VOA慢速英语--美国城市不再像过去那样增长

US Cities Not Growing Like They Used To

Big cities in the United States are not growing like they used to.

Most of the largest cities grew last year by a much smaller amount than they did 10 years ago, estimates the U.S. Census¹ Bureau.

William Frey is a senior fellow with the Metropolitan² Policy Program at The Brookings Institution. The program was set up to provide research to officials in cities across the country.

Frey says the growth of cities 10 years ago resulted from the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009. Because of the weak U.S. economy, he said, many Americans chose to live in big cities.

The effects of the recession “stranded⁴ a lot of millennials in cities,” he added. By staying there, these young people delayed home-buying in nearby suburban⁵ communities.

The newly-released Census information looks at changes in cities and towns between the middle of 2017 and mid-2018. The data does not show changes in areas made up of two or more cities, towns, suburbs or counties.

Last month, when the Census Bureau released data about U.S. counties, New York City’s planners disputed the agency’s methodology. They said the Bureau may have miscounted the number of immigrants arriving in the country.

In the latest Census data, Phoenix⁶ and San Antonio are two cities that seem to be growing. The populations of cities such as Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas, grew, but not as much as they did in the past.

San Jose, California lost more than 2,000 residents last year, according to Census Bureau estimates.

“There is a growing moving away from cities,” Frey said. He added that things were different 10 years ago. “Cities were growing faster than suburbs. That is starting to turn around.”

I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

senior fellow – n. a job position at a research center or university

strand³ – v. to leave (a person or animal) in a place without a way of leaving it — usually used as (be) stranded

suburb – n. an outlying part of a city of town; a smaller community close to a city

county – n. an area of a state or country that is larger than a city and has its own government to deal with local issues

resident – n. a person who lives in a place for some length of time

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

3 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

4 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

5 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

6 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。