2014-2017江苏高考英语任务型阅读

江苏高考英语任务型阅读精讲精练汇编（2017江苏）Population ChangeWhy is the world’s population growing? The answer is not what you might think．The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits¸but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies.In 1900¸people died at the average age of 30. By 2000 the average age was 65. But while increasing health was a typical feature of the 20th century¸declining birth rate could be a defining one of the 21st．Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4．9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 nowadays. Furthermore¸ around 50% of the world’s population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level (i.e.2.1 births per woman) and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-replacement birth rate. You might think that developing nations would make up the loss (especially since 80% of the world’s people now live in such nations)¸but you’d be wrong. Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too¸which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades．A great decline in young work force is likely to occur in China¸for instance. What does it imply? First¸China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country. Second¸if other factors such as technology remain constant¸economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble．Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise. Since 1992 the number of people dying has been bigger than that of those being born by a massive 50%. Indeed official figures suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961. Why is this occurring? Nobody is quite sure¸ but poor diet and above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it. If current trends don’t bend¸Russia’s population will be about the size of Yemen’s by the year 2050．In the north of India¸the population is booming due to high birth rates¸but in the south¸ where most economic development is taking place¸ birth rate is falling rapidly. In a further twist¸ birth rate is highest in poorly educated rural areas and lowest in highly educated urban areas. In total¸25% of India’s working-age population has no education. In 2030¸a sixth of the country’s potentialwork force could be totally uneducated．0ne solution is obviously to import foreign workers via immigration. As for the USA¸ it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010—2030. Moreover¸the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants. As a result it’s likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term．（2016江苏）An Extension of the Human Brain0ther people can help us compensate for our mental and emotional deficiencies (欠缺)¸much as a wooden leg can compensate for a physical deficiency. To be exact, other people can extend our intelligence and help us understand and adjust our emotions. When another person helps us in American solutionPopulation and (74)____ pressure Decline of the birthrate The USA will increase, from2010-2030, its population by 20%through (79)____. This will (80) ____for the lack of young work force.Leaving aside the birth rate issue,India’s economy may take off whenthe country achieves (78)_____ ofeducational opportunity.The (76)_______ death of Russiansmay result in a shrinking population,which would damage its economicfuture. It would be better if it canchange people’s way of (77)______.To guarantee its economic growth,China needs to deal with thepopulation issue properly, as itsworkers are getting (75)________.The impact of dropping birth rate ondeveloping countries may not be(73)____________ but disastrous.It would be difficult for developed countries to maintain the (72)___ ofpopulation.The birth rate in the 21st century maybe much (71)______ than it was inthe 20th.Population Changesuch ways, he or she is participating in what I’ve called a “social prosthetic (义肢的）system．” Such systems do not need to operate face-to-face, and it’s clear to me that the Internet is expanding the range of my own social prosthetic systems. It’s already a big bank of many minds. Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory and judgment．Regar ding memory: 0nce I look up something on the Internet, I don’t need to keep all the details for future use—I know where to find that information again and can quickly and easily do so. More generally, the Internet functions as if it were my memory. This function of the Internet is particularly striking when I’m writing; I’m no longer comfortable writing if I’m not connected to the Internet. It’s become natural to check facts as I write, taking a minute or two to dip into PubMed, Wikipedia, or other websites．Regarding judgment: The Internet has made me smarter in matters small and large. For example, when I’m writing a textbook, it has become second nature to check a dozen definitions of a key term, which helps me dig into the core and understand its meaning. But more than that, I now regularly compare my views with those of many others. If I have a “ new idea,” I now quickly look to see whether somebody else has already thought of it, or something similar—and I then compare what I think with what others have thought. This certainly makes my own views clearer. Moreover, I can find out whether my reactions to an event are reasonable enough by reading about those of others on the Internet．These effects of the Internet have become even more striking since I’ve begun using a smartphone. I now regularly pull out my phone to check a fact, watch a video, read weibo. Such activities fill the spaces that used to be dead time (such as waiting for somebody to arrive for a lunch meeting)．But that’s the upside (好处)．The downside is that in those dead periods I often would let my thoughts flow and sometimes would have an unexpected insight or idea. Those opportunities are now fewer and farther between．（2015江苏）People select news in expectation of a reward. This reward may be either of two kinds. 0ne is related to what Freud calls the Pleasure Principle, the other to what he calls the Reality Principle. For want of better names, we shall call these two classes immediate reward and delayed reward.In general, the kind of news which may be expected to give immediate reward are news of crime and corruption, accidents and disasters, sports, social events, and human interest. Delayed reward may be expected from news of public affairs, economic matters, social problems, science, education, and health.News of the first kind pays its rewards at once. A reader can enjoy an indirect experience without any of the dangers or stresses involved. He can tremble wildly at an axe-murder, shake his head sympathetically and safely at a hurricane, identify himself with the winning team, laugh understandingly at a warm little story of children or dogs.News of the second kind, however, pays its rewards later. It sometimes requires the reader to tolerate unpleasantness or annoyance — as, for example, when he reads of the threatening foreign situation, the mounting national debt, rising taxes, falling market, scarce housing, and cancer. It has a kind of “threat value.” It is read so that the reader may be informed and prepared.When a reader selects delayed reward news, he pulls himself into the world of surrounding reality to which he can adapt himself only by hard work. When he selects news of the other kind, he usuallywithdraws from the world of threatening reality toward the dream world.For any individual, of course, the boundaries of these two classes are not stable. For example, a sociologist may read news of crime as a social problem, rather than for its immediate reward．A coach may read a sports story for its threat value: he may have to play that team next week. A politician may read an account of his latest successful public meeting, not for its delayed reward, but very much as his wife reads an account of a party. In any given story of corruption or disaster, a thoughtful reader may receive not only the immediate reward of indirect experience, but also the delayed reward of information and preparedness. Therefore, while the division of categories holds in general, an individual’s tendency may transfer any story from one kind of reading to another, or divide the experience between the two kinds of reward.news stories and (79) themselves to the reality.Thus, thedivision, on the whole, (80) on the reader.（2014江苏）The expression, “everybody’s doing it,” is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a strong influence of a group, especially of children, on members of that group to behave as everybody else does. It can be positive or negative. Most people experience it in some way during their lives．People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly surprising that part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct (天性) is why the approval of peers, or the fear of disapproval, is such a powerful force in many people’s lives. It is the same instinct that drives people to dress one way at home and another way at wo rk, or to answer “fine” when a stranger asks “how are you?” even if it is not necessarily true. There is a practical aspect to this: it helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that simplifies day-to-day interaction．For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes like an addiction; in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to abandon their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that encourage criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel pressured to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can’t afford in an effort to “keep up with the Joneses．”However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at academics may be urged to study harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of influence can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one. Study groups and class projects are examples of positive peer groups that encourage people to better themselves．Schools try to teach kids about the dangers of negative peer pressure. They teach kids to stand up and be themselves, and encourage them to politely decline to do things that they believe are wrong. Similarly, it can be helpful to encourage children to greet the beneficial influence of positive peer groups．（2017江苏）71．lower72．size/scale 73．immediate 74．economic75．old/older 76．earlier77．living/life 78．Equality 79．immigration 80．Compensate（2016江苏）71．Internet。