阅读理解 Brazil has become one of the developing world''s great successes at reducing population growth --but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Brazil''s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99 % a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93 % a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧) and installment (分期付款)plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world''s biggest producers of soap operas. Globe, Brazil''s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values -- not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.

单选题 According to the passage, Brazil has cut back its population growth________.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】辨认事实题。本题询问根据文章内容，巴西已经________降低了其人口增长速度。A项意为“通过教育其公民”； B项通过仔细的计划生育”；C项通过开发电视节目”；D项“偶然地”。文章的第1句就提到，巴西降低人口增长的成功“more by accident than design更多是偶然地而不是设计好的”，因此D项为正确答案。

单选题 According to the passage, many Third World countries ________.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】事实推理题。本题询问根据文章内容，许多第三世界国家________。A项意为“还没有对控制人口予以重视”；B项“会很快与巴西一起控制出生率”；C项还没有发现有效的措施来控制他们的人口”；D项“忽视了电视节目在计划生育中的地位”。第1段第2句提到，“印度等发展中国家在共同努力来减少出生率”，在第2段第2句中又提到巴西的成功“使它成为许多第三世界国家羡慕的对象”，可见A项和B项两项的意思都是不正确的。D项的意思在文中没有提到，因此只有C项为正确答案。

单选题 The phrase "puts it down to" (Line l, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to "________".

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】词义理解题。本题询问第3段第1行中的"puts it down to"与________意思最接近。A项意为“把它归功于”；B项“发现它是……的理由”；C项“总结成”；D项“把它比作”。做本题时，要了解it指代的是什么。我们知道，it是指巴西人口增长率的下降，它与后面的“电视连续剧与分期付款”之间应当是结果和原因的关系，也就是说电视连续剧和分期付款导致了巴西人口增长率的下降，因此A项为正确答案。

单选题 Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil''s birth rate because ________.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实推理题。本题询问电视连续剧在降低巴西的出生率方面起了作用是因为什么。A项意为“它们让人们坐很长时间看电视”；B项它们改变了人们的生活方式”；C项人们被它们深深吸引”；D项它们推广了计划生育措施”。第4段引用了马丁的观点，提出电视连续剧描述了中上层阶级的价值观，使巴西的人们认识到其他的行为方式和价值观，而这些生活方式和价值观对他们而言是很有吸引力的，也就是说它们改变了人们的生活方式，因此B项为正确答案。

单选题 What is Martine''s conclusion about Brazil''s population growth?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实推理题。本题询问马丁关于巴西人口增长的结论是什么。A项意为“出生率的增长会促进消费”；B项“消费的欲望帮助降低出生率”；C项“消费方式和生殖方式是相矛盾的”；D项“一个国家的生产被其人口增长所限制”。最后一段提到分期付款计划鼓励贫穷的人成为消费者，而消费与不受限制的人口繁殖是不相容的，因此消费的欲望实际上会使出生率降低，因此B项为正确答案。