_____atinthisway,thepresenteconomicsituationdoesn'tseemsogloomy.

Wecanbeginourdiscussionof“populationasglobalissue”withwhatmostpersonsmeanwhentheydiscuss“thepopulationproblem”:toomanypeopleonearthandatoorapidincreaseinthenumberaddedeachyear.Thefactsarenotindispute,Itwasquiterighttoemploytheanalogythatlikeneddemographicgrowthto“along,thinpowderfusethatburnssteadilyandhaltinglyuntilitfinallyreachesthechargeandexplodes.”

Tounderstandthecurrentsituation,whichischaracterizedbyrapidincreasesinpopulation,itisnecessarytounderstandthehistoryofpopulationtrends.Rapidgrowthisacomparativelyrecentphenomenon.Lookingbackatthe8,000yearsofdemographichistory,wefindthatpopulationshavebeenvirtuallystableorgrowingveryslightlyformostofhumanhistory.Formostofourancestors,lifewashard,oftennasty,andveryshort.Therewashighfertilityinmostplaces,butthiswasusuallybalancedbyhighmortality.Formostofhumanhistory,itwasseldomthecasethatoneintenpersonswouldlivepastforty,whileinfancyandchildhoodwereespeciallyriskyperiods.Often,societieswereincleardangerofextinctionbecausedeathratescouldexceedtheirbirthrates.Thus,thepopulationproblemthroughoutmostofhistorywashowtopreventextinctionofthehumanrace.

Thispatternisimportanttonotice.Notonlydoesitputthecurrentproblemsofdemographicgrowthintoahistoricalperspective,butitsuggeststhatthecauseofrapidincreaseinpopulationinrecentyearsisnotasuddenenthusiasmformorechildren,butanimprovementintheconditionsthattraditionallyhavecausedhighmortality.

Demographichistorycanbedividedintotwomajorperiods:atimeoflong,slowgrowthwhichextendedfromabout8,000BC.tillapproximatelyAD.1650.Inthefirstperiodofsome9600years,thepopulationincreasedfromsome8millionto500millionin1650.Between1650andthepresent,thepopulationhasincreasedfrom500milliontomorethan4billion.Anditisestimatedthatbytheyear2000therewillbe6.2billionpeoplethroughouttheworld.Onewaytoappreciatethisdramaticdifferenceinsuchabstractnumbersistoreducethetimeframetosomethingthatismoremanageable.Between8000BCand1650,anaverageofonly50,000personswasbeingaddedannuallytotheworld’spopulationeachyear.Atpresent,thisnumberisaddedeverysixhours.Theincreaseisabout80,000,000personsannually.

1.Whichofthefollowingdemographicgrowthpatternismostsuitableforthelongthinpowderfuseanalogy?

A.Avirtuallystableorslightlydecreasingperiodandthenasuddenexplosionofpopulation.

B.Aslowgrowthforalongtimeandthenaperiodofrapid,dramaticincrease.

C.Toomanypeopleonearthandafewrapidincreaseinthenumberaddedeachyear.

D.Alongperiodwhendeathratesexceedsbirthratesandthenashortperiodwithhigherfertilityandlowermortality.

2.Duringthefirstperiodofdemographichistory,societieswereoftenindangerofextinctionbecause___.

A.onlyoneintenpersonscouldlivepast40.

B.therewashighermortalitythanfertilityinmostplaces.

C.itwastoodangeroustohavebabiesduetothepoorconditions.

D.ourancestorshadlittleenthusiasmformorechildren.

3.Whichstatementistrueaboutpopulationincrease?

A.Theremightbeanincreaseof2.2billionpersonsfromnowtotheyear2000.

B.About50,000babiesareborneverysixhoursatpresent.

C.Between8000BCandthepresent,thepopulationincreaseisabout80,000,000personseachyear.

D.Thepopulationincreasedfasterbetween8000BCand1650thanbetween1650andthepresent.

4.Theauthorofthepassageintendsto___.

A.warnpeopleagainstthepopulationexplosioninthenearfuture.

B.comparethedemographicgrowthpatterninthepastwiththatafter1650.

C.findoutthecauseforrapidincreaseinpopulationinrecentyears.

D.presentusaclearandcompletepictureofthedemographicgrowth.

5.Theword“demographic”inthefirstparagraphmeans___.

A.statisticsofhuman.

B.surroundingsstudy.

C.accumulationofhuman.

D.developmentofhuman.

_____time,he’llmakeafirst-classtennisplayer.

Passage2

Questions6to10arebasedonthefollowingpassage:

Therearetwokindsofmemory:shot-termandlong-term.Informationinlong-termmemorycanberememberedatalatertimewhenitisneeded.Theinformationmaybekeptfordaysorweeks.However,informationoverandover.Thefollowingexperimentshowshowshort-termmemoryhasbeenstudied.

HenningstudiedhowstudentswhoarelearningEnglishasasecondlanguageremembervocabulary.Thesubjectsinhisexperimentwere75collegestudents.TheyrepresentedalllevelsofabilityinEnglish:beginning,intermediate,andnative-speakingstudents.

Tobegin,thesubjectslistenedtoarecordingofanativespeakerreadingaparagraphinEnglish.Followingtherecording,thesubjectstooka15-questiontesttoseewhichwordstheyremembered,eachquestionhadfourchoices.Thesubjectshadtocirclethewordtheyhadheardintherecording.Someofthequestionshadfourchoicesthatsoundalike.Forexample,weather,whether,wither,andwetterarefourwordsthatsoundalike.Someofthequestionshadfourchoicesthathavethesamemeaning.Method,way,manner,andsystemwouldbefourwordswiththesamemeaning.Finallythesubjectstookalanguageproficiencytest.

HenningfoundthatstudentswithalowerproficiencyinEnglishmademoreoftheirmistakesonwordsthatsoundalike;studentswithahigherproficiencymademoreoftheirmistakesonwordsthathavethesamemeaning.Henning’sresultssuggestthatbeginningstudentsholdthesoundofwordsintheirshort-termmemory,andadvancedstudentsholdthemeaningofwordsintheirshort-termmemory.

6.Henningmadetheexperimentinordertostudy.

A.howstudentsrememberEnglishvocabularybyshort-termmemory

B.howstudentslearnEnglishvocabulary

C.howtodevelopstudents’abilityinEnglish

D.howlonginformationinshort-termmemoryiskept

7.WhichofthefollowingstatementsisTRUEaccordingtothepassage?

A.Informationinshort-termmemoryisdifferentfromthatinlong-termmemory.

B.Long-termmemorycanbeachievedonlybytraining.

C.Itiseasiertotestshort-termmemorythanlong-termmemory.

D.Henninggaveaseparatetestonvocabularytohisstudents.

8.FromHenning’sresultwecanseethat.

A.beginnershavedifficultydistinguishingthepronunciationofwords

B.advancedstudentsrememberwordsbytheirmeaning

C.itisdifficulttorememberwordsthatsoundalike

D.itisdifficulttorememberwordsthathavethesamemeaning

9.Theword“subjects”inthepassagemeans.

A.memoryB.thethemeoflisteningmaterial

C.abranchofknowledgestudiedD.thestudentsexperimentedon

_____theirhelp,wewouldnothavesucceeded.