forces particularly affected the configuration of urban and suburban areas in the nineteenth century: economics, transportation technology, and demographics. Added to these was the characteristic American preference both for independent living, including separate neighborhoods for themselves by building mansions on large plots of land at the edges of the cities or in the countryside.■ Economic development stemmed from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th centuries transformed urban life and gave people higher expectations for improving their standard of living. ■The increased number of jobs, along with technological innovations in transportation and housing construction, encouraged migration to cities. ■People no longer had to live within walking distance of their jobs. ■Commuting into the city to work became easier and cheaper with constant system improvements and increased ridership.
According to paragraph 2, what is one reason that transportation costs in American cities decreased during the nineteenth century?
选项 A、The number of people using transportation increased.
B、The cost of energy such as electricity decreased.
C、Commuters and shoppers began living closer to their destinations.
D、Transportation suppliers had to compete for riders.
答案A
解析 【事实信息题】末句提到随着不断改进的交通系统以及越来越多的乘客人数，往返城市去工作变得更加轻松与便宜，所以美国城市交通成本降低原因之一是使用交通系统的人数增加了。
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