Thefactthatpeoplearenolongertiedtospecificplacesf...

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The fact that people are no longer tied to specific places for functions such as studying or learning, says William Mitchell, a professor of architecture and computer science at MIT, means that there is “a huge drop in demand for traditional, ___51___, enclosed spaces” such as offices or classrooms, and simultaneously “a huge rise in demand for semi-public spaces that can be informally appropriated to ad-hoc workspaces”. This shift, he thinks, amounts to the biggest change in ___52___ in this century. In the 20th century architecture was about ___53___ structures—offices for working, cafeterias for eating, and so forth. This was necessary because workers needed to be near things such as landline phones, fax machines and filing cabinets.

The new architecture, says Mr Mitchell, will “make spaces intentionally ___54___”. Architects are thinking about light, air, trees and gardens, all in the service of human connections. Buildings will have much more varied shapes than before. ___55___, people working on laptops find it comforting to have their backs to a wall, so hybrid(混合的) spaces may become curvier, with more nooks(角落), in order to ___56___ the surface area of their inner walls.

“This___57___ is what separates successful spaces and cities from unsuccessful ones,” says Anthony Townsend, an urban planner at the Institute for the Future, a think-tank. Almost any public space can assume some of these features. For example, a not-for-profit organization in New York has ___58___ Bryant Park, a once abandoned but charming garden in front of the city’s public library, into a hybrid space popular with office workers. The park’s managers noticed that a lot of visitors were using mobile phones and laptops in the park, so they ___59___ Wi-Fi and added some chairs with foldable lecture desks. The idea was not to distract people from the flowers but to let them customize their little bit of the park.

The academic name for such spaces is “third places”, a term originally coined by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his * book, “The Great, Good Place”. At the time, long before mobile technologies became widespread, Mr Oldenburg wanted to ___60___ between the sociological functions of people’s first places (their homes), their second places (offices) and the public spaces that ___61___ safe, neutral and informal meeting points. As Mr Oldenburg saw it, a good third place makes admission free or cheap—the price of a cup of coffee, say—offers creature comforts, is within walking distance for a particular neighborhood and ___62___ a group of regulars.

As more ___63___ places pop up and spread, they also change entire cities. Just as buildings during the 20th century were specialized by ___64___, towns were as well, says Mr Mitchell. Suburbs were for living, downtowns for ___65___ and other areas for playing. But urban nomadism makes districts, like buildings, multifunctional. Parts of town that were monocultures, he says, gradually become “fine-grained mixed-use neighborhoods”.

51. A. additional B. vacant C. private D. narrow

52. A. development B. architecture C. technology D. purpose

53. A. specialized B. detailed C. splendid D. complicate

54. A. attractive B. cooperative C. multifunctional D. agreeable

55. A. In addition B. For instance C. On the contrary D. Meanwhile

56. A. control B. surround C. maximize D. dominate

57. A. similarity B. qualification C. presentation D. flexibility

58. A. manufactured B. transformed C. maintained D. simplified

59. A. installed B. required C. discovered D. invented

60. A. transfer B. confuse C. combine D. distinguish

61. A. serve as B. appeal to C. identify with D. put away

62. A. reveals B. hires C. stirs D. draws