I am one of the many city people who are always saying that given the choice we would prefer to live in the country away from the dirt and noise of a large city. If it weren’t for my job I would immediately move out for the open spaces and go back to nature．

    Cities can be frightening places. The majority of the population live in many tower blocks, noisy, dirty and impersonal. The sense of belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up. All you can see from your window is sky, or other blocks of flats. Children become aggressive and nervous as they are shut up at home all day, with nowhere to play; their mothers feel isolated（孤立的）from the rest of the world. Strangely enough, in the past the residents（居民）of one street all knew each other, but nowadays people on the same floor in tower blocks don’t even say hello to each other．

    Country life, on the other hand, differs from this kind of isolated existence in that a sense of community generally binds the residents of small villages together. People have the advantage of knowing that there is always someone to turn to when they need help. But country life has disadvantages too. While it is true that you may be among friends in a village, it is also true that you are cut off from the exciting and important events that take place in cities. There’s little possibility of going to a new show or the latest movie. Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything slightly out of the ordinary you have to go a long way to the nearest large town. The city people who leave for the country often can’t bear the stillness and quiet there．

What, then, is the answer? The country has the advantage of peace and quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off; the city gives people a feeling of isolation, and constant noise can nearly drive you mad. But one of its main advantages is that you are at the center of things, and that life doesn’t come to an end at half-past nine at night. Some people have found a compromise （折衷） between the two: leave cities and move to villages within commuting （乘车往返） distance of large cities. It sounds great!

1．It seems that the writer prefers to live in the country mainly because ______．

A．the city is somehow polluted            B．the country folks are more friendly

C．one can get better sleep in the country         D．it’s hard for people to find jobs in the city

2．The biggest disadvantage of living in the country is that ______．

A．life there is inconvenient                       B．shopping is almost impossible

C．you can not see a movie or a show        D．life comes to an end at half past nine

3．As to which is better, city life or country life, the writer ______．

A．did some explanation                           B．made some comparison

C．described both of them vividly              D．talked a lot about his preference

4．The underlined word “binds” in the third paragraph is similar in meaning to ______．

A．attracts            B．drives              C．prevents            D．unites