剑桥雅思18阅读真题电子版Test2 Passage3

剑桥雅思18共收集了雅思真题4套，羊驼雅思整理了第二套阅读真题答案及解析Test 2 Reading，以下是阅读第三篇文章Passage3的文章原文，供烤鸭们复习参考。

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READING PASSAGE  3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40. which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

An ideal city

Leonardo da Vincis ideal city was centuries ahead of its time

The word 'genius' is universally associated with the name of Leonardo da Vinci. A true Renaissance man, he embodied scientifc spirit, artistic talent and humanist sensibilities Five hundred years have passed since Leonardo died in his home at Chateau du Clos Lucé, outside Tours, France. Yet far from fading into insignificance, his thinking has carried down the centuries and still surprises today.

The Renaissance marked the transition from the 15th century to modernity and took place after the spread of the plague in the 14th century, which caused a global crisis resulting in some 200 million deaths across Europe and Asia, Today, the world is on the cusp of a climate crisis, which is predicted to cause widespread displacement, extinctions and death, if left unaddressed Then, as now, radical solutions were called for to revolutionise the way people lived and safeguard humanity against catastrophe.

Around 1486 - after a pestilence that killed half the population in Milan, Italy - Leonardo turned his thoughts to urban planning problems. Following a typical Renaissance trend, he began to work on an 'ideal city' project, which - due to its excessive costs - would remain unfulfilled. Yet given that unsustainable urban models are a key cause of global climate change today, it's only natural to wonder how Leonardo might have changed the shape of modern cities.

Although the Renaissance is renowned as an era of incredible progress in art and architecture. it is rarely noted that the 15th century also marked the birth of urbanism as a true academic discipline. The rigour and method behind the conscious conception of a city had been largely missing in Western thought until the moment when prominent Renaissance men pushed forward large-scale urban projects in Italy, such as the reconfiguration of the town of Pienza and the expansion of the city of Ferrara. These works surely inspired Leonardo's decision to rethink the design of medieval cities, with their winding and overcrowded streets and with houses piled against one another.

It is not easy to identify a coordinated vision ofLeonardo's ideal city because of his disordered way of working with notes and sketches. But from the largest collection ofLeonardo's papers ever assembled. a series of innovative thoughts can be reconstructed regarding the foundation of a new city along the Ticino River, which runs from Switzerland into ltaly and is 248 kilometres long. He designed the city for the easy transport of goods and clean urban spaces, and he wanted a comfortable and spacious city, with well-ordered streets and architecture. He recommended 'high, strong walls’, with 'towers and battlements of all necessary and pleasant beauty'.

His plans for a modern and 'rational' city were consistent with Renaissance ideals. But, in keeping with his personality, Leonardo included several innovations in his urban design. Leonardo wanted the city to be built on several levels, linked with vertical outdoor staircases.

This design can be seen in some of today's high-rise buildings but was unconventional at the time. Indeed, this idea of taking full advantage of the interior spaces wasn't implemented until the 1920s and 1930s, with the birth of the Modernist movement.

While in the upper layers of the city, people could walk undisturbed between elegant palaces and streets, the lower layer was the place for services, trade, transport and industry. But the true originality of Leonardo's vision was its fusion of architecture and engineering. Leonardo designed extensive hydraulic plants to create artifcial canals throughout the city. The canals, regulated by clocks and basins, were supposed to make it easier for boats to navigate inland Leonardo also thought that the width of the streets ought to match the average height of the adjacent houses: a rule still followed in many contemporary cities across Italy, to allow access to sun and reduce the risk of damage from earthquakes.

Although some of these features existed in Roman cities, before Leonardo's drawings there had never been a multi-level, compact modern city which was thoroughly technically conceived. Indeed, it wasn't until the 19th century that some of his ideas were pplied. For example, the subdivision of the city by function - with services and infrastructures located in the lower levels and wide and well-ventilated boulevards and walkways above for residents - is an idea that can be found in Georges-Eugène Haussmann's renovation of Paris under Emperor Napoleon lll between 1853 and 1870.

Today, Leonardo's ideas are not simply valid, they actually suggest a way forward for urban planning, Many scholars think that the compact city, built upwards instead of outwards, integrated with nature (especially water systems), with efcient transport infrastructure, could help modern cities become more effcient and sustainable. This is yet another reason why Leonardo was aliened so closely with modern urban planning and centuries ahead of his time.

参考译文

理想的城市

达·芬奇理想的城市比那个时代超前了几个世纪

“天才”一词通常与达的名字联系在一起。作为一个真正的文艺复兴时期的人，他体现了科学精神、艺术天赋和人文主义情感。自达·芬奇在法国图尔郊外的克洛斯-吕克城堡去世以来，已经过去了五百年。然而，他的思想并没有变得微不足道，而是延续了几个世纪，至今仍令人惊讶。

文艺复兴标志着从15世纪向现代性的过渡，发生在14世纪瘟疫蔓延之后，瘟疫引发了一场全球危机，导致欧洲和亚洲约2亿人死亡。今天，世界正处于气候危机的风口浪尖，如果不加以解决，预计将导致大范围的流离失所、灭绝和死亡。当时和现在一样，人们呼吁采取激进的解决方案，彻底改变人们的生活方式，保护人类免受灾难。

1486年左右，意大利米兰发生了一场导致一半人口死亡的瘟疫，莱昂纳多将他的思想转向了城市规划问题。遵循典型的文艺复兴趋势，他开始致力于一个“理想城市”项目，但由于成本过高，该项目仍未实现。然而，鉴于不可持续的城市模式是当今全球气候变化的关键原因，人们很自然地想知道莱昂纳多是如何改变现代城市的形状的。

尽管文艺复兴时期以艺术和建筑的惊人进步而闻名。很少有人注意到，15世纪也标志着城市主义作为一门真正的学术学科的诞生。在西方思想中，有意识的城市概念背后的严谨性和方法在很大程度上是缺失的，直到文艺复兴时期的杰出人物在意大利推动了大规模的城市项目，如皮恩扎镇的重组和费拉拉市的扩张。这些作品无疑激发了莱昂纳多重新思考中世纪城市设计的决定，这些城市的街道蜿蜒而拥挤，房屋相互堆叠。

由于他处理笔记和草图的方式混乱，很难确定达理想城市的协调愿景。但这是有史以来收集到的最大的达·芬奇论文集。关于在提契诺河沿岸建立一座248公里长的新城市，可以重建一系列创新思维。他设计这座城市是为了方便货物运输和清洁的城市空间，他想要一个舒适宽敞的城市，有秩序井然的街道和建筑。他推荐“高大坚固的城墙”，有“所有必要和令人愉悦的美丽的塔楼和城垛”。

他对现代和“理性”城市的规划与文艺复兴时期的理想是一致的。但是，为了与他的个性保持一致，莱昂纳多在他的城市设计中加入了几项创新。莱昂纳多希望这座城市建在几个层次上，与垂直的室外楼梯相连。

这种设计可以在今天的一些高层建筑中看到，但在当时是非传统的。事实上，这种充分利用室内空间的想法直到20世纪20年代和30年代才随着现代主义运动的诞生而实现。

在城市的上层，人们可以在优雅的宫殿和街道之间不受干扰地行走，而下层是服务、贸易、交通和工业的地方。但达的愿景的真正独创性是建筑和工程的融合。达设计了大量的水力发电厂，在整个城市建造了人工运河。这些由时钟和水池调节的运河本应使船只更容易在内陆航行。莱昂纳多还认为，街道的宽度应该与相邻房屋的平均高度相匹配：意大利许多当代城市仍然遵循这一规则，以获得阳光并降低地震造成的破坏风险。

尽管这些特征中的一些存在于罗马城市中，但在达·芬奇的画作之前，从未有过一个技术上完全构思的多层次、紧凑的现代城市。事实上，直到19世纪，他的一些想法才被应用。例如，根据功能对城市进行细分——服务和基础设施位于较低的楼层，上方有宽阔通风的林荫大道和人行道供居民使用——这一想法可以在1853年至1870年拿破仑三世统治下的乔治·欧仁·豪斯曼对巴黎的翻修中找到。

今天，莱昂纳多的想法不仅仅是有效的，它们实际上为城市规划提供了一条前进的道路。许多学者认为，向上而不是向外建造的紧凑型城市，与自然(尤其是水系)相结合，拥有高效的交通基础设施，可以帮助现代城市变得更加高效和可持续。这也是为什么达·芬奇与现代城市规划如此疏远的另一个原因，比他的时代早了几个世纪。