The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850 – 1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed "the Garden City", almost certainly the source of Howard's name for his later building plan of towns．Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs．
The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities．At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression（萧条）and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life．Howard's idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city．Howard's idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside; far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price．
Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries．They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions．As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit-Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away．Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide rang of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city．
小题1:How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?
A．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago．
B．Through his observation of the country life．
C．Through the combination of different ideas．
D．By taking other people's advice．
小题2:The underlined phrase "drawing on "in Paragraph 1 probably means______．
A．making comments onB．giving an explanation of
C．giving a description ofD．making use of
小题3:What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?
A．Each one would continue to become larger
B．People would live and work in the same place
C．Their number would continue to rise
D．Each one would contain a certain type of business
小题4:What could be the best title for the passage?
A．City and Countryside
B．The Invention of the Garden City
C．A New City in Chicago
D．A Famous Garden City in England
答案
小题1:A
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:B
解析
本文是介绍Ebenezer Howard的花园城市以及他对后代城市发展所产生的影响。
小题1:A细节题。根据第一段it was nicknamed "the Garden City", almost certainly the source of Howard's name for his later building plan of towns用的是后来重建芝加哥所起的绰号故选 A项。
小题2:D 推理题。根据第一段Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs．返回伦敦之后 他又一下他的想法与设计，利用当时很受欢迎的想法，但又创造一个独特的设计。故选 D项。
小题3:C 推断题。根据最后一段As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit-Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away．随着越来越多的搬进这个城市达到饱和之后 ，另外一个又开始发展，可见数量上会继续增加的。故选C项。
小题4:B 主旨大意。本文要讲城市花园的发展历程，故选B项。
扩展知识
历史类阅读
阅读的方面有以下建议：
一 体会太史公对历史人物的描写。
史记里的人物都是有血有肉的，对的描写精炼传神，同时又传达出作者对的爱憎态度，读起来十分的有趣。
二 捋清各个历史事件。
因为史记里人物描写居多，同一个历史事件在不同的人物传记里都有提到，重复读到，既可以使印象更深刻，又可以从不同方面理解。
三 尽量不要使用字典。
史记阅读对有一定文言文基础的人来说是不难的，有些较生僻的字可以不大管它，不会影响顺畅的阅读。
四 对于有些地方可以跳过。
个人认为有些部分实在是很枯燥，比如一些国家国君更替什么的，如果不是这个专业的，没有必要研究那么仔细。