在今天（12月18日）結束的英語四級考試中，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)真題中完形填空的部分來源于一篇VOA慢速英語的原文。這篇文章于09年10月09日出現(xiàn)在聽力課堂的VOA慢速英語中，如果當時有聽過這篇文章的同學，一定會覺得似曾相識吧！當時的聽力原文：http://pm4x.cn/show-276-112782-1.html
2010年12月英語四級完形填空原文：
Cities Now Home to More Than Half of All People
Over half the world's people now live in cities. The latest "Global Report on Human Settlements" says the historic change took place last year. The report came out this week from U.N. Habitat, a United Nations agency.
A century ago, less than 5% of all people lived in cities. By the middle of this century it could be 70% , or almost 6,500,000,000 people.
Already 3/4 of people in developed countries live in cities. Now most urban population growth is in the developing world.
Urbanization can lead to social and economic progress, but also pressure on cities to provide housing and services. The new report says almost 200,000 people move into cities and towns each day. It says worsening inequalities, driven by social divisions and differences in wealth, could lead to violence unless cities plan better.
Another issue is urban sprawl. This is where cities expand into rural areas, sometimes at a much faster rate than urban population growth.
Sprawl is common in the United States. Americans move a lot. In a recent study, Art Hall at the University of Kansas found that people are moving away from the major cities to smaller cities. He sees a trend toward "de-urbanization" across America.
But urban economies still provide possibilities that rural areas do not.
2010年12月英語四級完形填空譯文：
城市人口過半
如今世界過半數(shù)人口都居住在城市。據(jù)最新一份“全球人居報告”顯示，在去年這一情況發(fā)生了巨大變化。聯(lián)合國人居機構在本周發(fā)布了這項報告。
一個世紀前，全球城市人口不足5%。到本世紀中葉，城市人口可能上升至70%，約有65億人。發(fā)達國家現(xiàn)有四分之三的人口為城市人口?，F(xiàn)在，大多數(shù)城市人口增長發(fā)生在發(fā)展中國家。
城市化推動了社會和經濟的向前發(fā)展，但同時也增加了城市提供住房和服務的壓力。據(jù)這份最新報告顯示，每天約有20萬人口向城鎮(zhèn)轉移。報告也同時指出，除非城市能有更好的規(guī)劃，否則日益嚴重的不平等，社會分工以及貧富差距，均有可能導致暴力的發(fā)生。
另一個問題就是城市的擴張。城市向鄉(xiāng)村地區(qū)擴張的速度有時候甚至比城市人口增長速度更為驚人。
這一現(xiàn)象在美國很普遍。美國搬遷的人數(shù)眾多?？ㄋ_斯州大學的阿特·霍爾在其最新研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們正在從大城市搬遷至小城市。他將這稱之為美國的“逆城市化”趨勢。
但是城市經濟仍然可以提供農村地區(qū)不能提供的可能性。
