Unit 15 Roots About “Country”, “City” “Moving”,
“Dwelling” and “Staying”
Lecture 1
Roots About“Country”and “City”
1. W arming-up 课程准备
The unit begins with Christmas holiday in rural area and talks about rural and urban areas. Amanda’s friends were teachers in rural high school and invited her to spend Christmas at a log cabin that’s full of rustic color. It centers on human migration and living place. The three lectures in this unit dwell on the roots respectively related to the meanings country, city, moving and dwelling.
And the first on is on the root “rur/rus”, which means “country”; the roots “urb”and “polis” which mean “city”.
2. W ords to W atch 词汇锦囊
Root “rur/rus”and the words: rural, rurality, rustic, rusticate, rusticity.
1) rural
农村的, 乡村的, 田园的
e.g. Y ou seem to be worried about the disappearance of rural culture.
Derivative: ruralize
2) rurality
乡村景色, 田园风光
e.g. Rurality does not just represent the beautiful countryside but also invokes a feeling of fresh air and close ties with your neighbors.
3) rustic
农村的,乡村的,乡村式的
e.g. The old cottage is full of rustic color. I love it.
Derivative: rusticate
4) rusticity
乡村风格,乡土味儿
e.g. She grew up in deep rusticity
Root “urb” and the words: urban suburb exurban
5) urban
城市的
e.g. People are moving from the rural areas to the urban areas.
Derivatives: urbanize, urbanization, urbanology, urbanite
6) suburb
在郊区
e.g. His family lived in the suburbs.
derivatives: suburban, suburbanize
7) exurban
城外, 远郊的
e.g. It could save land and offer equal public service to everyone in the urban area, the suburban area, and the exurban area.
derivatives: exurbanite
Root “polis” and the words: cosmopolitan, metropolitan
8) cosmopolitan
国际化大都市的
e.g. New Y ork City, Shanghai, Beijing, London, Paris are all cosmopolitan urban areas.
9) metropolitan
大城市的, 大都会的
e.g. I could adjust myself to the pace of metropolitan life easily.
3. Cultural Notes 文化采撷
1)Urbanization
Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, “the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas ”, and the ways in which each society adapts to the change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas.
Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including geography, sociology, economics, urban planning and public health. The phenomenon has been closely linked to modernization, industrialization and the sociological process of rationalization. (https:///wiki/Urbanization)
2) Urbanization in China
The urbanization of China is a comprehensive process involving transformations in many areas, including the management of spatial expansion via modern urban planning, the administration of land use changes via land policy reforms, the process of rural-to-urban migration, and the development of public finance systems. All of these changes are part of urbanization in China’s transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy. Not surprisingly, this rapid urbanization process, along with ongoing social and economic transitions, has presented great challenges for those leading urbanization in China. Chinese urban planners and public policy makers are faced with issues including urban sprawl, resource shortages, urban redevelopment, environmental pollution, economic restructuring, and social inequity. (/publications/books/urbanization-china)
4. Critical-Thinking Questions 思辨问题What do you think of urbanization in China?。