Question

The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed “the Garden City”, almost certainly the source of Howard’s name for his later building plan of towns. Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs.

The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities. At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression (萧条) and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life. Howard’s idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city. Howard’s idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside, far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price.

Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries. They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions. As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit--- Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away. Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide range of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city.

1.How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?

A. Through his observation of the country life.

B. Through the combination of different ideas.

C. By taking other people’s advice.

D. By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago.

2.According to Howard, garden cities should be built _____.

A. as far as possible from existing cities.

B. in the countryside where the land was cheap.

C. in the countryside where agriculture was developed.

D. near cities where employment opportunities already existed.

3.What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?

A. Their number would continue to rise.

B. Each one would continue to become larger

C. People would live and work in the same place.

D. Each one would contain a certain type of business.

4.What could be the best title for the passage?

A. City and Countryside

B. The Invention of the Garden City

C. A New City in Chicago

D. A Famous Garden City in England

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：文章大意：本文为记叙文，叙述了花园城市的起源和发展情况。Ebenezer Howard 受“花园城市”的启发，后来返回伦敦，在乡村引用了这个名称作为他新建花园城市的名称。后来不断扩大，并有了各种各样的同大城市里一样的服务设施。

1.细节理解题。从第一段信息句 it was nicknamed“the Garden City”certainly the source of Howard’s name for his later building plan of towns.得知Howard给花园城市命名是根据重建的芝加哥的别名。选D。

2.细节理解题。从第二段的最后一句理解到“Howard 的想法是一群人建立一个公司，在远离大城市土地非常廉价的乡下借钱建一个花园城市。 ”故答案选B

3.推理判断题。从最后一段段意“随着这些花园城市的建立，越来越多的人迁入花园城市，没有办法限制，后来各个花园城市彼此相连，各种服务都像大城市一样”。这表明花园城市的数目在不断增长。选A。

4.主旨大意题。全文介绍了花园城市的名称来源以及它的发展情况，B符合题意。

考点：考查社会经济文化类短文