A very important world problem－in fact, I am inclined(倾向) to say it is the most important of all the great world problems which face us at the present time－is the rapidly increasing pressure of population on land and on land resources.
It is not so much the actual population of the world but its rate of increase which is important. It works out to be about 1.6 percent per annual net increase. In terms of numbers this means something like forty to fifty－five million additional people every year. Canada has a population of twenty million－rather less than six month's climb in world population. There are ten million people in Australia. So, it takes the world less than three months to add to itself a population. Let us take our own crowded country－England and Wales: forty－five to fifty million people－just about a year's supply.
By this time tomorrow, and every day, there will be added to the earth about 120,000 extra people－just about the population of the city of York.
Here I am not talking about birth rate. This is net increase. To give you some idea of birth rate, look at the seconds hand of your watch. Every second three babies are born somewhere in the world. Another baby! You cannot speak quickly enough to keep pace with the birth rate.
This enormous increase of population will create immense problems. By 2020 unless something desperate happens, there will be as many as seven billion people on the surface of the earth! So this is a problem which you are going to see in your lifetime.
1. According to the author, ________ is the most important in the world at the present time.
A. the quality of the increasing population
B. the actual population of the world
C. the rapidly increasing pressure of population
D. farming land is reducing at great speed
2. From the passage we know that the author is a(n) ________.
A. Canadian B. Australian
C. American D. Englishman
3. It takes ________ for the world to have a population of Australia.
A. about three months
B. about six months
C. one year
D. more than four months
4. According to the passage ________ babies are born on the earth per hour.
A. 180 B. 3 million
C. 120,000 D. 10,800
5. The author mentions the different populations of several countries in order to ________.
A. show how small those countries are
B. show how thickly those countries are populated
C. emphasize the low increase of the world population
D. emphasize the high rate of increase of world population
1. 解析：选C。细节理解题。从文章第一段可知，人口对土地及其资源的不断快速增长的压力为最重要的世界问题。
2. 解析：选D。推理判断题。由文章第二段最后一句“Let us take our own crowded country－England and Wales”意为“让我们说一下我们自己拥挤的国家——英格兰和威尔士”可知。
3. 解析：选A。细节理解题。由文章第二段倒数第二句“因此，地球上的人类花不到三个月的时间就可以增加一个澳大利亚的人口。”可知其中，“less than three months”与“about three months”意思相近。
4. 解析：选D。推理判断题。由文章第四段第四句“Every second three babies are born somewhere in the world”可推知，每小时有10,800个婴儿出生。
5. 解析：选D。推理判断题。作者以不同国家的人口为例来强调世界人口的高增长率。
社会现象类阅读概念：
这类文章通过写人记事来揭示文章的主题，显示其社会意义，一般采用顺序或倒叙来叙述。题目经常是一些细节问题。考查的方面可以是原因和其中引发的思考。
社会现象类阅读解题技巧：
这类文章通过写人记事来揭示文章的主题，显示其社会意义，一般采用顺序或倒叙来叙述。题目经常是一些细节问题。考查的方面可以是原因和其中引发的思考。阅读这类文章要理清思路。
1、浏览试题，明确要求。
在阅读文章前，最好先浏览一下文章后面的题干和选项。知道了问题后再去看文章，可使思路更敏捷，而且也便于阅读时留意文中出现的与选项有关的信息。
2、通读全文，抓住主要内容。
在不影响理解的前提下，尽可能地阅读以便在尽可能短的时间内理解文章或段落的内容。阅读时，如遇到不熟悉的单词、词组或一时看不懂的句子，不要停下来苦思冥想，继续读下去，通过上下文的词语和句子可能就理解了。
3、抓住中心思想和段落大意。
通读全文时，要特别注意主题句。每篇文章或每个段落都有与文章有关的句子，尤其是科技、政论性文章的主题句一般都在文章的开头或结尾，插在中间的很少。所以，文章的第一段或开头的第一、二个句子往往包含着文章的中心思想、作者的意图或全文的概述，因此要特别注意，彻底理解。
4、有针对性地仔细阅读，找寻所需信息。
在前面的基础上，可进行有针对性地阅读了。把与问题无关的内容一扫而过，而对于和问题有关的内容认真阅读，还可以用笔在下面做出记号。再把这些信息与问题的要求结合起来，逐条分析，综合判断，找出正确答案。
5、进行合理的推理判断。
对文章有了全面的了解之后，可以按照文章要求以及上下文之间的关系，做出推理判断。在进行推理判断的时候，需要综合考虑句型、语法、句子之间的逻辑关系、文化背景等方面的因素。
6、认真复读，验证答案。
要用全文的中心思想统帅各个题目，研究其内在联系和逻辑关系，并依次审核那些还未打上的题目，确保理解无误。
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