E
A United Nations report says the number of people in the world is expected to reach 6500 million this July. By the middle of the century, the population could reach more than 9000 million. That would be an increase of 40﹪.
These numbers are fresh estimates for a report on world population change from 1950 to 2050. Hania Zlotnik is director of the U.N. Population Division. She says the world has added nearly 500 million people in the last six years.
But, in her words, "the good news is that new estimates show that it will take a little longer" to add the next 500 million. Mizz Zlotnik says this will probably happen by 2013.
The U.N. report says most population growth by 2050 will take place in less developed countries. Their population is expected to increase from 5000 million today to almost 8000 million. The population of more developed nations is expected to stay about the same, at just over 1000 million.
The report says nine countries will be responsible for about half the world population increase by 2050. These include Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and India. The others are Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda and the United States.
Twelve countries are expected to have populations at least three times the size now. These include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and East Timor. The others are Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Uganda.
The report says birth rates remain low in forty-four developed countries.
Today, worldwide, there is an average of two-point-six children per woman. This number is expected to fall to just over two children per woman in  2050. But U.N. population experts note that they cannot be sure which way birth rates will go in the future.
The U.N. report also notes that AIDS has increased death rates and slowed population growth in sixty countries. The area most affected by the disease is Southern Africa.
There, how long people live has fallen from an average of sixty-two years in 1995 to forty-eight now. Researchers believe life expectancy will fall to forty-three years by 2015, then begin a slow recovery.
67. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The population growth will slow down in the next few years.
B. Most population growth will take place in developed countries.
C. There is an average of 2.6 children per woman in developed countries.
D. The area most affected by AIDS is Uganda.
68. Which one is the best title of this passage?
A. AIDS slowed population growth.
B. Most population growth will take place in less developed countries.
C. Population growth and death rate.
D. UN world population report.
69．The author believes that the population growth results from_______
A. The birth rate in developed countries is too high.
B. The birth rate in developing countries is too high.
C. AIDS hit only a few countries.
D. A decrease in death rate.
70. Which of the following best describe the author’s attitude towards the rapid population growth?
A. sympathetic     B. happy       C. optimistic     D. critical

Vienna－In spite of Iraq’s decision to stop oil deliveries, the 11- nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries（OPEC）will not increase production to make up the shortfall, ministers decided Tuesday in Vienna.

    The 11 oil ministers decided to meet again on July 3 to discuss the effects of the Iraq temporary stop. The organization’s president, Charkid Kheria of Algeria, said after the meeting that stocks were high and prices were stable, so quota increases were not necessary.

    The E.U. Commission has expressed concern about Iraq’s output stop. A speaker said OPEC had to take all possible measures to keep or lower the oil price.

    Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi had earlier said there would not be any shortfall of oil in the market. The organization had already taken steps to fill the gap, he said. OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez added that the period of Iraq’s output stop was not known, so other exporters were not going to lift quotas yet. If the market was destabilized (使……动摇), a suitable response could be made.

    Iraq on Monday stopped shipments of crude oil to protest against the U.N. Security Council’s decision to extend the oil-for-food programme by only a month, instead of the normal six-month renewal. Just before the Vienna meeting, oil prices had gone up, with a barrel of OPEC crude oil selling for 27.05 dollars, up from 26.81 dollars last Friday. North Sea oil was at 29.26 dollars Monday evening.

    OPEC wants the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars and achieved that with cuts in January and March that reduced 2.5 million barrels per day off quotas(配额).

Iraq made the decision to stop oil deliveries because ___________.

    A. oil price is too low in international market.

    B. The U.N. Secretary Council has decided to shorten the time of extension of the oil-for-food programme

    C. Many oil wells were destroyed during the war in the late 1980s

    D. It couldn’t get enough money to develop its economy

The attitude the E.U. Commission took towards Iraq’s output stop is ________.

    A. active       B. concerned        C. cold        D. surprised

The 11 oil ministers decided to meet on July 3 so that _________.

    A. they can persuade Iraq to continue oil production

    B. they can have a talk with the U.N. Security Council

    C. they can have a discussion about the effects of Iraq’s temporary output stop

    D. they can make up their minds to increase oil production

The main idea of the passage is ________.

    A. the oil prices in the world were stable though Iraq has stopped oil deliveries

    B. OPEC has controlled the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars

    C. OPEC will not increase oil production to make up the shortfall that caused by Iraq

    D. Oil is connected with people’s daily life

A very important world problem－in fact, I am inclined(倾向) to say it is the most important of all the great world problems which face us at the present time－is the rapidly increasing pressure of population on land and on land resources.

It is not so much the actual population of the world but its rate of increase which is important. It works out to be about 1.6 percent per annual net increase. In terms of numbers this means something like forty to fifty－five million additional people every year. Canada has a population of twenty million－rather less than six month's climb in world population. There are ten million people in Australia. So, it takes the world less than three months to add to itself a population. Let us take our own crowded country－England and Wales: forty－five to fifty million people－just about a year's supply.

By this time tomorrow, and every day, there will be added to the earth about 120,000 extra people－just about the population of the city of York.

Here I am not talking about birth rate. This is net increase. To give you some idea of birth rate, look at the seconds hand of your watch. Every second three babies are born somewhere in the world. Another baby! You cannot speak quickly enough to keep pace with the birth rate.

This enormous increase of population will create immense problems. By 2020 unless something desperate happens, there will be as many as seven billion people on the surface of the earth! So this is a problem which you are going to see in your lifetime.

1. According to the author, ________ is the most important in the world at the present time.

A. the quality of the increasing population

B. the actual population of the world

C. the rapidly increasing pressure of population

D. farming land is reducing at great speed

2. From the passage we know that the author is a(n) ________.

A. Canadian      B. Australian

C. American      D. Englishman

3. It takes ________ for the world to have a population of Australia.

A. about three months

B. about six months

C. one year

D. more than four months

4. According to the passage ________ babies are born on the earth per hour.

A. 180         B. 3 million

C. 120,000      D. 10,800

5. The author mentions the different populations of several countries in order to ________.

A. show how small those countries are

B. show how thickly those countries are populated

C. emphasize the low increase of the world population

D. emphasize the high rate of increase of world population

   Vienna——In spite of Iraq’s decision to stop oil deliveries, the 11- nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries（OPEC）will not increase production to make up the shortfall, ministers decided Tuesday in Vienna.

    The 11 oil ministers decided to meet again on July 3 to discuss the effects of the Iraq temporary stop. The organization’s president, Charkid Kheria of Algeria, said after the meeting that stocks were high and prices were stable, so quota increases were not necessary.

    The E.U. Commission has expressed concern about Iraq’s output stop. A speaker said OPEC had to take all possible measures to keep or lower the oil price.

    Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi had earlier said there would not be any shortfall of oil in the market. The organization had already taken steps to fill the gap, he said. OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez added that the period of Iraq’s output stop was not known, so other exporters were not going to lift quotas yet. If the market was destabilized（使……动摇）, a suitable response could be made.

    Iraq on Monday stopped shipments of crude oil to protest against the U.N. Security Council’s decision to extend the oil-for-food programme by only a month, instead of the normal six-month renewal. Just before the Vienna meeting, oil prices had gone up, with a barrel of OPEC crude oil selling for 27.05 dollars, up from 26.81 dollars last Friday. North sea oil was at 29.26 dollars Monday evening.

    OPEC wants the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars and achieved that with cuts in January and March that reduced 2.5 million barrels per day off quotas（配额）.

Iraq made the decision to stop oil deliveries because ___________.

A. oil price is too low in international market.

B. The U.N. Secretary Council has decided to shorten the time of extension of the oil-for-food programme

C. Many oil wells were destroyed during the war in the late 1980s

D. It couldn’t get enough money to develop its economy

The attitude the E.U. Commission took towards Iraq’s output stop is ________.

A. active           B. concerned

C. cold             D. surprised

The underlined words“The organization”here refers to ________.

A. OPEC        B. the E.U. Commission

C. Vienna        D. WTO

The main idea of the passage is ________.

A. the oil prices in the world were stable though Iraq has stopped oil deliveries

B. OPEC has controlled the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars

C. OPEC will not increase oil production to make up the shortfall that caused by Iraq

D. Oil is connected with people’s daily life

The 11 oil ministers decided to meet on July 3 so that _________.

A. they can persuade Iraq to continue oil production

B. they can have a talk with the U.N. Security Council

C. they can have a discussion about the effects of Iraq’s temporary output stop

D. they can make up their minds to increase oil production

E
Every year farmers in areas which often suffer flood in Southeast Asia lose millions of tons of rice to high water that kills their crops. That large amount of waste may soon be a thing of the past: SUBIA, a gene discovered by researchers which the International Rice Research Insitule (IRRI) and the University of California, allows rice palnts carrying the gene to live completely under water for two weeks.
Flood – resistant(抗水浸) rice turned up among the 110,000 types of seed stored at the institute. It produced disappointingly low yields(产量) , but scientistis were able to transfer the gene into more bountiful varieties. These have shown promising results in tests by growers in India and Bangladesh over the past two years.
This rice success story would not have been possible without the treasure of genetic diversity hidden in the IRRI’s vault (underground room). As the world faces new agricultural challenge – charging climate, bugs and diseases that have developed resistance(抵抗力) to old defenses – such genetic resources are likely to become increasingly valuable. Fortunately, the IRRI is one of more than 1,000 organizations around the world working to protect crop genes. Most plant species grown for food have an associated bank that stores thousands of samples; seeds of landraces, wild relatives, and varieties that are rare, old, or adapted to very specific envionments. The banks ensure that it will be possible to develop new varieties in the future.
The need for these botanical libraries has its roots in modern agricultural practices. According to the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 75 percent of plant diversity has been lost over the last century. Of more than 30,000 eatable species, humans grow just 200 for food; 60 percent of plant calories in our diet comes from wheat, rice, and corn.
72．Accordint to the second paragraph, what can we learn about the flood – resistant rice?
A．It produces a small amount of rice.
B．Scientists have developed many more varieties of it.
C．Sientists have managed to improve its output.
D．It can produce more rice than the other 110,000 types at the institute.
73．From the passage we can infer that        .
A．the newly – discovered gene will bring hope to the farmers in the areas often suffering flood
B．scientists will not be able to change the fact that rice plants carrying the gene produce low yields
C．the tests by growers in India and Bangladesh were hopeless
D．110,000 types of seed stored at the Institute are flood -  resistant
74．What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
A．The world faces new agricultural challenges.
B．Such genetic resources are likely to become valuable.
C．Scientists set up banks to store thousands of seed samples.
D．We should owe the rice success story to the seed banks.
75．As to the botanical libraries, the writer thinks they are            .
A．useless      B．unnecessary      C．needful     D．needless