1 . In 2050, one in four people will be over 60 in the Asia-Pacific region. Are countries there prepared to fully address the needs of older persons so that they age with dignity?

In the past, senior citizens might have been supported by their families and communities. Yet times are changing.

    1     Meanwhile, more and more governments are wrestling with increasing healthcare costs and a decreasing workforce.

More than ever, there is an urgent need for policy reform in addressing population aging. This must be driven by a shift in mindset to turn the challenges into a demographic opportunity.

    2     More and more people are living longer due to the advancements in health, nutrition, economic and social well-being.     3     This is due to a variety of reasons such as challenges in striking a work-life balance to not being able to afford having more children. However, low fertility and longer life expectancy are not the problem. The real problem is not being ready to face this rapidly changing demographic shift.

It is noteworthy that, in the Asia-Pacific, with more than half of the older population being women, it is crucial to adopt a life-cycle approach to population aging, grounded in gender equality and human rights. Investing in each stage of life determines the path of a woman’s life course. When a girl has access to quality education, it helps her make informed decisions about life-changing matters.     4    

While there is no single comprehensive policy that can address population aging, we need to take action now.     5     In so doing, countries in the Asia-Pacific region can hope for, and achieve, a better future for all, where no one is left behind.

A．Couples are having fewer babies.

B．Pensions are increasing, pressuring governments further.

C．We must rethink population aging, celebrating it as the victory of development.

D．Migration and urbanization have shifted traditional support systems for the elderly.

E．The decisions she makes paves the way towards a healthier and wealthier silver age.

F．We must invest in better policies that focus on the needs of people at every age of their life.

G．Life-long gender discrimination leaves women even more disadvantaged in an aging society.

2 . 阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Do you know the nickname of America? A look at the history of the United States indicates that so far this country     1     (call) “a melting pot”, in which various immigrants and ethnic groups have learned to work together to build     2     unique nation. So who are the real Americans? The answer is that any and all of them are! And you, no matter     3     you come from, could also become an American if you want. Then you would become another    4     (add) to America’s wonderfully rich “nation of immigrants”.

The United States is     5     (current) shifting from being a nation of immigrants of mainly European origins to one of immigrants from other parts of the world. They hope to escape     6     (economy) hardship in their native countries. They desire     7     (seek) a better education and a better life in America. Although there are frequent     8     (conflict) between the cultures they have brought with them from the “old country” and those found in American, most immigrants have learnt to adjust     9     and love their adopted land.

Over time, Americans have learned much from the customs and ideas of the immigrants. In other words, immigrants have a huge impact on American society,     10     (enrich) American life greatly.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

World Population Day was founded by the United Nations, and this holiday is    1    (annual) observed on July 11th.

The idea of World Population Day started in the late 1960s,    2    world leaders openly declared that adults have the right    3    (choose) whether they wanted children or not. This idea was also viewed as a human right. During this era, leaders were more open about    4    (discuss)child-bearing and the right women had to time their children    5    they wished. While this was just one of the    6    (sign) to the feminist movement in the US, this idea was new to many developing nations at the time.

In 1989, the world population quickly increased to five billion. During this same year, the United Nations founded World Population Day. Both events    7    (occur) on July 11th of that year.

World Population Day is celebrated in many ways‒‒much of this depends on the region. For participants who live in countries where gender    8    (equal) is a law, the holiday is meant to be     9    reflection and celebration of significant moments in history that helped society achieve this basic human right.

Every July 11th, the United Nations also has central celebrations in which all nations    10    (permit) to participate. In addition, the UN holds an annual theme.

4 . New research shows that the cost of raising a child in China is nearly seven times its GDP per capita (头数), far more than in the United States and Japan.

GDP, or gross domestic product, is the measure of the total value of goods and services in a country. GDP per capita is a measure resulting from GDP divided by the size of a nation’s total population.

The high cost of child-raising is one more difficulty Chinese policymakers face as they try to deal with quickly decreasing birth rates.

Experts warn China’s aging population will put pressure on its health and social security systems. A decrease in workers could also severely limit growth for the world’s second largest economy in the coming years.

New policies permit families to have as many as three children But China’s birth rate dropped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021. That is the lowest since the National Bureau of Statistics began recording the information in 1949.

The high costs of raising a child have caused officials in China to place restrictions (限制规定) on the private tutoring industry. Some areas have been giving couples money for having a second or third child.

The average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2019 was 485,000 yuan for a first child. That is 6.9 times China’s GDP per capita that year. That information comes from a recent report from the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing.

China ranks second highest among the 13 countries included in the study. The country is behind only South Korea, which has the lowest birth rate in the world. The United States number, based on 2015 data, is at 4.11 times GDP per capita. Japan stands at 4.26, based on data from 2010.

Child raising costs are even higher in China’s major cities, reaching more than 1 million yuan in Shanghai and 969,000 yuan in Beijing. Birth rates in the two cities are even lower than the national average.

YuWa warned the decreasing birth rate would “profoundly (深刻地) affect” China’s economic growth potential, its ability to create and its welfare (福利) problems.

The study found that China would need to spend at least 5 percent of its yearly GDP to provide reasons for couples to have more children. That would include education funding (基金), special housing loan (贷款) rates and tax breaks. Other considerations include equal time for mothers and fathers to be away from their jobs and the building of more childcare centers.

1. Why do officials in China place restrictions on the private tutoring industry?

A．Because of the high cost of childcare.

B．Because there are too many extra-curricular tutoring classes.

C．Because the tutoring industry does not help students improve their grades.

D．Because many families want to give their children more leisure time.

2. What can we know from the passage?

A．China has the lowest birth rate in the world.

B．The cost of childcare in Beijing is higher than that in Shanghai.

C．The reduction of workers won’t limit China’s growth in the future.

D．The birth rate in 2021 has been the lowest since 1949.

3. What is the GDP per capita in 2019?

A．About 3,346,500 yuan.	B．Around 70,300 yuan.
C．Less than 50,300 yuan.	D．More than 80,000 yuan.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The measures that can reduce education costs.

B．The conclusion of the research by YuWa Population Research Institute.

C．The ways to increase the birth rate.

D．The impact of the decline of the birth rates.

5 . 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

2. Which countries have a population of over 1 billion?

A．China and the US.

B．Indonesia and China.

C．India and China.

3. When did China relax the two-child policy to all couples?

A．In 2012.

B．In 2013.

C．In 2016.

4. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?

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.

5. To solve China’s population problem, the government         .

A．need more people’s help

B．need to do more work

C．should take care of elderly people

6 . COVID-19 shutdowns forced people out of work and pushed tens of millions into poverty worldwide. Governments tried hard to provide aid. It was easy in a small country, but difficult for a country with large population and vast rural areas.     1     Doing a detailed, nationwide, house-to-house survey takes people time and money. Luckily, satellites can see poverty from space.

Researchers have been finding ways to identify areas of wealth and poverty in satellite images. Through some satellite data and aerial images of one town or another, you can sort of tell whether it’s wealthy or not. Wealthier homes tend to have metal roofs while poor homes tend to have thatched roofs. Wealthier neighborhoods have paved roads and bigger plots of lands, more spaced out.     2     The researchers trained artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize these patterns.

    3     The researchers put AI to work studying patterns of mobile phone use in those regions. Rich people will make just more phone calls than poor people. They also might make more expensive international calls. They might use more mobile data because they have smartphones.     4    

The researchers use the system to identify about 60,000 people to receive benefits. The advantage of the satellite imagery and phone data approach is that it’s extremely fast and very convenient.     5     In shocks like climate disasters where there’s no time or way to get detailed information on the ground, satellites mobile phones and AI could help deliver aid quickly to people in need.

A．It was opposite in a big country.

B．How do they locate the neediest people?

C．So there’s a lot of information in the images.

D．Most importantly, it’s very cheap to carry out.

E．Worse still, it’s not so economical as a house-to-house survey.

F．However, in general, poorer people will just have feature phones.

G．What the researchers did next was to target the neediest people in those regions.

7 . There are many people in the world now. There will be even _________ people later this century. The earth will he crowded and there will be very little room _________ each person. Maybe there will be only _________ room on the earth in 600 years. That will be a very serious problem, so man is taking some _________ to solve the _________.

The moon is the satellite of the earth. Maybe man will go to live on the moon one day. _________, Americans and Chinese have _________ there. But there is no air, no plants, and no life. So _________ are doing experiments in many ways. They will find _________ to these problem __________ man can live on the moon. I’m sure our dream will come true by the end of this century.

1.

A．more

B．most

C．less

D．better

2.

A．to

B．at

C．with

D．for

3.

A．standing

B．sitting

C．sleeping

D．doing

4.

A．measures

B．medicines

C．policies

D．tools

5.

A．puzzle

B．accident

C．question

D．problem

6.

A．Greece

B．Japanese

C．Englishmen

D．Russians

7.

A．be

B．is

C．reached

D．was

8.

A．farmers

B．teachers

C．workers

D．scientists

9.

A．cases

B．solutions

C．roots

D．tickets

10.

A．so

B．after

C．since

D．but

8 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

The global population is expected to have reached 8 billion by the end of 2022, and India is predicted to surpass (超越) China as the country     1     the largest population in 2023, according to the United Nations.

“This is an occasion to celebrate our     2     (diverse) and recognize our common humanity,” said UN Secretary Antonio. “At the same time, it is     3     reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on     4     we can do to one another,” he added.

The world population     5     (grow) at its slowest rate at the present time and it is forecast to reach a peak of around 10. 4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100. Rapid population growth makes     6     (defeat) hunger and expanding the coverage of health and education systems increasingly difficult.

Countries with aging populations should take steps     7     (adapt) public programs to the growing numbers of older persons,     8     includes establishing universal health care and long-term care systems. Further actions by governments     9     (aim) at reducing birth rate would have little impact on the pace of population growth between now and mid-century, because of the youthful age structure of today’s     10     (globe) population.

9 . New York, 11 July — The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022, and India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, according to World Population Prospects 2022, released on World Population Day.

“This year’s World Population Day falls during a milestone year, when we expect the birth of the Earth’s eight billionth inhabitant. This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and get amazed at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates (孕妇及儿童死亡率),” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. At the same time, it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another,” he added.

World Population Prospects 2022 states that fertility (生育能力) has fallen markedly in recent decades for many countries. Today, two-thirds of the global population lives in a country or area where lifetime fertility is below 2.1 births per woman, roughly the level required for zero growth in the long run for a population with low mortality. The populations of 61 countries or areas are projected to decrease by 1 percent or more between 2022 and 2050, due to sustained low levels of fertility and, in some cases, increasing rates of emigration.

“The relationship between population growth and sustainable development is complex and multidimensional,” said Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “Rapid population growth makes removing poverty, combating hunger and malnutrition (营养不良), and increasing the coverage of health and education systems more difficult. On the contrary, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those related to health, education and gender equality, will contribute to reducing fertility levels and slowing global population growth.”

1. The underlined word “surpass” can be replaced by ______.

A．overtake

B．overlook

C．overcome

D．overwhelm

2. What can we learn from this passage?

A．The concern for global problems is a shared responsibility.

B．The only factor that affects those 61 countries’ populations is fertility.

C．The fertility has been decreasing in recent decades around the world.

D．The annual World Population Day is a milestone for global inhabitants.

3. How can we describe the relationship between population growth and sustainable development?

A．Critical and direct.	B．Difficult and apparent.
C．Urgent and ambiguous.	D．Significant and complicated.

4. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．The sharp decline of fertility.

B．The current world population situation.

C．The ways to achieve sustainable development goals.

D．The celebration of the birth of the Earth’s eight billionth inhabitant.

10 . 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.

2. Why is Emery and Kenneth’s claim mentioned in the text?

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.

3. What can we know from the underlined sentence?

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.

4. The last paragraph centers on settlers’ contribution to ________.

A．the reform of land policies

B．the increase of immigration

C．increasing amount of land

D．their creation of a superior land system