52-60. Fill in each blank with one suitable word. (9 points)
Urbanization has been a constant feature in human development for the past ten thousand years. While there has always been the
necessity for a minimum - sometimes a very substantial minimum - of the (52) _______ to work the land, such surplus individuals
as can be sustained have tended to gather in cities. Two thousand years ago, the cities of antiquity formed an administrative (53)
_______ for the surrounding area, and a refuge from attack. In the Middle Ages, it was the city folk (54)_____ were the first to
break the stultifying grip of feudalism, and it was in the cities of Northern Italy that the phenomenon of the Renaissance was born.
Today only a fraction of mankind lives in the country, and the (55) ________ which does so is decreasing. Mega-cities with
populations exceeding ten million are common, and they will become even (56) ______ so over the coming decades. While many
aspects of city life are unattractive - pollution, stress, and separation from nature to name but a few - more and more of humanity
(57) ______ to be choosing an urban existence. Adjusting to this fact is going to be (58) _________ of the major challenges of the
coming century. And what of the country? The (59) _______ are that its relative decline will be reversed as the information
revolution makes it possible to enjoy the benefits of social contact (60) ________ needing to leave one's rural residence.
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