解放军文职招聘考试Only a Madman Would Live in a City

 Only a Madman Would Live in a City

"Avoid the rush-hour" must be the slogan of large cities the world over. Wherever you look it's people, people, people. The trains which leave or arrive every few minutes are packed: an endless procession of hu­man sardine tins. The streets are so crowded, and there is hardly any room to move on the pavements. The queues for buses reach staggering proportions. It takes ages for a bus to get to you because the traffic on the roads has virtually come to a standstill.

Large modem cities are too big to control. They impose their own living conditions on the people who inhabit them. City-dwellers are obliged by their envi­ronment to adopt a wholly unnatural way of life. They lose touch with the land and rhythm of nature. It is possible to live such an air-conditioned existence in a large city that you are barely conscious of the seasons. A few flowers in a public park may remind you that it is spring or summer. A few leaves clinging to the pave­ment may remind you that it is autumn. Beyond that, what is going on in nature seems totally irrelevant. All the simple, good things of life like sunshine and fresh air are at a premium. Tall buildings blot out the sun. Traffic fumes pollute the atmosphere. Even the distinc­tion between day and night is lost. The flow of traffic goes on unceasingly and the noise never stops.

The funny thing about it all is that you pay dearly for the "privilege" of living in a city. The demand for accommodation is so great that it is often impossible for ordinary people to buy a house of their own. Exorbitant rents must be paid for tiny flats which even country hens would disdain to live in. Accommodation apart, the cost of living is very high. Just about everything you buy is likely to be more expensive than it would be in the country.

In addition to all this, city-dwellers live under constant threat. The crime rate in most cities is very high. Houses are burgled with alarming frequency. Cities breed crime and violence and are full of places you would be afraid to visit at night. If you think about it, only a madman would choose to live in a large mod­em city.