练习：

1. "...these are cities concerned with the past" in the first paragraph refer to cities that

  A) are worried about their past.

  B) have a glorious past to be proud of.

  C) want to maintain their traditional image.

  D) are very interested in their own history.

2. The difficulty in constructing tall buildings in the 19t~ century lies in

  A) the shortage¹ of money.

  B) the lack of a device to carry people upward.

  C) backward technology.

  D) mountains taking up land space.

3. When Otis came up with the idea of a lift,

  A) he sold it to the architects and builders immediately

  B) the Egyptians used it to build the Pyramids.

  C) it was accepted favorably by the public.

  D) most people had doubt about its safety.

4. Which of the following best describes the experience of going in a lift now?

  A) Fascinating.

  B) Uninteresting.

  C) Frightening.

  D) Exciting.

5. Psychologists find the lift a good place where they can study human behaviour because

  A) here humans behave the way animals do.

  B) people in a lift are all scared.

  C) here some people take notes.

  D) in a lift the bubble of personal space breaks.

答案与题解：

1. C　be concerned with是“关心、关注”的意思顾可排除B和D两个选项，根据前面一句话, these cities 是指那些不允许建筑物超出一定高度的城市，即不愿意改变固有形象的城市。

2. B　本题答案的依据在第三段。文中说早在19世纪建造高楼的技术已经存在，限制楼高的因素只有一个，那就是人们下班回家后不想象爬山那样去爬楼梯，说明当时还没有找到把人往高处送的办法。

3. D　答案在第四段。 Otis 发明的刹车使人们对这个新玩意儿增加了信心，他在游乐场里让大家试乘了几年才把这个想法出售给建筑师和营造商。

4. B　现在电梯已经十分普通，没有人会觉得乘电梯是件好玩的事。

5. D　电梯的空间狭小，相对拥挤，人们想要享有私人空间的要求在这里成了幻想，如同关在动物园的笼子里的动物一般，这为心理学家提供了一个研究在这种情况下人的行为的难得的机会。