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Urbanization

Until relatively recently, the vast majority of human beings lived and died without ever seeing a city. The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago. But even 200 years ago, only a few people could live in cities.

In fact, nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural (乡村的) villages. It was not until the 20th century that Great Britain became the first urban society in history---a society in which the majority of people live in cities and do not farm for a living.

Britain was only the beginning. Soon many other industrial nations become urban societies. The process of urbanization--- the migration (移) of people from the countryside to the city--- was the result of modernization, which has rapidly transformed how people live and where they live.

In 1990, fewer than 40% of Americans lived in urban areas. Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms.73.B. The rest live in small towns. Large cities were impossible until agriculture became industrialized. Even in advanced agricultural societies. It took about ninety-five people on farms to feed five people in cities.

That kept cities very small. Until modern times, those living in cities were mainly the ruling elite(精英) and the servants, laborers and professionals who served them. Cities survived by taxing farmers and were limited in size by the amount of surplus food that the rural population produced and by the ability to move this surplus from farm to city.

Over the past two centuries, the Industrial Revolution has broken this balance between the city and the country. Modernization drew people to the cities and made farmers more productive. Today, instead of needing ninety-five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non-farmers.

翻译

直到相对较近的时期，绝大多数人在一生中都未曾见过城市，便度过了一生。第一座城市的建立可能不超过 5500 年。但即便在 200 年前，也只有少数人能够生活在城市里。

事实上，几乎每个人都生活在农场或极小的乡村村落中。直到 20 世纪，英国才成为历史上首个城市化社会，即大多数人生活在城市且不以务农为生的社会。

英国仅仅是个开端。很快，许多其他工业化国家也成为了城市化社会。城市化进程，也就是人口从乡村向城市的迁移，是现代化的结果，而现代化迅速改变了人们的生活方式和居住地点。

1990 年，不到 40% 的美国人生活在城市地区。如今，超过 82% 的美国人居住在城市。只有约 2% 的人生活在农场，其余的人则生活在小城镇。 在农业实现工业化之前，大型城市是不可能出现的。即便在发达的农业社会，大约也需要 95 个农民才能养活 5 个城市居民。这使得城市规模一直非常小。

直到近代，生活在城市里的主要是统治精英，以及为他们服务的仆人、劳工和专业人员。城市依靠向农民征税得以存续，其规模受限于农村人口生产的剩余粮食数量，以及将这些剩余粮食从农场运往城市的能力。

在过去的两个世纪里，工业革命打破了城市与乡村之间的这种平衡。现代化将人们吸引到城市，同时提高了农民的生产效率。如今，一名美国农民能够养活一百多个非农民，而不再需要 95 个农民才能养活 5 个城市居民。