首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
As the world’ s urban population gets bigger, cities are struggling to provide the basic services that their residents need. One
As the world’ s urban population gets bigger, cities are struggling to provide the basic services that their residents need. One
admin
2012-05-29
26
问题
As the world’ s urban population gets bigger, cities are struggling to provide the basic services that their residents need. One of the most pressing problems is public transport. Now let’s look at the crisis facing the city of London.
In no time in history has there been such a mass migration of people from countryside to city as is happening now. By the year 2030, it’ s estimated that more than two thirds of the world’ s population will be living in cities, twice as many as today. This means that the problems faced by cities today—overcrowding, poor housing, unemployment, poverty, and lack of food and water will be twice as bad in the this century, unless we find solutions soon.
Another crucial issue facing cities today is how to provide good transport links to service the commercial, cultural and leisure needs of their inhabitants. Today, many of the world’ s major cities are already struggling to cope with out-of-date transport infrastructures. How they will cope with the additional demands placed on them has not yet been addressed.
London is a good example of the problems facing many major urban centres. It was the world’ s first megacity and the first with a population of a million people. Its expansion was made possible by the invention of the steam engine, which, among other things, powered the world’ s first underground railway.
Today, London has one of the world’ s most extensive transport, systems. But, because it was the first city to build a railway network, much of the infrastructure—the trains and buses, the tracks and tunnels—is now hopelessly out-of-date, and needs urgent modernization.
London ’ s future success depends very much on transport. The city lies at the heart of Britain’ s road and rail networks and problems in London can rapidly affect other areas of the country. On an average morning, over ground trains bring passengers to stations on the outskirts of the city , and they then continue their journeys by underground, bus or taxi.
Over a million people travel into central London every day from outside the city. They, and the people who live in London, want a public transport system that is frequent, safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly. What they often get, however, falls far short of that ideal.
Commuters complain about delays, unreliability, cost and pollution, while businesses worry about the problems their staff have getting to work on time. Companies also face high costs for delivering goods and services in a city where congestion means that cars today travel at the same speed as horse-drawn carriages did in the last century.
Yet car ownership continues to grow. The proportion of London households that own a car grew from just over 10 per cent in the early 1950s to over 60 per cent today. 20 per cent of house-holds now own two or more cars.
As the city has become increasingly congested and polluted, there has been a growing realization that action is needed. However, precisely what should be done is hotly debated. Some people have called for cleaner fuels and strict controls on exhaust emissions. Others say more effort must be put into persuading people not to use their cars, perhaps by charging people to drive into London. There does seem to be agreement on one thing, though—that until London’ s public transport system is improved, people will continue to use their cars.
This raises the all important questions of where the money is going to come from. Until about 10 years ago, most public transport in Britain was owned and paid for by the government. But in the last decade, most train and bus networks have been privatized.
The government says that the private sector should take most, but not all, of the responsibility for public transport. In London, the underground railway system known as the "Tube" is likely to be where this policy is first put into practice. The government admits that it cannot afford to modernize the Tube system alone. Instead, it wants to form a partnership with private companies, so that they provide some of the money.
Which city is the first in the world to have a million people?
选项
答案
London
解析
文中第四段开头,London is a good example of...the first with a population of a million people,即伦敦是第一个人口超过一百万的城市。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hmyK777K
本试题收录于:
A类竞赛(研究生)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
A类竞赛(研究生)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
(91)Anactivelifestyleandahealthy,fish-richdietarenotonlygoodforyourheart,theymayalsohelptacklethememorylo
Beingabletomulti-taskishailedbymostpeopleasawelcomeskill,butnotaccordingtoarecentstudywhichclaimsthatyoun
Beingabletomulti-taskishailedbymostpeopleasawelcomeskill,butnotaccordingtoarecentstudywhichclaimsthatyoun
Accordingtorecentsurveys,72%ofallAmericansbelievethattheUnitedStatesgovernmentis【C1】hi______informationaboutUFOs
WhilebaseballisoftendescribedasthenationalsportoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica,itprobablydevelopedfromaneighteent
Alice’sAdventuresinWonderland(oftenshortenedtoAliceinWonderland)isgenerallythoughtofasoneofthegreatestbooksf
Idon’tthinkitisadvisablethatshe______herlittleboyofhisfreedomtospendthesparetimeashewish.
Themostcrucialway,however,ofimprovingthelabourcoststructureatSAH(SydneyAirportHotel)wastofindbetter,morepr
ThomasMalthuspublishedhisEssayonthePrincipleofPopulationalmost200yearsago.Eversincethen,forecastershavebeing
Themid-and-late19thcenturyisgenerallyknownastheVictorianage,controlledbytheruleofQueenVictoria.Thisisaperio
随机试题
使用光学平直仪测量V形导轨在垂直平面内的直线度误差时,当用目镜观察视场的情况是:视场基准线处于亮“十字像”中间,当测微手轮为零时,表示没有误差。()
挥发酸(volatileacids)
《中华人民共和国会计法》规定的法律责任形式主要有()。
未按规定办理个人外汇汇出境业务的是()。
根据证券法律制度的规定,下列主体中,对招股说明书中的虚假记载承担无过错责任的是()。(2014年)
“有用”和“有害”是一对相对的概念,由于人的视角不同,同一物质可以成为有用的,也可以成为有害的,“有用”和“有害”是可以相互转化的。下列哪项为真,最不能支持“有用”和“有害”是可以相互转化的?()
给定资料1.“某地医院出现人感染‘SK5’病毒死亡案例”“疫苗有害,为了孩子的健康,请远离疫苗”“生长期1个月,街头‘速成鸭’大都含激素”……2017年4月19日,北京地区网站联合辟谣平台和腾讯较真平台携手发布了《谣言易感人群分析报告》和网络辟谣
设有齐次线性方程组Ax=0和Bx=0,其中A,B均为m×n矩阵,现有4个命题:①若Ax=0的解均是Bx=0的解,则秩(A)≥秩(B);②若秩(A)≥秩(B),则Ax=0的解均是Bx=0的解;③若Ax=0与Bx=0同解,则秩(A
下列的英文缩写和中文名字的对照中,正确的一个是
A、Themanagerwasoffthatday.B、Itwasthepolicythatyoucouldn’trefundyourmoneywithoutthereceipt.C、Thewomanwillex
最新回复
(
0
)