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  3. Perhaps nothing will be as surprising about 21st-century America as its settledness. For more than a generation Americans have b

Perhaps nothing will be as surprising about 21st-century America as its settledness. For more than a generation Americans have b

admin2012-07-06  54
问题     Perhaps nothing will be as surprising about 21st-century America as its settledness. For more than a generation Americans have believed that "spatial mobility" would increase, and, as it did, feed an irresistible trend toward rootlessness.
    Yet in reality Americans actually are becoming less nomadic. As recently as the 1970s as many as one in five people moved annually; by 2006, long before the current recession took hold, that number was 14 percent, the lowest rate since the census starting following movement in 1940. Since then tougher times have accelerated these trends, in large part because opportunities to sell houses and find new employment have dried up. The stay-at-home trend appears particularly strong among aging boomers, who are largely rejecting Sunbelt retirement condos to stay at their suburban homes—close to family, friends, and familiar surroundings.
    The trend will not bring back the corner grocery stores and the declining organizations— bowling leagues, and such—cited as the traditional glue of American communities. Nor will our car-oriented suburbs replicate the close neighborhood feel so celebrated by romantic urbanists. Instead, we’re evolving in ways that fit a postindustrial society. It will not spell the death of Wal-Mart, but will express itself in scores of alternative institutions, such as thriving local weekly newspapers, a niche that has withstood the shift to the Internet far better than big-city dailies.
    Our less mobile nature is already reshaping the corporate world. The kind of corporate nomadism in which families relocate every couple of years so the breadwinner can reach the next rung on the managerial ladder, will become less common in years ahead. A handful of corporate executives may still move from place to place, but surveys reveal many executives are now unwilling to move even for a good promotion. Why? Family and technology are two key factors working against nomadism.
    Family, as one Pew researcher notes, "trumps money when people make decisions about where to live. " Interdependence is replacing independence. More parents are helping their children financially well into their 30s and 40s; the numbers of "boomerang kids" moving back home with their parents, has also been growing as job options and the ability to buy houses has decreased for the young. Recent surveys of the emerging millennial generation suggest this family-centric focus will last well into the coming decades.
    Nothing allows for geographic choice more than the ability to work at home. By 2015, suggests demographer Wendell Cox, there will be more people working electronically at home full time than taking mass transit, making it the largest potential source of energy savings on transportation. These home-based workers become critical to the localist economy. They will eat in local restaurants, take their kids to soccer practices, or youth-group meetings. This is not merely a suburban phenomenon; localism also means a stronger sense of identity for urban neighborhoods as well as smaller towns. After decades of frenzied mobility and homogenization, we are seeing a return to placeness, along with more choices for individuals, families, and communities. [503 words]
According to the author, a postindustrial society will______.
选项 A、revive the traditional glue of communities
B、reemphasize the close neighborhood feel
C、possess diversified business institutions
D、experience a growth in spatial mobility
答案C
解析 本题考查事实细节。
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