The problem of the world’s population

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ｗｏｒｌｄ’ｓｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎ
作者：姜红伟周莲芳
来源：《初中生(三年级)》2008年第02期
世界上最大的问题恐怕就是人口问题。

如果不能及时控制人口增长的话，未来的地球上恐怕连站着的地方也不会有了。

怎么办呢? 办法是有的，请看看他们是怎么做的。

想不想学呢?
The problem of the world’s population
The world’s population continue s to grow. Experts have long been concerned aboutsuch a growth. Where will we find the food， jobs， houses， schools and health care for all these people?
A major new study shows that the situation may be changing. A large and rapid drop in the world’s birth rate has taken place during the past 10 years. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both agricultural and industrial nations.
Researchers said they found a number of reasons for this. More men and women are waiting longer to get married and are using birth control devices and methods to prevent or delay pregnancy. More women are going to school or working at jobs away from home instead of having children. And more governments， especially in developing nations， now support family planning programs to reduce population growth.
China is one of the nations that has made great progress in reducing its population growth. China has already cut its population growth by about one half since 1970. Each Chinese family is now urged to have no more than one child. And the hope is to reach a zero population growth with the total number of birth equaling the total number of deaths in the future.
●Keys:
1．birth date: 出生率
2．device: n. 装置
3．agricultural and industrial nations: 农业的和工业的国家
4．urge: v. 催促
5．pregnancy: n. 怀孕
●根据短文，选择最佳答案：
1． Which of the following is true?
A. Family are as large as before.
B. Th e world’s birth rate is higher now than ten years ago.
C.Birth control has been practised in all nations.
D. There has been a slow population growth in the past ten years.
2.The world’s birth rate has dropped because_________．
A.people marry at a much later time
B.more birth control devices and methods have been used
C.women would rather go to school or take jobs than have children
D.all of the above
3. - China has reduced its population growth by_________since 1970.
A.about 50%
B. exactly one half
C.a lot more than 50% D． much less than one half
4.In the future the number of birth and the number of death in China will probably_________.
A.be greatly different_________
B. be equal
C.drop a great deal
D. become much larger
5.According to the essay，our country’s population control_________.
A.is not very successful_________
B.is far from successful
C.should be considered a big success
D． is a not-too-big success
Keys: 1~5: DDABC （姜红伟周莲芳）。