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What does the future hold for the problem of housing? A good deal depends, of
course, on the meaning of “future”. If one is thinking in terms of science
fiction and the space age, it is at least possible to assume that man will have
solved such trivial and earthly problems as housing. Writers of science fiction,
from H.G. Wells onwards, have had little to say on the subject. They have
conveyed the suggestion that men will live in great comfort, with every
conceivable apparatus to make life smooth, healthy and easy, if not happy. But
they have not said what his house will be made of. Perhaps some new building
material, as yet unimagined, will have been discovered or invented at least. One
may be certain that bricks and mortar(泥灰，灰浆) will long have gone out of
fashion.
But the problems of the next generation or two can more readily be imagined.
Scientists have already pointed out that unless something is done either to
restrict the world’s rapid growth in population or to discover and develop new
sources of food (or both), millions of people will be dying of starvation or at
the best suffering from underfeeding before this century is out. But nobody has
yet worked out any plan for housing these growing populations. Admittedly the
worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world, where housing can
be light structure or in backward areas where standards are traditionally low.
But even the minimum shelter requires materials of some kind and in the teeming,
bulging towns the low-standard “housing” of flattened petrol cans and dirty
canvas is far more wasteful of ground space than can be tolerated.
Since the war, Hong Kong has suffered the kind of crisis which is likely to
arise in many other places during the next generation. Literally millions of
refugees arrived to swell the already growing population and emergency steps had
to be taken rapidly to prevent squalor(肮脏)and disease and the spread crime. The
city is tackling the situation energetically and enormous blocks of
tenements(贫民住宅)are rising at an astonishing aped. But Hong Kong is only one
small part of what will certainly become a vast problem and not merely a housing
problem, because when population grows at this rate there are accompanying
problems of education, transport, hospital services, drainage, water supply and
so on. Not every area may give the same resources as Hong Kong to draw upon and
the search for quicker and cheaper methods of construction must never cease.
1.What is the author’s opinion of housing problems in the first
paragraph?
A.They may be completely solved at sometime in the future.
B.They are unimportant and easily dealt with.
C.They will not be solved until a new building material has been
discovered.
D.They have been dealt with in specific detail in books describing the
future.
2.The writer is sure that in the distant future ___.
A.bricks and mortar will be replaced by some other building material.
B.a new building material will have been invented.
C.bricks and mortar will not be used by people who want their house to be
fashionable.
D.a new way of using bricks and mortar will have been discovered.
3.The writer believes that the biggest problem likely to confront the world
before the end of the century ___.
A.is difficult to foresee.
B.will be how to feed the ever growing population.
C.will be how to provide enough houses in the hottest parts of the world.
D.is the question of finding enough ground space.
4.When the writer says that the worst situations will occur in the hottest
parts of the world or in backward areas, he is referring to the fact that in
these parts ___.
A.standards of building are low.
B.only minimum shelter will be possible.
C.there is not enough ground space.
D.the population growth will be the greatest.
5.Which of the following sentences best summarizes Paragraph 3?
A.Hong Kong has faced a serious crisis caused by millions of refugees.
B.Hong Kong has successfully dealt with the emergency caused by millions of
refugees.
C.Hong Kong’s crisis was not only a matter of housing but included a number
of other problems of population growth.
D.Many parts of the world may have to face the kind of problems encountered
by Hong Kong and may find it much harder to deal with them.
We can begin our discussion of “population as global issue” with what most persons 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 the analogy that likened demographic growth to “a long, thin powder fuse that burns steadily and haltingly until it finally reaches the charge 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 populations have been virtually stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. There was high fertility
in most places, but this was usually balanced by high mortality. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, while infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birthrates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race.
This pattern is important to notice. 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 mortality.
Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8,000 BC.till approximately AD. 1650. In the first period of some 9600 years, the population increased from 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 2000 there will be 6.2 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 8000BC 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 every six hours. The increase is about 80,000,000 persons annually.
1.Which of the following demographic growth pattern is most suitable for the
long thin powder fuse analogy?
A.A virtually stable or slightly decreasing period and then a sudden
explosion of population.
B.A slow growth for a long time and then a period of rapid, dramatic
increase.
C.Too many people on earth and a few rapid increase in the number added each
year.
D.A long period when death rates exceeds birthrates and then a short period
with higher fertility and lower mortality.
2.During the first period of demographic history, societies were often in
danger of extinction because___.
A.only one in ten persons could live past 40.
B.there was higher mortality than fertility in most places.
C.it was too dangerous to have babies due to the poor conditions.
D.our ancestors had little enthusiasm for more children.
3.Which statement is true about population increase?
A.There might be an increase of 2.2 billion persons from now to the year
2000.
B.About 50,000 babies are born every six hours at present.
C.Between 8000 BC and the present, the population increase is about
80,000,000 persons each year.
D.The population increased faster between 8000BC and 1650 than between 1650
and the present.
4.The author of the passage intends to___.
A.warn people against the population explosion in the near future.
B.compare the demographic growth pattern in the past with that after
1650.
C.find out the cause for rapid increase in population in recent years.
D.present us a clear and complete picture of the demographic growth.
5.The word “demographic” in the first paragraph means___.
A.statistics of human.
B.surroundings study.
C.accumulation of human.
D.development of human.
Passage 4
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:
I recently wrote an autobiography in which I recalled many old memories. One
of them was from my school days, when our ninth grade teacher, Miss Raber, would
pick out words from the Reader’s Digest to test our vocabulary.
Today, more than 45 years later, I always check out “It pays to Enrich Your
Word Power” first when the Digest comes each month. I am impressed with that
idea, word power. Reader’s Digest knows the power that words have to move
people—to entertain, inform, and inspire. The Digest editors know that the big
word isn’t always the best word. Take just one example, a Quotable Quote form
the February 1985 issue: ”Time is a playful thing. It slips quickly and drinks
the day like a bowl of milk.”
Nineteen words, only two of them more than one syllable, yet how much they
convey! That’s usually how it is with Reader’s Digest. Small and simple can be
profound.
As chairman of a foundation to restore the Statue of Liberty, I’ve been
making a lot of speeches lately. I try to keep them fairly short. I use small
but vivid words: words like “hope”, “guts”, “faith”, “dreams”. Those are words
that move people and say so much about the spirit of America.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against using big words, when it is right to do
so, but I have also learned that a small word can work a small miracle—if it’s
right word, in the right place, at the right time. It’s a “secret” that I hope
never forget.
16. The passage is mainly about .
A. one of the many old memories
B. using simple words to express profound ideas
C. Reader’s Digest and school speeches
D. how to make effective speeches
17. It seems that Reader’s Digest is a magazine popular with .
A. people of all ages B. teenagers C. school teachers D. elderly readers
18. The example the author gives in the second paragraph might mean .
A. one spends his day playing and drinking
B. don’t waste your time as one does
C. time slips easily if you don’t make good use of it
D. time is just like drinking milk from a bowl
19. The author’s “secret” is .
A. to avoid using big words at any time
B. to use words that have the power to move people
C. to work a miracle by using a small word
D. to use small and simple words where possible
20. Accoeding to the author, well-chosen words can give people .
A. hope, courage and ideas
B. confidence, determination and strength
C. pleasure, knowledge and encourage
D. entertainment, information and power
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:
The discovery of the Antarctic not only proved one of the most interesting of all geographical adventures, but created what might be called “the heroic age of Antarctic exploration”. By their tremendous heroism, men such as Shakleton, Scott, and Amundsen caused a new continent to emerge from the shadows, and yet that heroic age, little more than a century old, is already passing. Modern science and inventions are revolutionizing the endurance, future journeys into these icy wastes will probably depend on motor vehicles equipped with caterpillar traction rather than on the dogsthat earlier discoverers found so invaluable and hardly comparable.
Few realize that this Antarctic continent is almost equal in size to South America, and enormous field of work awaits geographers and prospectors. The coasts of this continent remain to be accurately charted, and the maping of the
whole of the interior presents a formidable task to the cartographers who undertake the work. Once their labors are completed, it will be possible to prospect the vast natural resources which scientists believe will furnish one of the largest treasure hoards of metals and minerals the world has yet known, and almost inexhaustible sources of copper,coal, uranium, and many other ores will become available to man. Such discoveries will usher in an era of practical exploitation of the Antarctic wastes.
The polar darkness which hides this continent for the six winter months will be defeated by huge batteries of light, and make possible the establishing of air-fields for the future inter-continental air services by making these areas as light as day. Present flying routes will be completely changed, for the Antarctic refueling bases will make flights from Australia to South America comparatively easy over the 5,000 miles journey.
The climate is not likely to offer an insuperable problem, for the explorer
Admiral Byrd has shown that the climate is possible even for men completely
untrained for expeditions into those frozen wastes. Some of his parties were men
who had never seen snow before, and yet he records that they survived the rigors
of the Antarctic climate comfortably, so that, provided that the appropriate
installations are made, we may assume that human beings from all countries could
live there safely. Byrd even affirms that it is probably the most healthy
climate in the world, for the intense cold of thousands of years has sterilize
this continent, and rendered it absolutely germfree, with the consequences that
ordinary and extraordinary sickness and diseases from which man suffers in other
zones with different climates are here utterly unknown. There exist no problems
of conservation and preservation of food supplies, for the latter keep
indefinitely without any signs of deterioration; it may even be that later
generations will come to regard the Antarctic as the natural storehouse for the
whole world.
Plans are already on foot to set up permanent bases on the shores of this
continent, and what so few years ago was regarded as a “dead continent” now
promises to be a most active center of human life and endeavor.
1.When did man begin to explore the Antarctic?
A.About 100years ago.
B.In this century.
C.At the beginning of the 19th century.
D.In 1798.
2.What must the explorers be, even though they have modern equipment and
techniques?
A.Brave and tough
B.Stubborn and arrogant.
C.Well-liked and humorous.
D.Stout and smart.
3.The most healthy climate in the world is___.
A.in South America.
B.in the Arctic Region.
C.in the Antarctic Continent.
D.in the Atlantic Ocean.
4.What kind of metals and minerals can we find in the Antarctic?
A.Magnetite, coal and ores.
B.Copper, coal and uranium.
C.Silver, natural gas and uranium.
D.Aluminum, copper and natural gas.
5.What is planned for the continent?
A.Building dams along the coasts.
B.Setting up several summer resorts along the coasts.
C.Mapping the coast and whole territory.
D.Setting up permanent bases on the coasts.
