Question

A very important world problem is the growth of population on the earth. The population of the world today is more than 6,500,000,000. That is a great number and we know it quite well. The important thing is not how large the population of the world is now, but is the rate (速度) of the growth. It is about 1.63% every year after the number of dead people has been taken away.

To give you some ideas of the birth rate, look at the second hand of your watch. Every second, four babies are born in the world. Another baby! Another baby! Another baby! Another baby! You can not speak quickly enough to keep up with the birth rate. The population is growing faster and faster. So it goes on, hour after hour. In one day, people have to find food for over 350,000 mouths more.

This great growth of population will make a big problem by the year 2010—there will be as many as 7,000,000,000 people on the earth! So this is one of the biggest problems that you are going to meet within your life.

1.What’s one of the important world problems today according to the passage?

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2.What is the growth rate of population every year?

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3.将文中画线的句子翻译成汉语。

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4.From the passage, how many new babies are there to be born in a minute?

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5.What may be the population of the world by the year 2010?

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Answer 1

1.The growth of the population on the earth.

2.It is about 1.63% every year after the number of dead people has been taken away.

3.重要的问题并不在于世界上现在有多少人口，而是在于人口增长的速度。

4.Two hundred and forty./240.

5.Seven billion.

【解析】

试题分析：这篇短文讲述的是现在世界上面临的一个大问题是人口增长过快。每秒钟有4个婴儿出生。按照这个人口增长率，到2010年，世界上将会有70亿人。

1.根据短文第一句话A very important world problem is the growth of population on the earth可知，地球上一个重要的世界问题是人口的增长。

2.根据短文第一段的最后一句话It is about 1.63% every year after the number of dead people has been taken away可知，现在世界人口的增长率，除掉已经去世的人，是1.63%。

3.原句中使用了not…but…的并列结构，意思是不是……而是……。how large the population of the world is，是how引导的一个从句，意思是世界上有多少人口；the rate of the growth人口增长的速度。

4.根据短文中Every second, four babies are born in the world.可知，每秒钟世界上有4个婴儿出生。按照这个数字计算，每分钟是240个。

5.根据短文最后一段中This great growth of population will make a big problem by the year 2010—there will be as many as 7,000,000,000 people on the earth!可知，按照现在的人口增长率，到2010年，世界上的人口将会达到70亿，即seven billion。

考点：任务型阅读。