Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: We can begin our discussion of "population as a global issue" with what most person 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 a similar matter that linked demographic growth to " a long, thin power fuse that burns steadily from time to time until it finally reaches the limit, 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 population have been really stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, where infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birth rates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race. This pattern is important to know. 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 rate of death. Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8000B.C. till approximately 1650 A.D. And a period of rapid growth since 1650. In the first period of some 9,600 years, the population increased form some 8 million to 500 million in 1650. Between 1650 and the present, the population has increased from 500 million to more than 4 billion. And it is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 8... Question: What leads to a stable growth of population for most of human history? - Species competition - Low fertility - Tribal fights - High rate of death
High rate of death
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: (1) Secretary. Part time. 20 hours a week. Busy doctor's office. Experience preferred. Good typing. Call 555-2438. (2) BABY SITTER. 3 to 6 weekday afternoons. I will take you home. $5 an hour, call 555-5593. (3) Guitar lessons. Your home or mine. Experienced musician. Master's degree in music. Call Louise 555-6131. (4) TENTH STREET BLOCK PAKTY. Sunday. July 15. Noon to 8. Food, games, prizes, live band. Tenth Street between Main and North. (5) APARTMENT FOR RENT. 3 sunny rooms on high floor, great view. Separate kitchen. Wall-to-wall carpeting. The living room can be used as dining room. Email: SDGT@163.com.net (6) TAXI DRIVER WANTED. Full or part time. Experience necessary. A good knowledge of the city is required. Call 555-8860 between 9am and 5pm weekdays. (7) A stereo system for sale. It has two speakers. The system has an AM/FM radio. It also has a tape deck and turntable. It is in good condition. The stereo was owned for only one year. The price is $ 200 including the speakers. The owner will also take the highest price offered if the asking price is not met. Call Bill after 6pm at 555-9834. Question: We may learn from the ads above that _ . - a baby-sitter is paid by the hour - the party will be held without any music - the rooms for rent cannot get good sunlight - people can get guitar lessons at any place they like
a baby-sitter is paid by the hour
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Please excuse me if I'm a little quiet today. Mark is leaving, and I'm kind of sad. You probably don't know Mark, but you might know someone like him. He has been the heart and soul of the office for years. He has never been interested in getting praise for the wonderful work he does. He just does his job - very well. We're pleased that he is moving on to new, better things. But this doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to change things. A nice neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love through marriage. Our ability to deal with change and disruption decides to a great degree, our peace, happiness and satisfaction in life. But how do we do that? Chris the California surfer, once told me that the answer to life's problems can be summed up in four words: "Go with the flow." "It's like surfing," Chris explained. "You can't organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride them where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. You're always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get it. But mostly you just take them the way they come." I think Chris was saying that life is a series of events -- both good and bad. There will always be things over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected and is prepared to make adjustments . Don't stop trying to make all your dreams come true. But when things come up that aren't exactly in your plan, work around them -- and then move on. We're going to miss Mark. But rather than dwell on the sadness of our parting , we'll focus on our hopes for a brighter future -- for him, and for us. We'll go out and do everything that we can to make that future happen. Question: Why does the author quote Chris' words? - Because Chris' words show the author's point. - Because Chris is popular and surfing is exciting. - Because Chris has experienced a lot in life. - Because Chris' words made people think.
Because Chris' words show the author's point.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many. This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments. We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families, always making ourselves believe that this style of life is only a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly given a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life. In America they have a saying much laughedat by the English: "Have a nice day." They speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, making us remember, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day. How often do we say to ourselves "I'll take up horse-riding(or golf, or sailing)as soon as I get a greater job." But only to do none of those things when we do get the higher position. When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well-paid respectable job at Daily Telegraph to go and work for a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was surprised by his decision: Why was he in this completely abnormal mental state? How could anyone _ Fleet Street in central London for a small area in the countryside? I wanted to know. Now when I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continuous pressure. He lived in all unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains to and back from his work. Question: The man who worked at Daily Telegraph left this job because he was _ . - under too much pressure - in an abnormal mental state - not well-paid - not respected
under too much pressure
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