A. Choose the best answer. Do not refer to the text.

The main idea of the text is that_____________. ( A )

(a) the world population depends on human being's decisions

(b) "population explosion" will occur in the future

(c) the number of children born depends on government resources

(d) modernity affects fertility greatly

B. Comprehending the text.

   Choose the best answer.

1. The prediction made in this article is that fifty years from now the world population ________. ( B )

(a) will keep rising

(b) will decline rapidly when it peaks at about eight billion

(c) will rise and decline alternately

(d) will have a zero growth when fertility reaches replacement rate

2. In the writer's opinion, _________________. ( B )

(a) the fear of population explosion is reasonable

(b) some experts' conclusion that population will stay level is not justified

(c) experts were wrong in saying that population won't continue rising

(d) death rate and birth rate are dependent of each other

3. The following statements except that ________ are false concerning the rapid increase in population in the past two centuries. ( C )

(a) the increase results from the rise of the average number of children born to each woman.

(b) the fertility rate has been rising as life expectancy has in modernizing societies 

(c) the fertility rate has been going down in modernizing countries or areas in contrast to the rising life expectancy.

(d) The fertility in the U.S. has always stayed slightly below replacement level.

4. The number of children born is generally determined by____________. ( B )

(a) national or the world population

(b) families' choices

(c) concern for the future

(d) replacement rate

5. What essentially affects human population is ______________. ( D )

(a) government polices

(b) biological imperatives

(c) disease and war

(d) modernity or human values 

6. If world fertility dropped by 1.5 births per woman, the world population would __________ in a long period of time. ( B )

(a) keep increasing by one percent a year

(b) begin to decrease by one percent a year

(c) remain stable

(d) keep growing by 2.1 percent a year

7. According to the article, if fertility rises above replacement rate, world population will _______________. ( A )

(a) grow

(b) fall

(c) go beyond control

(d) keep stable

8. The reasons why it takes a long time for lower fertility in modern societies to reduce the world population can be all of the following but _____________. ( B )

(a) fertility was much higher than replacement level at the initial stage

(b) children are considered financially productive in modern societies where time and money are valued high

(c) there still exist differences in economic development level

(d) people in different societies have different values

9. According to the article, people's values might vary and ____________. ( A )

(a) world population would change within a range

(b) fertility would remain the same

(c) there wouldn't be any overall trend of world population

(d) fertility would rise and fall greatly in a short time

10. What does the underlined part in the sentence mean, "The result would be big swings in world population"? ( C )

(a) Great surprise.

(b) Tremendous rise.

(c) Noticeable changes.

(d) Sudden decline.

C. Understanding vocabulary.

   Choose the correct definition according to the context.

1. The evidence now indicates that within fifty years or so world population will peak at about eight billion before starting a fairly rapid decline. ( B )

(a) decline

(b) achieve its maximum of development

(c) flourish

(d) become stable

2. As long ago as September of 1974 Scientific American published a special issue on population that described what demographers had begun calling the "demographic transition" from traditional high rates of birth and death to the low ones of modern society. ( A )

(a) change

(b) transport

(c) studies

(d) transcendence

3. If the patterns of the past century don't change radically, it will head into negative numbers.
( A )

(a) fundamentally

(b) moderately

(c) slightly

(d) simultaneously

4. Population change is too slow and remote for people to feel in their lives—even if the total population were to double or halve in only a century. ( A )

(a) lesson by one half

(b) increase by three times

(c) stop increasing

(d) increase by one half

5. This is true in Western and in Eastern countries, in Catholic and in secular societies. ( B )

(a) worldly

(b) not religious

(c) safe

(d) undeveloped

6. Nobody can say whether world population will ever dwindle to very low numbers. ( A )

(a) decrease

(b) twist

(c) dwell

(d) change

7. Values, not biological imperatives, are the unfathomable variable in population predictions. ( C )

(a) fixed

(b) predictable

(c) unmeasurable

(d) unstable

8. Presumably fertility could someday increase just as quickly as it has declined in recent decades .( D )

(a) Believably

(b) Certainly

(c) Generally

(d) Probably

9. If the average fertility rate were to take a long time to move from well below to well above replacement rate and back again, trends in world population could go a long way before they reversed themselves. ( C )

(a) revoked

(b) supported

(c) inverted

(d) improved

D. Discussing the following topics.

1. It's been often assumed that the world population is increasing beyond the earth's capacity, but the view in the article is just the opposite. Why does the writer make such a hypothesis? Are you persuaded to follow this view? Why?

2. What do you think of the relation between human values and population?