We can begin our discussion of “population as a global issue” with what most person mean when they discuss “ the population problem”: too many people on earth and a too rapid increase in the number added each year. The facts are not in dispute. It was quite right to employ a similar matter that linked demographic(人口统计学）growth to “ a long, thin power fuse that burns steadily from time to time until it finally reaches the limit, and explodes”.
To understand the current situation, which is characterized by rapid increases in population, it is necessary to understand the history of population trends. Rapid growth is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Looking back at the 8,000 years of demographic history. We find that population have been really stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, where infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birth rates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race.
This pattern is important to know. Not only does it put the current problems of demographic growth into a historical perspective, but it suggests that the cause of rapid increase in population in recent years is not a sudden enthusiasm for more children, but an improvement in the conditions that traditionally have caused high rate of death.
Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8000B.C. till approximately 1650 A.D. And a period of rapid growth since 1650. In the first period of some 9,600 years, the population increased form some 8 million to 500 million in 1650. Between 1650 and the present, the population has increased from 500 million to more than 4 billion. And it is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 8 billion people throughout the world. One way to appreciate this dramatic difference in such abstract numbers is to reduce the time frame to something that is more manageable. Between 8000B.C. and 1650, an average of only 50,000 persons was being added annually to the world’s population each year. At present, this number is added very six hours. The increase is about 80,000,000 persons annually.According to the passage, “population as a global issue” ____.
| A．is quite unlike the population problem and thus doesn’t need our concern |
| B．focuses on tracking down the reason of rapid population growth |
| C．deals with the same problem aroused by the population problem |
| D．will manage the population growth problem from global perspectives |
It can be inferred from the example of a power fuse that _____.
| A．too much population will one day lead to the doom of human beings |
| B．the trend of population growth will keep unsteady until the destruction of Earth |
| C．demographic growth will follow a certain pattern of ups and downs |
| D．it is likely in the near future that population will reduce gradually |
What leads to a stable growth of population for most of human history?
| A．Species competition | B．Low fertility | C．Tribal fights | D．High rate of death |
The reason for a rapid growth of population lies in the fact that ______.
| A．people are permitted to have more children |
| B．people can live better than before |
| C．newborn babies die less than before |
| D．we have found the secret of longevity |
How many people are born every six hours at present, according to the author?
| A．Eighty million. | B．Eight thousand |
| C．Fifty thousand | D．Five million |
If you've been joining in chat room conversations, or trading e-mail with Web pals, you have become one of the millions who write in a peculiarly short form of English.
And you've got a sense of humor about short forms like SOHF(="sense" of humor failure) to describe Internet newcomers who don't understand you.
Across the globe, every night teenagers and their elders are “talking” online—many of them are talking at the same time.
It's fast: try talking to six people at once. It's brief: three or four words per exchange. It takes wit, concentration, and quick fingers.
And it requires tremendous linguistic economy. There's neither time nor space for explanations. Why consume precious key-strokes telling six friends you have to leave for a moment to take care of your little brother when BRB(="be" right back) will do? Want to enter a conversation? Just type PMFJI(="pardon" me for jumping in). Interested in whom you're talking to? Type A/S/L, the nearly universal request to know your pal's age, sex and location. You may get 15/M/NY as a response from your pal.
If something makes you laugh, say you're OTF(="on" the floor),or LOL(="laughing" out loud),or combine the two into ROTFL(="rolling" on the floor laughing).
And when it's time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG(="got" to go) or TTYL(talk to you later).
People want to write as fast as possible, and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can. Capital letters are left in the dust, except when expressing emotion, as it takes more time to hold down the “shift” key and capitals. Punctuation is going, too.In order to talk to several people at the same time on the Internet_______.
| A．you have to speak fast and fluently |
| B．you have to express your ideas in a brief way |
| C．you should speak with wit and humor |
| D．one should pay much attention to the accuracy of the words |
If you get 17/F/NY as an answer to your A/S/L, it means_______.
| A．the person on the other end is 17 from New York and he is fine |
| B．you are talking to a girl who is 17 and lives in New York |
| C．you are talking to 17 girls who are from New York |
| D．the person who are talking to you is a 1.7-foot tall New York girl |
To save time on the Internet_______.
| A．some people leave their letters in the dustbin |
| B．some people never use “shift” in their writing |
| C．many people leave the capital and punctuation |
| D．people seldom use capital letters or punctuation |
Methods of training animals have changed greatly in recent years. Zoo keepers have always had problems getting the animals to leave their cages in order for the cages to be cleaned, and also training them to move indoors when appropriate. Another problem was that many of the large animals became listless and bored. In the last twenty years, scientists have done research on dolphins and whales, training them to obey commands. The scientists found they could get animals to obey by rewarding them with food and affection when they responded correctly.
Proper training allows the animals to receive the care they need. It was very difficult to get untrained animals, especially the larger ones, to stay still when they needed medical attention. Now they can be trained, on command, to remain still and even to allow blood samples to be taken and shots administered. All this is accomplished through positive reinforcement, without the use of any force. Affection training, as this process is called, has been used with great success on a wide variety of zoo animals. Animal behavior experts have taught zoo keepers to train bears, tigers, monkeys, and many other species to behave in a way that provides for better animal-keeper interaction. This training also keeps the animals from becoming bored and inactive.
Although some people proclaim(谴责) that this training is inhumance and cruel to animals, results have shown that captive(猎获的)animals who previously were not doing well flourish under the new training procedures.The word “listless” means _______.
| A．countless | B．obedient |
| C．inactive | D．mysterious |
Which of the following is valid conclusion based on this passage?
| A．It is safe to pet any animal. |
| B．Many animals respond favorably to rewards and affection. |
| C．Animals in the wild can be trained. |
| D．Animals should not be kept in zoos. |
The writer's purpose is to _______.
| A．persuade people not to feed animals in the zoo |
| B．show how easy it is to train animals |
| C．explain method of training animals through rewards |
| D．criticize zoo keepers |
Which of the following is an opinion?
| A．Zoo keepers had problems in getting animals to leave their cages. |
| B．Training is cruel to animals. |
| C．Animals obey commands if they are trained to do so. |
| D．Many animals can be trained, on commands, to remain still. |
A weather map is an important tool for geographers. A succession of three or four maps presents a continuous picture of weather changes. Weather forecasters are able to determine the speed of air masses and fronts. They are also able to determine whether an air mass is retaining its original characteristics or taking on those of the surface over which it is moving. Thus, a most significant function of the map is to reveal an synoptic picture(气象图) of conditions in the atmosphere at a given time.
All students of geography should to interpret a weather map accurately. Weather maps contain an enormous amount of information about weather conditions existing at the time of observation over a large geographical area. They reveal in a few minutes what otherwise would take hours to describe. The United States Weather Bureau issues information about approaching storms, floods, frosts, droughts and all climate conditions in general. Twice a month it issues a 30-day “outlook” which is a rough guide to weather conditions likely to occur over broad areas of the United States. These outlooks are based on an analysis of the upper air levels.
With the use of electronic instruments and satellites, enormous gains have taken place recently in identifying and tracking storms over regions which have but few meteorological stations(气象站).Experiments are also in progress for weather modification studies, although few successful results such as artificial rainmaking have been achieved so far. Which is not mentioned in this passage in the following about one characteristic of weather?
| A．Fronts. | B．Temperature change. | C．Wind speed. | D．Frost. |
The observation of weather conditions by satellites is advantageous because
_______.
| A．it is modern and sophisticated |
| B．it used electronic instruments |
| C．it enables man to alter the weather |
| D．it gives the scientists information not obtained readily otherwise |
The word “interpret” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______
| A．explain | B．present | C．modify | D．illustrate |
It's interesting that the arrival of snow has effect on people in different countries. For some countries it is an important happening to celebrate each year, while for others a catastrophe(灾害) or even a wonder.
But there are countries between these two kinds that normally expect snow some time over-the winter months, but never receive snow regularly or in the same quantities every year. Britain is one of them, for which the arrival of snow quite simply causes problems. Within hours of the first snowfalls, however light, roads are blocked; trains and buses have to stop in the middle of the way. Normal communication is affected as well: telephone calls become difficult and the post immediately takes more time than usual. And almost within hours, there are also certain shortages—bread, vegetables and other things—not because all these things can no longer be produced or sent to shops, but mainly because people are frightened and go out and store up with food and so on just for fear that something bad should happen.
But why does snow have this effect? After all, the Swiss, the Austrians and the Canadians don't have such problems. It is simple because there is not enough planning and preparation. We need money to buy equipment to deal with snow and ice. To keep the roads clear, for example, requires snow-ploughs(扫雪机) and machines to spread salt. The reason why a country like Britain does not buy snow-ploughs is that they are used for a few days in any one year, and the money could be more useful in other things such as hospital, education, helping the old.According to the writer, Britain is a country _______.
| A．which has regular snow | B．which is not well prepared for snow |
| C．for which snow is a catastrophe | D．for which snow is a wonder |
After a few hours' snowing there are often some shortages of food because _______.
| A．shops have closed down | B．people buy as much as they can |
| C．farmers cannot produce any more | D．people eat more vegetables in winter |
The words “two kinds” in the passage mean the countries _______.
| A．which have weather as yearly happening to celebrate or as rare (少见) weather |
| B．which either have heavy snow or light snow |
| C．to which snow either causes problems or no problems |
| D．which either have snow-ploughs or no snow-ploughs |
A man who served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife was officially cleared yesterday, walking free from Jingshan County People's Court—the same body that sentenced him to a 15year jail term in 1998—as over 2000 local residents cheered.
“Police and other law enforcers made the errors,”39yearold She Xianglin told China Daily, “I believe the law will punish them and give me a just result.”
The original conviction came based on a confession which She said was extracted under police torture and the misidentification of a still-unknown woman's body.
“The provincial Hubei government has sent a team of police, procurators and high people's court officials to investigate the case,” a spokesperson for the Jingmen government, which administrates Jingshan County, said yesterday.
The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, resurfaced late last month after being thought missing for 11 years.
This was despite at least five letters from Zhang to her brother over the last two years, which he said he didn't report to police because he thought they were a hoax.
Zhang disappeared in January 1994 from Yanmenkou Township, and 3 months later a body was found in a pond that her relatives positively identified.
Local police arrested Shen for murder in April 1994,although questions had been raised about discrepancies between the features and clothes of the body and Zhang. Confirmation through DNA testing had not been attempted.
Zhang Chengmao, Shen's lawyer, said yesterday he would seek State compensation “but we have not reached a figure yet”.
When asked about compensation, Shen said, “My mother, who died from the stress of continually appealing, cannot be bought. Eleven years of freedom cannot be bought. Schooling of my daughter that was stopped because of poverty cannot be bought.”
As for his wife, the man said he did not hate her at all. “If she had not reappeared, maybe I would have been wronged for life,” he said.
He also said he did not plan to sue Zhang for bigamy, though she had remarried in Shandong Province without divorcing him.Why did She Xianglin served 11 years in prison?
| A．Because She Xianglin was convicted of murdering his wife. |
| B．Because the Police and other law enforcers made the errors. |
| C．Because through DNA testing the dead woman was his wife. |
| D．Because her wife was missing. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife reappeared. |
| B．The man said he did not hate her at all. |
| C．Zhang Zaiyu wrote at least five letters to her brother over the last two years to hoax him. |
| D．She Xianglin's mother died from the stress of continually appealing. |
We can infer from the passage _______.
| A．She Xianglin will get State compensation |
| B．She Xianglin's daughter dropped out of school because of poverty |
| C．She Xianglin stayed in prison for 11 years |
| D．who murdered the woman is known to all |
The underlined word “cleared” in the first paragraph means _______.
| A．清除 | B．宣告无罪 | C．（天气）变晴 | D．移走物体 |