在今天（12月18日）结束的英语四级考试中，我们发现真题中完形填空的部分来源于一篇VOA慢速英语的原文。这篇文章于09年10月09日出现在听力课堂的VOA慢速英语中，如果当时有听过这篇文章的同学，一定会觉得似曾相识吧！当时的听力原文：http://www.prnkuo.cn/show-276-112782-1.html

2010年12月英语四级完形填空原文：

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月英语四级完形填空译文：

城市人口过半

如今世界过半数人口都居住在城市。据最新一份“全球人居报告”显示，在去年这一情况发生了巨大变化。联合国人居机构在本周发布了这项报告。

一个世纪前，全球城市人口不足5%。到本世纪中叶，城市人口可能上升至70%，约有65亿人。发达国家现有四分之三的人口为城市人口。现在，大多数城市人口增长发生在发展中国家。

城市化推动了社会和经济的向前发展，但同时也增加了城市提供住房和服务的压力。据这份最新报告显示，每天约有20万人口向城镇转移。报告也同时指出，除非城市能有更好的规划，否则日益严重的不平等，社会分工以及贫富差距，均有可能导致暴力的发生。

另一个问题就是城市的扩张。城市向乡村地区扩张的速度有时候甚至比城市人口增长速度更为惊人。

这一现象在美国很普遍。美国搬迁的人数众多。卡萨斯州大学的阿特·霍尔在其最新研究中发现，人们正在从大城市搬迁至小城市。他将这称之为美国的“逆城市化”趋势。

但是城市经济仍然可以提供农村地区不能提供的可能性。