AN URBANISING WORLD
More than two thirds of the world's urban population is now in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since 1950, the urban population of these regions has grown more than (1) ____. Rapid urban growth has also brought a huge (2) ____ the number of large cities, including many that have (3) ____ sizes that are historically (4) ____. Just two centuries ago, there were only two "million cities" worldwide (that is, cities with one million or more inhabitants) - London and Beijing (Peking). By 1950, there were 80; today there are over 300. Most of these million cities are in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and (5) ____ have populations that have grown more than tenfold since 1950. Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil, did not exist in 1950 and now has more than 2 million inhabitants. "Mega-cities," with ten or more million inhabitants are a new (6) ____. The first city to reach this size was New York in around 1940. There were 12 mega-cities by 1990 (the latest year for which there are (7) ____ accurate statistics as data for 2000 (8) ____ are not available or censuses are scheduled for 2001); seven were in Asia, three in Latin America, and two in the United States. In 1800, the average size of the world's 100 largest cities was fewer than 200 000 inhabitants but now it is over 5 million. These (9) ____ give the impression of rapid urbanization that is primarily (10) ____ on large cities. But this is not the case.
1. A. fivefold B. five time C. twices D. doubles
2. A. decrease in B. increase in C. peaking in D. fluctuation in
3. A. reached B. lengthened C. prolonged D. approached
4. A. unsurpassed B. unrivaled C. unmatched D. unprecedented
5. A. the number of B. many C. quite a little D. a great deal of
6. A. event B. ceremony C. phenomenon D. reaction
7. A. roughly B. generally C. reasonably D. relatively
8. A. censuses B. conveys C. investigations D. probation
9. A. documents B. circumstances C. opinions D. statistics
10. A. based B. impacted C. focused D. depend
