中石化职称英语2014中级复习重点概要1.doc

UNIT2 City Design （P6） Text Read the text．Answer the given questions and translate the underlined sentences or paragraphs into Chinese． When I’m being driven through a city from our hotel to a conference center，I couldnt help but note the overwhelming presence of cars and parking lots. The world’s cities are in trouble. In hundreds of cities, the life of daily life is deteriorating. Breathing the air in some cities is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. The number of hours commuters spend going nowhere sitting in traffic-congested streets and highways climbs higher each year, raising frustration levels. In response to these conditions, we are seeing the emergency of a new urbanism. In just a few years, many cities banned the parking of cars on side walks, created or renovated more parks, introduced a highly successful bus-base rapid transit system, built hundreds of kilometers of bicycle paths and pedestrian streets reduced rush hour traffic, planted more trees and involved local citizens directly in the improvement of their neighborhoods．The quality of urban life in these cities has been greatly enhanced with the vision of a city designed for people. Now government planners everywhere are experimenting，seeking ways to design cities for people not cars. Cars promise mobility. But in an urbanizing world there is an inherent conflict between the automobile and the city. After a point, as their numbers multiply, automobiles provide not mobility but immobility. Based on this perspective, some cities in industrial and developing countries alike will dramatically increase urban mobility by moving away from the car. Let me remind you once more, cities are built for people，not for cars. A city full of cars is like what the horrifying sci-fi depicted - all mechanism and no human. In order to avoid this disaster, we’d better start designing sustainable cities. 当我从旅馆乘车穿行城市前往会议中心时，映入眼帘的是无处不在的汽车和停车场。全世界的城市都陷入了困境，数以百计的城市日常生活的质量正在不断下降。在一些城市，每天呼吸空气等于抽两包