The world’s population reached five billion on the day I was born. That was in Indonesia back in 1987, and my parents was shocked that there were so many people on the planet.
The human population has never been bigger, but in some ways the planet seems to begetting unbelievably smaller. In the past, travellers from Europe to Indonesia spent months at sea. Now you just have to sit on a plane for a few hours. When you arrived in another country a hundred years ago, you saw unfamiliar styles of clothing and buildings and discovered a completely different culture. In many places today, clothing and new buildings are very similar, and people enjoy the same things.
Even the languages that we use are becoming more global. There are around seven thousand languages in use today.
| A．But the number is decreasing fast. |
| B．Although we are on different continents, we are starting to live the same lives. |
| C．The planet might be a lot more peaceful if that were the case. |
| D．However, since then the population has continued to increase at an alarming rate. |
| E．A number as big as seven billion is hard to imagine. |
| F．With only one language left, there will be no culture difference in the world. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】According to the recent (最近的) report, five of the ten most populous (人口众多的) countries are in Asia, three in the Americas, and one each in Europe and Africa. With over 1.4 billion people, China has the largest population in the world. India comes in second with 1.355 billion, and the United States comes in third with around 328 million. Indonesia comes in fourth and Pakistan comes in fifth of the world’s most populous countries.
However, China is facing a serious aging population problem now. To solve the problem, China began relaxing its family planning policy (生育政策) in 2012. It said that if either one of the couples was the only child of their parents, they could have two children in 2013. And in 2016, China further relaxed the two-child policy (二胎政策) to all couples. In 2021, China allowed all couples to have three children.
However, a good family planning policy alone is not enough. The government should find ways to lower the cost of raising children and improve the elderly care services. Also, a friendly social and cultural environment should be provided for couples who want to have three children.
1. Half of the ten most populous countries are in .| A．The Americas | B．Asia | C．Africa |
| A．China and the US. | B．Indonesia and China. | C．India and China. |
| A．In 2012. | B．In 2013. | C．In 2016. |
| A．The changes of China’s family planning policy. |
| B．The influence of China’s family planning policy. |
| C．The problem of China’s family planning policy. |
| A．need more people’s help | B．need to do more work | C．should take care of elderly people |
【推荐2】Many economists argue that Canada could have developed economically with little facilitation of the settlers. But in my opinion the settlers were vital in the country’s development of economy.
Settlers in Canadian history provided labour force that was apparently lacking in the country. Due to the thriving timber (木材) industry that led to the arrival of foreigners, the local population could barely satisfy the international demand for the demand. Emery and Kenneth claimed that the settlers who came to Canada as mere loggers had an impact in the development of the economy. Indeed, the settlers helped the production of more volumes of timber leading to increase in incomes for the government.
Settlers created considerable storage facilities for fishing. It is through these preservation technologies that the country was able to exploit its rich fish industry and increase its exports. Fishing technology improved greatly with many technologies of deep sea fishing. The technologies that came with the settlers increased the trading potential of the country, which in turn increase the incomes for government.
The success of settlers who ventured in agriculture ended into increased urge by locals and the government to invest in agriculture. In Ontario, settlers began planting such plants as corn, vegetables and reared dairy cattle. In the Prairies, the settlers also invested in grain growing with wheat being the most profitable crop.
Canadian settlers also led to changes in social and economic policies of the land. Due to increased immigration, land became a debatable issue where many people did not access land in a fair manner. The Canadian authorities came up with a wise land policy. Settlers could buy large amount of land cheaply and later resell the lands at a proper profit. This increased the ability of the country to increase its agricultural profits by having a superior land system.
1. Which contribution of the settlers in Canada is not covered in the passage?| A．Timber industry | B．Fishing industry. |
| C．Agriculture. | D．Tourism. |
| A．To give evidence of the lack of local population in history. |
| B．To tell readers that the settlers were only common loggers. |
| C．To prove what an important role settlers played in Canadian economy. |
| D．To state that the thriving timber industry led to the arrival of foreigners. |
| A．Canadian government urged settlers’ more invest in agriculture. |
| B．Settlers’ success made the people and the government angry. |
| C．Canadian government got inspiration from settler’s success in agriculture. |
| D．To succeed in agricultural venture, settler had to cooperate with government. |
| A．the reform of land policies |
| B．the increase of immigration |
| C．increasing amount of land |
| D．their creation of a superior land system |
【推荐3】In a policy address to lawmakers, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said the country’s population problem was a case of solving the issue “now or never”, and that it “simply cannot wait any longer because it can affect social functions”.
“In thinking of the sustainability and inclusiveness of our nation’s economy and society, we place child care support as our most important policy,” he said, adding that he wants the government to double its spending on child-related programs, and that a new government agency would be set up in April to focus on the issue.
Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and it recorded fewer than 800,000 births in 2022 for the first time since records began in 1899. The country also has one of the highest life expectancies in the world; in 2020, nearly one in 1,500 people in Japan were age 100 or older, according to government data.
These trends have driven a growing population problem, with a rapidly aging society, a shrinking workforce and not enough young people to fill the gaps in the stagnating (停滞) economy. The country’s high cost of living, limited space and lack of child care support in cities make it difficult to raise children, meaning fewer couples are having kids. Experts point to the pessimism young people in Japan hold towards the future, many frustrated with work pressure and economic stagnation.
How about other parts of East Asia? South Korea recently broke its own record for the world’s lowest birth rate, with data from November 2023 showing a South Korean woman will have an average of 0.79 children in her lifetime — far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. Japan’s birth rate stands at 1.3, while the United States is at 1.6. Meanwhile, China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time, adding pressure to its economic growth.
1. How does the Japanese government feel about the falling birth rate?| A．Surprised. | B．Confused. | C．Embarrassed. | D．Worried. |
| A．The rapidly aging society. | B．The high life expectancies. |
| C．The shortage of workforce. | D．The various stresses of life. |
| A．Ignorance of the birth rate. | B．Serious population crisis. |
| C．Weak care services for children. | D．Potential harm to women’s health. |
| A．Society. | B．Health. | C．Education. | D．Science. |
【推荐1】Emmoni Lopez used to take dance lessons while her older brothers wrestled – but it turned out that she liked wrestling better.
Her mom wasn’t surprised when Lopez told her she liked wrestling more than dance, and three years after Lopez took up the sport, she enjoys watching her daughter wrestle. Still, when a coach first asked Lopez to join his program, her mom hesitated– she never thought her daughter would want to be a wrestler.
Lopez is among a growing number of girls who are taking up wrestling. Officials with youth organizations in Chicago and the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation (IKWF) said they’ve seen the number of girls participating in the sport take off in recent years.
In Lopez’s program, about half of the students participating in the organization’s free youth wrestling camp this summer are girls, coach Frankie Zepeda said.
Many of the girls Zepeda sees become interested in wrestling through their brothers, he said.
“They probably just learn to … fight back,” he said.
One of those was Yamilet Aguirre. She took up wrestling because she was bored just watching her brother wrestle, she said.
“I can have fun doing it,” she said. “And I can prove girls are just as strong as boys are.”
Though girls have competed on high school wrestling teams in Illinois for years, coaches and female wrestlers said there weren’t many participating a decade ago.
“It’s really picked up over the last few years,” said Jim Considine, president of the IKWF.
Between the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons, the number of girls registered with IKWF grew from 363 to 503, and more of the organization’s events are featuring a girls-only division. Girls and boys wrestle together during the season through IKWF, but there’s a girls-only championship at the end of the year.
And by adding female wrestling programs, colleges are giving girls and young women another option.
“Female wrestling isn’t something unacceptable anymore,” Considine said. “Things have happened so quickly. Ten years ago, you’d never have dreamed of doing this.”
1. What has helped her take up wrestling, in Yamilet Aguirre’s case?| A．Her wish to be stronger than boys. |
| B．Her awareness to protect girls. |
| C．Her parents’ expectations. |
| D．The experience of watching wrestling competitions. |
| A．challenge | B．chance |
| C．choice | D．change |
| A．Its popularity in college is declining. |
| B．It’s still unacceptable in many people’s eyes. |
| C．It has been accepted by colleges. |
| D．College girls like it less than dancing. |
| A．A Female Sport Event |
| B．Not Just for Boys |
| C．The Great Sports Personality |
| D．Make Way for Male Wrestlers |
【推荐2】There is a widespread belief among sleep researchers that many people, especially young adults, regularly obtain skimpy sleep due to work, school, and social activities. The move toward remote work and school has provided a novel opportunity to test this belief.
A new study compared self-reported data on sleep habits from 80 students enrolled in a 2020 summer session course with data collected from 450 students enrolled in the same course during previous summer semesters and suggests that students learning remotely went to bed an average of 30 minutes later than pre-pandemic (疫情前) students. They slept less efficiently, less at night and more during the day, but did not sleep more overall despite the time saved working or attending social events. Actually, they have no early classes and 44 per cent fewer work days compared to students in previous semesters.
One very consistent finding is a collective delay of sleep timing—people go to bed and wake up later. Not surprisingly, there is also a marked reduction in natural light exposure, especially early in the day. The lack of change in sleep time was a bit of a surprise, as it goes against the assumption that young adults would sleep more if they had the time.
Self-described night owls (夜猫子) were more likely to report a greater positive effect on their sleep, getting to sleep in, instead of waking up early for that morning class, while morning types were more likely to report a negative response to sleeping later than usual.
Sleep plays an important role in immune (免疫的) functioning and mental health, which is why good sleep habits are important. Students and anybody working from home should try to get outside and work out early in the day because the morning light helps strengthen their regular sleep wake cycle—this should improve their sleep, and allow them to feel more rested and energized during the day.
1. What does the underlined word “skimpy” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Needful. | B．Good. | C．Unnecessary. | D．Insufficient. |
| A．They sleep more overall. | B．They sleep more at night. |
| C．They sleep no more than others. | D．They sleep less during the day. |
| A．Night owls. | B．Busy bees. | C．Lazybones. | D．Early birds. |
| A．Rising early to do morning exercises. |
| B．Developing irregular seep wake cycle. |
| C．Learning more about immune functions. |
| D．Getting rested and energized during the day. |
【推荐3】You know marketers follow you all around the Internet, but you might be surprised to learn who or what else is keeping track of your every move. You are being stalked (跟踪) everywhere you go. In your car. On your morning walk. Even in your own home—by your own TV.
In our hyperconnected world, where your phone is always with you, information is being collected—and shared—every nanosecond.
“So what?” you say. “I have nothing to hide.” Don't be so sure. As privacy expert Bennet Cyphers told a reporter for the New York Times's Privacy Project, “The only people I've heard say ‘Who cares?’ are people who don't understand the scope of the problem.”
The problem is that while corporations and data brokers are hoovering up all the information they can lay their hands on, there are no laws governing what they can do with that information—or whom they can sell it to. That includes things you thought were private, such as health and financial data, as well as your beliefs and daily habits.
Someone knowing that you ordered three extra-large pizzas with the works for dinner last Friday night may seem harmless enough, but there's a deeper principle at play. As cyber expert Bruce Schneier puts it, privacy is not just about freedom from embarrassment. “Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect,” he says.
Yet we do little to block the spies. We click “I Agree” without reading the user agreements. We say we'll do one of those privacy checkups one day, but we never quite get around to it. And that means your personal information could be used against you in the future in ways you can't imagine today.
1. What is the problem discussed in the text?| A．People don't do security checkups often enough. |
| B．People's freedom is being harmed by the Internet. |
| C．People don't care enough about online privacy leaks. |
| D．People's private information is being collected illegally. |
| A．Reviewing. | B．Offering. |
| C．Gathering | D．Analyzing. |
| A．It allows people more freedom. | B．It is about avoiding embarrassment. |
| C．It calls for dignity and respect. | D．It is essential to living with dignity. |
| A．What we can do to protect our privacy. |
| B．When the problem is expected to be solved. |
| C．Who should take responsibility for data safety. |
| D．How companies protect consumers' information. |
