Listen to the following passage. Write a short English summary of around 150 words of what you have heard. This part of the test

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问题 Listen to the following passage. Write a short English summary of around 150 words of what you have heard. This part of the test carries 30 points. You will hear the passage only once. At the end of the recording, you will have 25 minutes to finish this part. You may need to scribble a few notes in order to write your summary satisfactorily.  

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答案 A key component of the urban landscape is interaction; another component is its level of accessibility. As the cities grew, the inadequate access provided by this street system became apparent. With population and automobiles growing, serious congestion was present in the cities’ centers. Beginning in the 1950s, changes occurred that led to the rapid area expansion of cities and the increased used of automobiles for travel. More people began to live at long distances, which made it uneconomical for mass transit. Traffic planners responded by recommending construction of peripheral circumferential, or ring, highways and high-volume, limited-access expressways. All of the above accentuates another component of the urban landscape -- a landscape of change. With a large number of new residents entering large cities and even greater numbers leaving, metropolitan structures are destroyed, new ones are built. These changes created Megapolis. A key component of the urban landscape is interaction. In general, the cost of moving something is directly proportional to the distance it must be moved. Activities therefore cluster in cities so that movement costs are minimized. The importance of the ability to move from one place to another in urban regions is evident from the high proportion of urban land devoted to facilitating interaction. The lines of interaction for human movement are visible in streets, subways, bridges, tunnels, sidewalks, and parking lots. In older cities such as those in Megalopolis, the down streets were laid out when travel was by foot and horse-drawn carriage; therefore, these cities have only about 35 percent of their total central areas devoted to landscape features that support human interaction. In newer cities, developed largely after the rise of the automobile, the proportion is much higher. Yet another component of the urban landscape is its level of accessibility. Easy access between most sections of an urban area has not always been a dominant consideration in city organization and structure. The original street plans of most cities, for example, followed the simple square or rectangular grid pattern popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. As these cities grew, the inadequate access provided by this street system became apparent. A square grid, for example, possesses frequent, right-angle intersection. By 1900, Baltimore and Boston had each exceeded populations of 500,000, Philadelphia had reached nearly 1.3 million, and New York was approaching 3.5 million. The main impact of the automobile was then still in the future, but serious congestion was already present in these cities’ centers. Beginning in the 1950s, changes occurred that led to the rapid areal expansion of cities and the increased use of automobiles for travel. An increasing proportion of the work force in the cities began to live at distances and in residential densities that made it uneconomical for mass transit to reach them. Economically, the speed and flexibility of truck transport accelerated the diversion of short-haul freight from rail to road carders. Traffic planners responded by recommending construction of peripheral circumferential, or ring, highways and high-volume, limited-access expressways to separate local movement from cross-town and through traffic. Partly successful, these changes, plus others, also increased demand for access within the city center, between the center and the periphery, and eventually between sections of the periphery. The entire pattern of accessibility became more complex and difficult to manage. All of this accentuates another component of the urban landscape. This is a landscape of change. Tens of thousands of new residents enter a large city like Philadelphia of New York each year. Even greater numbers have been leaving, some to distant cities and some only into the metropolitan fringes. Structures are destroyed, new ones built. Street patterns are altered, the pattern of functions is changed, and flows of people, goods, and ideas are shifted to fit these new patterns. Such changes may be observed in any major region in America, but, in some way, they actually created Megalopolis.

解析     听懂并把握好篇章的大意是撰写综述的前提。本文的大意是:
    城市景观的重要特点是人类的活动。一般来说,去的地方越远,费用越高。能从一个地方到另一个地方去是非常重要的,这可以从大片城市土地被用于促进人类活动这点上可以看出。
    城市景观的另一个特点是交通是否便利。城市各个区域之间交通便利是城市构造的主要考虑因素。比如,以前大部分城市的街道构造都是仿造17,18世纪的正方形或矩形结构。
    随着城市的增大,这种街道结构的不足变得越来越明显。比如,正方形结构经常会有直角交叉。到1900年,美国各大城市的人口均达到百万,在这些城市的市中心交通已经很拥挤了。
    从20世纪50年代开始发生了巨大的变化,导致城市面积的急剧扩张,越来越多的人用汽车作为交通工具。住在大城市的工人逐渐搬离城市,这使一般的交通工具都无法到达这些地方。这些变化最终导致城市外围交通便利度的需要。于是,整个交通的格局变得更复杂、更难以管理。
    所有的这些特点加速了城市景观另一个特点的形成。这就是变化的格局。每年有上万人进入费城或纽约,但有更多人离开大城市去城市的郊区或比较偏远的小城市。旧的城市结构、街道构造被打破,新的形成。劳动力,货物和思想也发生了改变,以适应这些新结构。
    主题句:
    1. A key component of the urban landscape is interaction.
    2. Another component of the urban landscape is its level of accessibility.
    3. As cities grew, the inadequate access provided by this street system became apparent.
    4. Beginning in the 1950s, changes occurred that led to the rapid areal expansion of cities and the increased use of automobiles for travel.
    5. The entire pattern of accessibility became more complex and difficult to manage.
    6. All of this accentuates another component of the urban landscape. This is a landscape of change.
本文的次主题句为:   
    1. The importance of the ability to move from one place to another in urban regions is evident from the high proportion of urban land devoted to facilitating interaction.
    2. The original street plans of most cities, for example, followed the simple square or rectangular grid pattern popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.
    3. An increasing proportion of the work force in the cities began to live at distances and in residential densities that made it un economical for mass transit to reach them
    4. Structures are destroyed, new ones built. Street patterns are altered, the pattern of functions is changed, and flows of people, good, and ideas are shifted to fit these new patterns.
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