四、阅读理解

    Australia is the largest island in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of it is nearly as large as that of Shanghai. We cannot believe it is such a big country with so small population!

Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flowers. Exhibition In spring every year Perth has the wild flower exhibition. After visting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of the hill. But what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to the car as quickly as we could—there were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path!

Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep ,sheep, everwhere are sheep.

56. Australia is______________

A. the largest country in the world           B. larger than China

C. as large as Shanghai                     D. not so large as China

57. Enough laws have been made to______________.

A. increasw the pppulation           B. grow more plants    

C. fight against pollution            D. show wild flowers

58. Peth is______________

A. the capital of Australia            B. in the west of Australia

C. in the east of Australia            D. the biggest city in Australia

59. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. All the cities in Australia are seriously polluted.

B. Australia is famous for its sheep, kangaroos and large population.

C. We ran back to the car because we were in the middle of the white sheep.

D. If you go to the countryside in Australia, you will see a lot of white sheep.

【2011·河北邯郸市二模】E

      India’s population has grown by 181 million people over the past ten years to 1.21 billion, according to the 2011 census(人口普查) result announced on March 31.

      More people now live in India than in the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh counted together.

      Although its speed of population growth is slowing, India is on course to overtake China as the most populous country around 2030, figures show.

      The census also shows a continuing preference for boys - India's sex ratio is at its worst since it was founded.

      Figures for the past 10 years show fewer girls than boys are being born or living. They show 914 girls were born for every 1,000 boys under the age of six, compared with 927 for every 1,000 in 2001 census.

      Government officials said they would review all their measures towards it, which they admitted were failing.

      The population of India now is made of 623.7 million males and 586.5 million females.

      Mr. Chandramauli, Census Commissioner, told a news reporter in the capital, Delhi that the increase in the population over the past ten years is in agreement with official estimates(估计).

      The figure shows India’s large population growing fast—181 million is about equal to the entire population of Brazil—but the speed of growth has slowed.

      The 2011 census shows a population increase of 17.6% from 2011, compared with one of 21.5 in the last ten years.

      Uttar Pradesh remains India’s most populous state—199 million people now live there.

      In the field of education there was good news, with the census showing the literacy rate(识字率) going up to 74% from about 65% in the last count.

      India started the 2011 census in April last year. Some 2.7 million officials visited households in about 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages, sorting out the population according to sex, religion（宗教）, education and job.

The exercise, carried out every 10 years, faces big problems, not least India’s large area and differences of cultures. Census officials also have to face high levels of illiteracy and millions of homeless people.

57．This passage mainly tells us that            .

       A．India’s population has grown to 181 million people overt the past ten years

       B．India’s population has grown to 1.21 billion over the past ten years

       C．the speed of population growth of India is slowing

       D．the increase in the population over the past ten years matches with official estimates.

58．According to the passage, we can see that              .

       A．about 0.9 billion people can read now

       B．about 0.78 billion people can read now

       C．2 million people now live in Delhi

       D．more than 65 percent of the population in India are males

59．The word “it” in the sixth paragraph refer to           .

       A．the 2011 census                                          B．the literacy rate

       C．a continuing preference for boys                  D．the speed of population growth

60．We can learn from the passage that         .

       A．Uttar Pradesh will be India’s most populous state

       B．the 2011 census result is a surprise to the government

       C．the next census will be carried out in 2031

       D．the population of Brazil is 181 million or so