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． ?WhichofthefollowingstatementsisTRUE?
A.West European cities established their own urban traditions． B.West European cities grew directly out of those in the Middle East． C.Cities appeared earlier in the Middle East cities went through the same phases． D.West European and Middle East cities went through the same phases．正确答案C
