《考研英语阅读理解基础进阶88篇》【第一阶段】【第02周】.PDFVIP

新东方《考研英语历年真题详解及复习指南》 《考研英语阅读理解基础进阶 88 篇》【第一阶段】【第 02 周】 What’s the greenest place in America? If you answered something like Rocky Mountain-high town of Boulder, you’d be wrong. The greenest place in America is almost devoid of nature — the buildings outnumber the trees — and the air isn’t all that great. But what it has is density and efficiency — the twin qualities that ultimately define green in the global warming era. Applying those standards, the greenest place in America is New York City — specifically, the overcrowded, overpriced and sometimes overwrought island of Manhattan, which has a per-capita greenhouse gas footprint less than 30% that of the national average. It’s that density that makes Manhattan, and New York City as a whole, so green. Manhattan’s population density is 800 times the national average. Density comes with negatives, but it also enables amazing efficiencies. More than 80% of Manhattanites travel to work by public transit, by bike or on foot—compared to an average of about 8% everywhere else in the country. The vertical apartment buildings that Manhattanites live in are far more energy-efficient than single-dwelling housing in the suburbs. “Most Americans think of New York City as an ecological nightmare, a wasteland of concrete and diesel fumes and traffic jams,” wrote David in his 2009 book Green Metropolis. “But in comparison with the rest of America it’s a model of environmental responsibility.” What’s true of New York City is true of other American urban areas, albeit to a lesser degree, which is why a growing part of the environmental movement now focuses on greening cities, with the hope of attracting more Americans back downtown and reversing suburban flight. From deep- green capitals like Portland to unexpected success stories like Minneapolis, there’s an effort to make cities more sustainable, by improving public transit, reducing air pollution and upgrading