Passage Two
Questions are based on the following passage.
We can begin our discussion of "population as global issue" with what most persons mean when they discuss "the population problem": too many people on earth and a too rapid increase in the number added each year. The facts are not in dispute; it was quite right to employ the analogy that likened demographic growth to "a long, thin powder fuse that burns steadily and haltingly until it finally reaches the charge and explodes".
To understand the current situation, which is characterized by rapid increases in population, it is necessary to understand the history of population trends. Rapid growth is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Looking back at the 8,000 years of demographic history, we find that populations have been virtually stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. There was high fertility in most places, but this was usually balanced by high mortality. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, while infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birthrates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race.
This pattern is important to notice. Not only does it put the current problems of demographic growth into a historical perspective, but it suggests that the cause of rapid increase in population in recent years is not a sudden enthusiasm for more children, but an improvement in the conditions that traditionally have caused high mortality.
Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8000 B.C. till approximately 1650 A.D. In the first period of some 9,600 years, the population increased from some 8million to 500 million in 1650. Between 1650 and 1975, the population has increased from 500 million to more than 4 billion. And the population reached 6.2 billion throughout the world by the year 2000. One way to appreciate this dramatic difference in such abstract numbers is to reduce the time frame to something that is more manageable. Between 8000 B.C. and 1650, an average of only 50,000 persons was being added annually to the world's population. At present, this number is added every six hours. The increase is about 80,000,000 persons annually.
The word "demographic" (Line 4, Para. 1) means ________.
语义题。由文章第一段中的the population problem及rapid increase in the number可知，demographic的含义应该与“人口”和“数量”有关，而-graphic表示“写、画、记录的”，由此推断A(人口统计)正 确。B(环境研究)，C(人口的积聚)，D(人类的发展)，均与文意不符，故排除。
Which of the following demographic growth patterns is most suitable for the long thin powder fuse analogy?
推断题。由文章第二段第二句和第三句的virtually stable or growing very slightly for most of human history可知，文章第一段最后一句的引申意思是：在人口缓慢稳定的增长之后会出现人口的激增。四个选项之中，只有B与其最相符，故选B。
During the first period of demographic history, societies were often in danger of extinction because ________.
细节题。由文章第二段倒数第二句可知，在人口统计学历史上的第一个阶段，社会常有覆灭的危险是因为很多地方人口死亡率比出生率高，所以B正确。
Which statement is TRUE about population increase?
推断题。由文章第四段第三、四句可知，l650到1975年，世界人口增长至40亿，到2000年已经增长至62亿，由此可知，从l975年至2000年世界人口增长了22亿，故选A。
The author of the passage intends to ________.
推断题。通读全文可知，文章主要描述了世界人口增长的历史和现状，作者的目的在于使读者能够清楚地了解世界人口的增长状况，所以D正确。B项对照历史上人口增长的两种模式是作者达到目的的手段。