Task 2 Directions: This task is the same as Task 1. The 5 questions or unfinished statements are numbered 41 through 45. 'Avoid the rush-hour' must be the slogan of large cities the world over. Whenever you look, it's people, people, people. The streets are so crowded, there is hardly room to move when a bus arrives, it's so full, it can't take any more passengers. The extraordinary thing is not that people put up with (忍受，容忍) these conditions, but that they actually choose them in preference to anything else. Large modern cities are too big to control. They impose their own living conditions on the people who inhabit them. It is possible to live such an air conditioned existence in a large city that you are barely conscious of the seasons. What is going on in nature seems totally irrelevant. Even the distinction between day and night is lost. 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 high rents must be paid for tiny flats which even country hens would scorn (拒绝接受；鄙视) 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 these, city inhabitants live under constant threats. The crime rate in most cities is very high. If you think about it, they're not really fit to live in at all. Can any one really doubt that the country is what man was born for and where he truly belongs? It can be learned from the first paragraph that .