Question

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的（A、B、C和D）四个选项中，选出最佳选项。 　　Brazil has become one of the developing world's greatsuccesses at reducing population growth— but more by acci-dent than design．While countries such as India have madejoint efforts to reduce birth rates,Brazil has had better resultwithout really trying,says George Marfine at Harvard． 　　Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960．to 1.93% a year between1981 and 1990．and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average．Martine says this figure may have fallen stillfurther since 1990．an achievemebt that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries． 　　Martine puts it down to,among other things,soap operas and instalment（分期付款）plans introduced in the 1970．s．Both played an important,although indirect,role in lowering the birth rate．Brazil is one of the world's biggest produecrs of soap operas．Globo,Brazil's most popular television net-work．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 live the high life in big cities． 　　“Although they have never really tried to work in a mes-sage towards the problems of reproduction（生育）,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 madepeople conscious of other patterns of hohaviour and other val-ues．which were put into a very attractive package．” 　　Meanwhile,the instalment plans tried to encourage thepoor to become consumers（消费者）．“This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption wasincompatible（不能共存的）with unlimited reproduetion,”says Martine． (1) According to the passage,Brazil has cut back its population growth ________ [　　] A． by educating its citizens B． by careful family planning C． by developing TV programmes D． by chance (2) According to the passage,many Third World coun tries ________ [　　] A． haven't paid enough attention to birth control B． would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate C． have great difficulty controlling their population D． make no use of TV plays in family planning (3) Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil's birth rate because ________ [　　] A． they keep people sitting long hours watching TV B． they have gradually changed people's way of life C． people are drawn to their attractive package D． they popularize government's birth control measures (4) What is Martine's conclusion about Brazil's population growth ________ [　　] A． The increase in birth rate will raise consumption． B． The desire for consumption helps to rednce birth rate． C． Consumption patterns and reproduction patterns areincompatible． D． A country's production is limited by its population growth．

Answer 1

答案：1．D;2．C;3．B;4．A;
解析：

(1)	细节理解题。由第一段第一句中…but more by accident than design中的by accident可推出答案为D
(2)	推理判断题。由题干可确定此题的有关部分在第二段中的Martine says this figure may have fallen slill further since 1990,an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third world countries，巴西降低人口增长率的成就成为很多第三国家的羡慕对象，可见其他国家人口增长控制方面并不顺利，仍存在困难。
(3)	细节理解题。第三段最后一句Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities告诉我们，大部分肥皂剧展示的是城市富家的生活方式、价值观念，如少生孩子、重视教育等，这些内容对普通百姓的生活起了潜移默化的作用，即B所说的“逐渐改变了人们的生活方式”。
(4)	推理判断题。A项说出生率的增长将促进消费，而文中最后一段则说tried to encourage the poor to become consumers（鼓励穷人变成消费者），即鼓励穷人消费而不是靠增加人口刺激消费。