E
A United Nations report says the number of people in the world is expected to reach 6500 million this July. By the middle of the century, the population could reach more than 9000 million. That would be an increase of 40﹪.
These numbers are fresh estimates for a report on world population change from 1950 to 2050. Hania Zlotnik is director of the U.N. Population Division. She says the world has added nearly 500 million people in the last six years.
But, in her words, "the good news is that new estimates show that it will take a little longer" to add the next 500 million. Mizz Zlotnik says this will probably happen by 2013.
The U.N. report says most population growth by 2050 will take place in less developed countries. Their population is expected to increase from 5000 million today to almost 8000 million. The population of more developed nations is expected to stay about the same, at just over 1000 million.
The report says nine countries will be responsible for about half the world population increase by 2050. These include Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and India. The others are Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda and the United States.
Twelve countries are expected to have populations at least three times the size now. These include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and East Timor. The others are Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Uganda.
The report says birth rates remain low in forty-four developed countries.
Today, worldwide, there is an average of two-point-six children per woman. This number is expected to fall to just over two children per woman in  2050. But U.N. population experts note that they cannot be sure which way birth rates will go in the future.
The U.N. report also notes that AIDS has increased death rates and slowed population growth in sixty countries. The area most affected by the disease is Southern Africa.
There, how long people live has fallen from an average of sixty-two years in 1995 to forty-eight now. Researchers believe life expectancy will fall to forty-three years by 2015, then begin a slow recovery.
67. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The population growth will slow down in the next few years.
B. Most population growth will take place in developed countries.
C. There is an average of 2.6 children per woman in developed countries.
D. The area most affected by AIDS is Uganda.
68. Which one is the best title of this passage?
A. AIDS slowed population growth.
B. Most population growth will take place in less developed countries.
C. Population growth and death rate.
D. UN world population report.
69．The author believes that the population growth results from_______
A. The birth rate in developed countries is too high.
B. The birth rate in developing countries is too high.
C. AIDS hit only a few countries.
D. A decrease in death rate.
70. Which of the following best describe the author’s attitude towards the rapid population growth?
A. sympathetic     B. happy       C. optimistic     D. critical

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
When middle-aged Alex quit his job and made up his mind to become a freelance (self-employed) writer, no one could tell for sure whether he would succeed or not. He found a cold storage room in a building, set up a(n) 21 typewriter and settled down to work.
After a year or so, however, Alex began to 22 himself. He found it is difficult to earn his living by 23 what he wrote. But Alex determined to put his dream to the test— 24 it meant living with uncertainty and fear of 25 . This is the Shadowland of hope, and 26 with a dream must learn to live there.
One day Alex got a call, "We need a (n) 27 , and we're paying $6,000 a year." $6,000 was 28
money in 1960, It would enable Alex to get a nice apartment, a used car and more.  29 , he could write on the side.  30 the dollars were dancing in Alex's head, something 31 his senses. He had dreamed of being a 32 —full time. "Thanks, but no," Alex said 33 . "I'm going to stick it out and write."
After Alex got off the phone, he 34 everything he had: two cans of vegetables and 18 cents. Alex put the cans and cents into a 35 bag, saying to himself, "There's everything you've made of yourself so far."
Finally his work was 36 in 1970. Instantly he had the kind of fame and success that 37 writers ever experience. The shadows had turned into limelight.
Then one day, Alex 38 a box filled with things he had owned years before.  39 was a paper bag with two cans and 18 cents. Suddenly he 40 himself working in that cold storage room. It reminds Alex, and anyone with a dream, of the courage and persistence it takes to stay the course in the shadowland.
21．A．used                              B．priceless                       C．excellent                      D．expensive
22．A．trust                              B．doubt                            C．regret                           D．hate
23．A．buying                           B．reading                         C．selling                           D．appreciating
24．A．What if                          B．Now that                      C．As if                               D．Even though
25．A．failure                           B．success                         C．loss                                D．perspiration
26．A．someone                      B．nobody                          C．anyone                          D．none
27．A．writer                            B．boss                               C．assistant                      D．manager
28．A．little                               B．false                              C．real                                D．high
29．A．Still                                 B．Therefore           C．However                      D．Besides
30．A．If                                     B．Because                       C．As                                   D．But
31．A．destroyed           B．struck                            C．hurt                               D．cleared
32．A．dancer                          B．writer                            C．driver                            D．assistant
33．A．hurriedly                       B．slowly                            C．firmly                   D．hesitantly
34．A．pulled out           B．pulled apart                 C．pulled down                 D．pulled back
35．A．plastic                           B．paper                            C．cloth                              D．metal
36．A．published                     B．completed          C．written                         D．punished
37．A．poor                               B．few                               C．famous                         D．great
38．A．picked                           B．searched                      C．found                   D．sought
39．A．Outside                         B．Below                            C．Above                            D．Inside
40．A．reminded                     B．pictured                        C．described                     D．called

That holiday morning I didn’t have to attend school. Usually, on holidays, Mother   36  me to sleep in. And I would certainly take full advantage of it. On this particular morning,  ___37___,I felt like getting up early.
I stood by my window overlooking the ___38___, having nothing better to do. But as it turned out, I was soon to learn about something ___39___ in life.
As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and go off, I ___40___ an old man on a bicycle with a bucket on its ___41___ and a basket rags and bottles on its back-carriage. He ___42___ from one car to another, washing and cleaning them. From the water on the ground, it seemed that he had already ___43___ washing and cleaning about a dozen or more cars. He must have begun to work quite early in the morning.
Several thoughts ___44___my mind as I watched him work. He wasn’t well-dressed. He had on a pair of shorts and a(n) ___45___ T-shirt. The bicycle he rode was not by any means the kind modern ___46___would want to be seen riding on. But he seemed___47___ with life. There he was, working hard at his small business, ___48___ at passers-by and stopping to chat now and then ___49___ elderly men and women on their way to the market nearby.
There was a noticeable touch of___50___ in the way he seemed to be doing things— ___51___the windscreen (挡风玻璃), then standing back to admire it; scrubbing (擦净) the wheels and ___52___, standing back to see what they look like after the scrub.
It was a ___53___ to learn, I felt. At no age need one have to beg for a ___54___if one has good health and is willing to work hard. For a while I felt ___55__ of myself. Young as I am—just sixteen, and there was this old man who must have been usefully engaged perhaps before the sun appeared above the horizon.