单选题It is obvious that the author of the passage ______.A shows indifference to the situation in the developed countriesB is very concerned about global population problemsC feels confident that the problem of population growth can be soon resolvedD is pes

What is the 'biggest city in the world? That is, (21) city has the largest population? This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn't.

It's actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn't easy to determine a city's boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it's difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it's difficult to define what a city is.

The second reason that it is difficult to 25 the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York's population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City's population in 1981. So we real ly can't compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly.

So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it's difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

21. A. what

B. which

C. where

D. how

The world’s population continues to grow. There now are about 4 billion of us on earth. That could reach 6 billion by the end of the century and 11 billion in a further 75 years. Experts have long been concerned about such a growth. Where will we find the food, water, jobs, houses, school and health care for all these people?

A major new study shows that the situation may be changing. A large and rapid drop in the world’s birth rate has taken place during the past 10 years. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing and industrial nations.

Researchers said they found a number of reasons for this. More men and women are waiting longer to get married and are using birth control devices and methods to prevent or delay pregnancy. More women are going to school or working at jobs away from home instead of having children. And more governments, especially in developing nations, now support family planning programs to reduce population grow.

China is one of the nations that have made great progress in reducing its population growth. China has already cut its rate of population growth by about half since 1970.

Each Chinese family is now urged to have no more than one child. And the hope is to reach a zero population growth with the total number of births equaling the total number of deaths by the year 2000.

Several nations in Europe already have fewer births than deaths. Experts said that these nations could face a serious shortage of workers in the future. And the persons who are working could face much higher taxes to help support the growing number of retired people.

1. The world’s population could reach ____________.

A. 6 billion in 75 years

B. 11 billion in 2075

C. 11 billion by the end of this century

D. 600 million in 15 years

2. Which of the following is true?

A. The world’s birth rate is higher than ten years ago.

B. There has been a slower population growth in the past ten years.

C. Families are as large as before.

D. Birth control has been well practiced in all nations.

3. By the year 2000, the number of births and the number of deaths in China will _______.

A. be greatly different

B. drop a great deal

C. be equal

D. become much larger

4. According to the essay, China’s population control ________.

A. is not quite successful

B. should be considered a big success

C. is far from being successful

D. is a complete failure

5. It may happen in the future that the people who are working in Europe will have to pay much higher taxes because___________.

A. more and more children will be born

B. the number of retired people will become ever larger

C. fewer and fewer children will be born

D. they will be making a lot of money

The advantages and disadvantages of a large population have long been a subject of discussion among economists. It has been argued that the supply of good land is limited. To feed a large population, poor land must be cultivated and the good land worked intensively. Thus, each person produces less and this means a lower average income than could be obtained with a smaller population. Other economists have argued that a large population gives more chance of development of facilities such as ports, roads and railways, which are not likely to be built unless there is a big demand.

One of the difficulties in carrying out a worldwide birth control program lies in the fact that of ficial attitudes to population growth vary from country to country depending on the level of industrial development and the availability of food and raw materials. In the developing country where a vastly expanded population is pressing hard upon the limits of food, space and natural resources, the first concern of government will be to set a limit on the birthrate, whatever the final result may be. In a highly industrialized society the problem may be more complex. A decreasing birth rate may lead to unemployment because it results in a declining market for manufactured goods.

When the pressure of population on housing declines, prices also decline and building industry grow weaker. Faced with concern such as these, the government of a developed country may well prefer to see a slowly increasing population, rather than one which is stable or in decline.

(1)The main topic of this article is _____________.

A、environment protection

B、population growth

C、environment and economy

D、climate changing

(2) The passage says that a small population may lead to _____________.

A、higher production, but a lower average income

B、lower production and lower average income

C、higher production and a higher average income

D、lower production, but a higher average income

(3) According to the passage, the use of birth control perhaps is good for_____________.

A、a developing country

B、a developed country

C、the whole world

D、each nation with a big population

(4) In a developed country, people will perhaps be unemployed if the birthrate _____________.

A、goes up

B、goes down

C、remains stable

D、is out of control

(5) The author is aiming to show that_____________.

A、humans will run out of their food supply in the future

B、it is necessary for humans to carry out a worldwide plan for birth control

C、different nations have different views of population growth

D、we need to take necessary measures to prevent the overuse of natural resources.

The topic of the passage is that __.

A.the control of population is essential to the development of a nation

B.natural resources are important to the economic development of a country

C.awareness of the effects of man's actions is as important as population control

D. developed countries should do more to protect natural environment on the earth

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) World population is increasing at a rate of 150 per minute.

B) Lower death rates also contribute to world population growth.

C) The population of Columbia has been doubling every year for 21 years.

D) The United States is usually doubling its population about every 87 years.

The passage is mainly about______.

A. how individuals can help make a difference

B. running a neighborhood meeting to solve its problems

C. citizens' reactions to the problems they face

D. solving problems through group action

According to the passage, what helps to explain why the population problem has come on "all of a sudden"?

A) The penny which doubles itself every day for one month.

B) The time span of at least two million years in human history.

C) An illustration of the exponential growth rate given by the author.

D) The large amount of money you would luckily make after the fourth week.

What does the author mean by the word "progress" in this passage?

A．Urbanization.

B．Economic growth.

C．Cultural development.

D．Increase of population.

In the author's opinion, __.

A. developing countries should be responsible for environmental problems

B. overpopulation in the world is created by the developed countries

C. rich countries exercise worse influence on environment than poor countries

D. all countries should bring the population growth under control

We can infer from the last paragraph that______（ ）

[A]upturned noses will soon be considered beautiful

[B]defects in facial features may someday be popular

[C]p]astic surgery is a well．developed industry

[D]people should be confident of their appearance