Population Change
Why is the world's population growing? The answer is not what you might think. The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits, but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies. In 1900, people died at the average age of 30.By 2000 the average age was 65.But while increasing health was a typical feature of the 20 thcentury, declining birth rate could be a defining one of the 21 st.
Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 nowadays. Furthermore, around 50% of the world's population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level(i.e.2.1 births per woman)and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-replacement birth rate. You might think that developing nations would make up the loss(especially since80% of the world's people now live in such nations), but you'd be wrong. Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too, which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades.
A great decline in young work force is likely to occur in China, for instance. What does it imply? First, China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country. Second, if other factors such as technology remain constant, economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble.
Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise. Since 1992 the number of people dying has been bigger than that of those being born by a massive 50%,Indeed official figures suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961.Why is this occurring? Nobody is quite sure, but poor diet an above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it. If current trends don't bend. Russia's population will be about the size of Yemen's by the year 2050.
In the north of India, the population is booming due to high birth rates, but in the south, where most economic development is taking place, birth rate is falling rapidly. In a further twist, birth rate is highest in poorly educated rural areas and lowest in highly educated urban areas. In total, 25% of India's working-age population has no education. In 2030, a sixth of the country's potential work force could be totally uneducated.
One solution is obviously to import foreign workers via immigration. As for the USA, it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010-2030. Moreover, the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants. As a result it's likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term.
B
A(n) (81) ___________writer about 2,000 years ago called Pausanias came on a(n) (82) ___________journey to find out about the present-day Olympic Games. He interviewed a(n) (83) ___________named Li Yan. He learned that there were two main (84) ___________of Games—the Winter and Summer Olympics, and that both were held four years on a regular (85) ___________.Anyone who has reached an agreed standard for their event can be admitted as (86) ___________.To Pausanias’s surprise, women are playing a very important role in many games. Every country wants to (87) ___________the Olympic Games, and it is a great (88) ___________but also a great honour to be chosen. Li Yan told him that the Chinese were very (89) ___________because the 2008 Olympic Games would be held in Beijing. Pausanias was happy to know the (90) ___________of the Olympics—“Swifter, Higher and Stronger” and he felt very interested in it.
第四部分：写作（共四节，满分45分）
第一节：根据课文内容将下面短文补充完整，单词的首字母已经为你写出(注意:在答卷上要写出所填单词的首字母及其它字母的正确形式，否则不给分)。
A
The Amber Room, which was considered one of the (71) ___________of the world, had an (72) ___________history. The room was designed in the (73) ___________style and (74) ___________with gold and jewels.
In 1716, Frederick William I, to whom the Amber Room (75) __________, gave it to Peter the Great. So it became part of the Czar’s winter palace in St Petersburg and served as a small (76) ___________hall for important visitors.
Later, Catherine II had it (77) ___________to a palace outside St Petersburg and told her artists to add more details to it. But in 1914, when Russia and Germany were at (78), ___________the Nazi army entered the summer palace, (79) ___________some treasures secretly. After that, what happened to the Amber Room remains a (80) ___________.
Recently, a new Amber Room has been built at the summer palace by the Russians and Germans.
第三节：语法填空（共10小题，每小题1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下面短文，根据上下文填入适当的词语，或使用括号中的词语的适当形式填空，并将答案填写在答卷标号为41~50的相应位置。
Long ago the Emperor decided to hold a swimming race between 13 different animals. The order in which they finished would decide the order of their41 (appear) in the Chinese calendar. All the animals lined up on the river bank and42 (give) the task of getting to the opposite shore. The cat wondered how he would get across43 he was afraid of water. The ox worried how he would cross44 his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat45 (jump) onto the ox's back and guide him across. The ox, steady and hard-working, did not notice the two animals on his back. In the meanwhile, the rat ran behind the unsuspecting cat and pushed46 into the water. As the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first.47 the rat got the first year48 (name) after him and the ox got the second year.49 the lazy pig reached the finish line in 12th place the race was over and he was awarded the final place on the calendar. From that day the cat,50 never finished and lost his place on the calendar, became the enemy of the rat.
第二节语法填空（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卷标号为31-40的相应位置上。
The most influential book in my life
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is the most influential book in my life. It __31__ (fill) with courage, struggle and faith throughout. Helen Keller was once in deep despair in her __32__ (child), but finally she decided to overcome her physical defects and live happily. Furthermore, she showed great patience, ___33___ (do) well in her long and hard learning period.
I have learned, above all, three lessons from her story. First, she taught me that often the road to success is to face hardships ___34____ (brave). Maybe you are born under an ill star yet you can stand a better chance ___35___ others. It is therefore important that you screw up your courage ____36____courage is needed. Second, the impairment of part of her senses did not prevent ___37___ from learning. On the contrary, she ___38___ (make) continual efforts to go deeper into the realm of knowledge her fortitude had thus helped her overcome many handicaps. ___39___, she advised that we should make the most of our sense-organs as if we ___40___ (lose) them soon because this way we would observe the world more carefully than ever before.
第二节语法填空(共10题；每小题1.5分，满分15分)
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题纸标号为31－40的相应位置上。
As a blind boy, I now had the key to all languages, __31__ I was eager to use it. Children __32__ can hear learn languages without any particular effort. __33__ hear other people speak, and enjoy trying to make the same sounds. The __34__ child must learn languages in a slow and often painful way. __35__ even though the learning may be slow and painful, the result is wonderful. We advance gradually from merely __36__ (name) objects to understanding the thought in a line of Shakespeare.
At first, when my teacher told me about a new thing, I asked very __37__ questions. My ideas were not clear, and I didn’t know many. But as my knowledge of things __38__ (grow) and I learned more and more words, I could ask more questions, and I would return again and again __39__ the same subject, eager for more information. Sometimes a new word make me remember an experience I had had __40__ (early) and I finally come to understand that the most effective way to learn a language well is to use it as much as possible.