1 . Basic to any understanding of Canada in 20 years after the Second World War is the country’s impressive population growth. In September 1966 Canada’s population passed the 20 million mark. Most of this growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930’s and the war had held back marriages and the catching - up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950’s, producing a population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950’s supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived (源自) from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world.

After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer, more women were working, young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families, rising living standards were cutting down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Although the growth in Canada’s population had slowed down by 1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960’s was only nine percent), another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate before 1957.

1. From paragraph 1 we know that in Canada during the 1950 ________.

A．Fewer people married.	B．The birth rate was very high.
C．Economic conditions were poor.	D．The population decreased rapidly.

2. Which is not the cause of declines in population growth after 1957?

A．Couples buying houses.	B．Better standards of living.
C．People getting married earlier.	D．People being better educated.

3. What does the underlined “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Nine percent.	B．Population wave.
C．The first half of the 1960’s.	D．Population’s slowing down.

4. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．Educational changes in Canadian society.

B．Canada during the Second World War.

C．Population trends in postwar Canada.

D．Standards of living in Canada.

2 . If the world were a village of 1,000 people, it would include:
• 584 Asians
• 124 Africans
• 95 Eastern and Western Europeans
• 84 Latin Americans
• 55 former Soviets (including Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and other national groups)
• 52 North Americans
• 6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would speak:
• 165 Mandarin
• 86 English
• 83 Hindu/Urdu
• 64 Spanish
• 58 Russian
• 37 Arabic
The above list covers the mother tongues of only half the village.
One-third of the people in the village are children, and only 60 are over the age of 65. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to modern equipments.
This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from can­cer. Two of the deaths will be of babies born within the year. With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018.
In this village of 1,000 persons, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 re­ceive only 2 percent of the income.
About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Of the 670 adults in the village, half can not read nor write.
The village has a total yearly budget , public and private, of over $3 million — $ 3,000 per person if it is distributed evenly. Of the total $3 million:
$181,000 goes to weapons and warfare
$159,000 to education
$132,000 to health care
These weapons are under the control of just 100 of the people. The other 900 are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together.
1. Which of the following is true about Mandarin according to the text?

A．Nearly one-third of Asian people speak Mandarin in the village.

B．About 8.25 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village.

C．About 16. 5 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village.

D．Nearly all the Mandarin-speaking people are from Asia in the village.

2. Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Poverty.

B．Education.

C．Environment.

D．Marriage.

3. The underlined part “have access to” (in Para. 4) means_____.

A．use

B．buy

C．produce

D．try

4. The last sentence in the text implies that most of the people long for _____.

A．a peaceful world	B．good education
C．better health care	D．a life without anxiety

3 . In 2000 a report was published about what the earth might be like 20 years from then on. The report was a result of a three-year _______
According to the report, the picture of the earth in the year 2020 is not a _______one. The world will be more_______ because the population will continue to grow. The population could be_______ 6, 900 million, almost 2, 450 million more than in 1995. More people would move into cities, especially cities in _______ countries. Cities like Cairo and Jakarta probably would_______ have 15 million by then.
Food production will _______, but not enough to feed all the people. Farmers will grow 90% more food than they did in 1995,_______ most of the increase would be in countries that _______ produce enough food for their people. Little increase is ________ in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Poor farming ways are ________ large areas of crop land, changing farms into deserts. More farmland is________as cities become larger and more houses are built. ________ will get worse as industrial countries burn more coal and oil. Many of the world’s ________ could disappear as more and more trees are cut down. Energy will continue to be a serious problem. The experts say their picture of the earth for the year 2020 ________ They only carried out the situation that________ today. By changing the situation, by________the problems, the picture can be changed. There is ________time for the nations of the world to work ________ a plan of action. But they warned that________too long to make decisions would greatly reduce the chances of success.1.

A．learning

B．project

C．notice

D．study

2.

A．pleased

B．pleasant

C．safe

D．blue

3.

A．dangerous

B．beautiful

C．crowded

D．terrible

4.

A．no more than

B．as many as

C．as much as

D．as large as

5.

A．developing

B．developed

C．big

D．mountainous

6.

A．none

B．each

C．all

D．neither

7.

A．insist

B．reduce

C．increase

D．continue

8.

A．so

B．but

C．or

D．however

9.

A．already

B．hardly

C．partly

D．never

10.

A．wanted

B．lacked

C．found

D．expected

11.

A．destroying

B．protecting

C．disturbing

D．interrupting

12.

A．saved

B．lost

C．discovered

D．found

13.

A．Air pollution

B．Water pollution

C．Some diseases

D．All farmland

14.

A．animals

B．plants

C．forests

D．people

15.

A．must be true

B．will come true

C．can't be true

D．may be wrong

16.

A．happens

B．develops

C．exists

D．appears

17.

A．settling

B．working out

C．answering

D．dealing

18.

A．no

B．still

C．less

D．plenty of

19.

A．about

B．in

C．out

D．for

20.

A．working

B．suggesting

C．spending

D．waiting

4 . “Hey, little boy, will you support me when I’m getting old?” Wang Wenshan, 35, asked his newborn baby as he hugged him at home.

The Chinese tradition of raising sons to support parents in their old age has been weakened by the rapidly growing economy and improved standard of living. As is the case with more and more developed countries, China faces an aging society. People are living longer and having fewer children. Therefore, many Chinese families are falling into a 4-2-1 family pattern: a couple raises one child and supports four elderly parents. But few realize that a problem is likely to happen ahead.

The aging of the population is a trend that now affects a growing number of countries. The Information Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued（发行） a white paper on measures China has been taking to help its elderly population. The paper said China’s population entered the aging period at the end of the 20th century and the proportion of people aged 60 and above accounted for over 10 percent of the entire population. By the end of 2005, China had nearly 144 million people over 60, accounting for 11 percent of the population, according to the white paper.

An expanding aged population inevitably means that many issues must be settled, as the problem concerns every aspect of society. It puts more pressure on each family, causing disturbing economic consequences and serious social problems. It also challenges the labor force supply and the pension system.

“I used to think that it’s not an issue for me to provide for the aged,” said Wang, whose parents and parents-in-law all enjoy pensions and medical insurance. But last year Wang’s father suffered from a serious illness and afterward Wang began to feel the pressure on his shoulders.

After his father recovered, Wang opened a bank account for each parent and put away some money in the account every month to prepare for future uncertainties. In addition, he has to save money every month to provide for his son’s future education. “I’m now breaking my back to support my family: saving pensions for the parents, my son’s education funds, and living costs.”

Wang also bought some commercial old-age insurance for himself. “We have to take precautions(预防)before it is too late, and many of my colleagues share the same view,” he said.

1. Which of the following is not caused by an aging society?

A．Social problems.	B．Unemployment.
C．More pressure on each family.	D．The problem of the pension system.

2. From the passage, we can infer ________.

A．the aging problem is one of the concerns of the Chinese government

B．China will encourage young couples to have more than one child

C．many people have realized the aging problem

D．children will not support their parents in China

3. Which of the following can be used to replace the underlined word “inevitably”?

A．Surprisingly.	B．Certainly.
C．Hopefully.	D．Evidently.

4. From the passage, we can see that ________.

A．China is the only country to face an aging society

B．most of the developing countries face an aging society

C．countries with a large population face an aging society

D．more and more developed countries face an aging society