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  3. The city has always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 10-century

The city has always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 10-century

游客2024-01-15  10
问题     The city has always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 10-century cafes of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and politics, to the Left Bank bars of modern Paris, where Picasso talked about modern art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare.
    And yet, city life isn’t easy. Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are depressing. Just being in the urban environment, they have found, impairs(损害)our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory and suffers from reduced self-control. While it’s long been recognized that city life is exhausting, this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.
    One of the main forces at work is a complete lake of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartments overlook a lawn. Even these glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provided a mental break from the urban life.
    This research arrives just as humans cross an important milestone(里程碑). For the first time in history, the majority of people live in cities. Instead of inhabiting wide-open spaces, we’re crowded into concrete jungles, surrounded by traffic and millions of strangers. In recent years, it’s become clear that such unnatural surroundings have important implications for our mental and physical health, and can powerfully alter how we think. [br] According to the passage, which of the following statement is TRUE?
选项 A、Different aspects(方面)of an urban environment, such as the crowded street, can lead to an increase in self-control.
B、Small changes in urban design cannot reduce the negative side effects of city life.
C、For the first time in history, the earth’s population is more urban than rural.
D、A walk down a busy city street will improve brain performance.
答案 C
解析 本题为推理判断题，提问的是下面哪项论述是正确的。根据文章最后一段第一、二句话“This research arrives just as humans cross an important milestone．For the first time inhistory，the maiority of people live in cities．”可知，研究正值人类跨过了一个重要的里程碑，有史以来第一次城市人口占了多数。这与选项C)的意思一致，因此答案为C)。
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