2026届高考英语一轮复习+外刊打卡阅读+day 15 越来越多人宁愿通勤两小时，也不住在大城市
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Is the Era of the Big City Ending? 越来越多人宁愿通勤两小时，也不住在大城市 词数：450 | |
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Almost fifteen years ago, I kept a finance job in Austin while living in a Manhattan apartment. My managers wanted me to move to Texas, but I argued that leaving New York would damage my career in finance and media, so they should compensate (补偿) me for the loss. Today, that argument would fail: Texas now has a growing finance industry, and media careers can be built from almost anywhere. This change raises a simple but serious question: Are giant cities losing their magic? | 作者以亲身经历为引，说明“大城市光环”十五年间的巨大变化。 文章逻辑：提出全文核心疑问——大城市的黄金时代是否终结，为下文展开讨论设下悬念。 |
The claim that “big cities are dying” has been repeated, yet the facts often contradict it. People returned after the pandemic, and commercial real estate (房地产) has not collapsed. Still, the next threat may be stronger. Cities survived downturns and the work-from-home revolution, but they may not survive their own affordability crisis and new technologies that make location less important. | 段落大意：列举并反驳“大城市将死”的流行预言，同时指出真正的下一波威胁——可负担性危机与技术去中心化。 |
Urban experts Richard Florida and Ed Glaeser insist that places like New York and San Francisco succeed because they gather creative and ambitious minds. This creates a virtuous (良性循环的) cycle: one inventor attracts another, and soon a critical mass of talent feeds off shared energy. Such cities once offered huge rewards to the educated, yet they offered fewer chances to the less-educated, who were priced out of housing and pushed to long commutes. | 段落大意：引用Florida与Glaeser的观点，阐释“创意阶层聚集→网络效应→经济红利”的传统城市优势机制。 |
Today, however, the balance is shifting. Smaller cities such as Indianapolis are growing, while giants like Chicago are shrinking. Remote | 段落大意：指出平衡正在逆转——人才外流、中小城市崛起、远程技术削弱 |
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work, artificial intelligence, and social media allow professionals to keep up to date, collaborate, and enjoy cultural amenities (便利设施) without paying big-city rents. If enough talented people leave, the network effect weakens and the city can implode. | 地理黏性，导致网络效应可能崩溃。 |
Cities have always moved in cycles. In the last century, better cars and telephones helped the suburbs rise when urban governance failed. Early this century, technology and better leadership sparked urban renewal. Now technology is shifting again, making it easier to live and work almost anywhere. Faced with high costs and new tools, even I would think twice before choosing Brooklyn today. | 把当下的现象放入更大的历史周期中观照，含蓄回答开篇疑问：大城市魔力确在衰减。 |
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基础版题目（90分水平，蓝思值900-1000L） 阅读上面文章，回答下列小题。 1.Why did the writer refuse to move to Texas fifteen years ago? A. He disliked the weather there. B. He believed leaving New York would hurt his career. C. He had already bought a house in Manhattan. D. He was afraid of losing his job completely. 2. What do Richard Florida and Ed Glaeser think is the key to big cities’ success? A. Low housing prices. B. Large populations. C. Gathering creative and ambitious people. D. Advanced transportation systems. 3.What problem has the high cost of living caused in big cities? A. It has reduced the number of cultural events. B. It has driven many middle- and lower-income residents away. C. It has increased the crime rate sharply. D. It has stopped all new construction projects. 4.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a reason why people can now succeed outside big cities? A. Remote work. B. Artificial intelligence. C. Social media. D. Lower taxes in rural areas. | |
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5.What is the writer’s attitude toward the future of big cities? A. Completely hopeless. B. Fully confident. C. Cautiously worried. D. Totally indifferent. ———————————————————— 提高版题目（130分水平，蓝思值1100-1300L） 阅读上面文章，回答下列小题。 1.Which of the following best captures the main argument of the passage? A. Remote work is the only factor reshaping urban development. B. Big cities will inevitably collapse due to the pandemic. C. Technological and economic shifts are undermining the traditional advantages of large cities. D. Small cities now provide better cultural amenities than major metropolises. 2.The writer mentions Indianapolis growing while Chicago is shrinking primarily to illustrate that ______. A. geography determines economic fate B. market forces are stronger than cultural attraction C. public policy in Chicago has completely failed D. population size alone guarantees prosperity 3. The word “implode” in paragraph 4 most probably means ______. A. expand rapidly B. collapse inward C. merge with suburbs D. receive global investment 4. What can be inferred about the “virtuous cycle” described by Florida and Glaeser? A. It is immune to external economic shocks. B. It relies on constant inflow of talented individuals. C. It benefits all social classes equally. D. It functions best during financial crises. 5. Which statement would the writer most likely agree with? A. Talent will always prefer large cities regardless of cost. B. Technology has finally broken the link between place and opportunity. C. Urban renewal is impossible in the twenty-first century. D. Suburban life is culturally superior to city life. ———————————————————— 答案与解析 基础版答案 |
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