Itisgenerallyagreedthatthefirsttruecitiesappearedabout5,000yearsagointhefood-producingcommunitiesoftheMiddleEast．ThecitiesofSumeria,EgyptandtheIndusValleypossessedanumberofcharacteristicsthatdistinguishedthemastrulyurban．Thecitieswereverymuchlargerandmoredenselypopulatedthananyprevioussettlement,andtheirfunctionwasclearlydifferentiatedfromthatofthesurroundingvillages．Inthecitiestheoldpatternsofkinshiprelationswerereplacedbyacomplexhierarchyofsocialclassesbasedonthespecializationof labor．Moreover,theneedtokeeprecordsledtothedevelopmentofwritingandarithmetic,andtheincreasedsophisticationofurbansocietygaveanewimpetustoartisticexpressionofeverykind． WhenthebasisofcitylifewasestablishedinEuropetheurbantraditionwasdrawnfromtheancientcitiesoftheMiddleEast,viathecivilizationofGreeceandRome．WecantracethreemainphasesinthegrowthoftheWestEuropeancity．Thefirstoftheseisthemedievalphasewhichextendsfromthebeginningofthe1lthcentury A． D．toabout1,500tothebeginningofthe19thcentury．Thethirdisthemodernphaseextendingfromtheearly19thcenturytothepresentday． Everymedievalcitybeganasasmallsettlement,whichgrewuproundageographicalorculturalfocalpoint．Thiswouldbeapermanentstructuresuchasastronghold,acathedraloralargechurch．Indistrictswheretravelandtradewerewellestablished,itmightbeamarket,arivercrossing,oraplacewheretwoormoretraderoutesmet,instudiesofurbangeographytheoldestpartoftownisreferredtoasthenuclearsettlement．TherearemanysmalltownsinEuropewhereitisstillpossibletotracetheoutlineoftheoriginalnuclearsettlement．Itis,ofcourse, muchmoredifficulttodothisinthecaseifalargemoderncitywhichhasgrowntomanytimesitsoriginalsize． ?Whichofthefollowingwouldbethebesttitleofthepassage?
A.The Origin and Development of Cities．
B.The Differences Between a Modern City and an Ancient City．
C.The Functions of a City．
D.The Characteristics of an Ancient City．
正确答案是D