单选题 A very important world problem is the increasing number of people who actually inhabit (居住于) this planet. The limited amount of land and land resources will soon be unable to support the huge population if it continues to grow at its present rate.
So why is this huge increase in population taking place? It is really due to the spread of the knowledge and practice of what is becoming known as 'Death Control'. You have no doubt heard of the term 'Birth Control'. 'Death Control' is something rather different. It recognises the work of the doctors and scientists who now keep alive people who, not very long ago, would have died of a variety of then incurable diseases. Through a wide variety of technological creations that include fanning methods and the control of deadly diseases, we have found ways to reduce the rate at which we die. However, this success is the very cause of the greatest threat to mankind.
If we examine the amount of land available for this ever-increasing population, we begin to see the problem. If everyone on the planet had an equal share of land, we would each have about 50,000 square metres. This figure seems to be quite encouraging until we examine the amount of usable land we actually have. More than three-fifths of the world's land cannot produce food.
Obviously, with so little land to support us, we should be taking great care not to reduce it further. But we are not! Instead, we are consuming its 'capital'—its nonrenewable (不可再生的) fossil fuels and other mineral deposits that took millions of years to form but which are now being destroyed in decades. We are also doing the same with other vital resources not usually thought of as being nonrenewable such as fertile soils, groundwater and the millions of other species that share the earth with us.
It is a very common belief that the problems of the population explosion are caused mainly by poor people living in poor countries who do not know enough to limit their reproduction. This is not true. The actual number of people in an area is not as important as the effect they have on nature. Developing countries do have an effect on their environment, but it is the populations of richer countries that have a far greater impact on the earth as a whole.

单选题 According to the passage, what contributes to the population increase?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】根据题干中的the population increase将本题出处定位于第2段前两句。第1句提到，为什么会出现如此庞大的人口增长呢?第2句说明原因：因为知识的普及以及被称为“死亡控制”的做法。结合该段最后一句提到的this success(指代“死亡控制”这一做法的成功)对人类造成最大的威胁可知，答案为C。A与原因之一the spread of the knowledge矛盾；“Birth Control”在文中提到过，但并未说人口增长是因为“计划生育”的失败，故排除；technological creations是“Death Control”成功的原因之一，不够全面，故排除D。

单选题 Land to support human beings is insufficient because ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据题干中的land和support将本题出处定位于第4段第1句。题干中的land to support human beings is insufficient与该句提到的so little land to support us对应，前一段最后一句对此进行了解释说明：世界陆地面积大约有3/5是无法生产食物的，A中的most of the world's land与more than…land对应，unusable与cannot produce food对应，故答案为A。B是基于常识设的干扰项；C在文中未提及；D是针对第3段第2句中的if条件句设的干扰项。

单选题 What do we learn from the fourth paragraph?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】根据题干中的the fourth paragraph将本题出处定位于第4段。该段最后一句提到，对于其他一些很重要的、通常不被认为是不可再生的资源，比如肥沃的土壤、地下水……我们也同样在毁坏它们。由此可知，我们通常认为肥沃的土壤、地下水等是可再生资源，而事实上它们是不可再生资源，故答案为B。A是针对“its ‘capital’—its…mineral deposits”设的干扰项；C与该段第2句矛盾；D与原文意思相反。

单选题 According to the passage, many people tend to believe that ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据题干中的believe将本题出处定位于第5段第1句。该句提到，人们普遍认为人口爆炸所带来的问题主要是由生活在贫困国家的穷人造成的。该段最后一句提到，发展中国家确实对他们的环境有所影响，但总体而言，对地球带来更大影响的是富裕国家的人口。结合第1句可知，人们认为人口爆炸造成的环境破坏问题应由贫困国家而不是富裕国家负责，故答案为D。A是针对poor counties…do not know enough to limit their reproduction设的干扰项；B是针对该段最后一句的后半句设的干扰项；C在文中未提及。

单选题 What is the author really concerned about in the passage?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】本题考查作者的观点态度，故将出处定位于全文。本文首先指出，如果人口持续增加，有限资源将无法满足人们的需求，并说明人口增长的原因，接着说明可用土地资源的有限性，指出我们理应保护资源但我们却在过度使用和破坏它们。由此可知，作者关注的是对资源的过度使用，因为这可能会导致无法满足日益增长的人口的需求，故答案为C。作者的主要关注点并非是人口爆炸，只是从人口爆炸对有限资源产生的巨大需求入手，说明可用资源的有限性以及人们对资源的过度使用，故排除B；A只是文中的一个点；文中提到发达国家和发展中国家对环境的影响，但并未提及贫富差距，故排除D。