Exercise 1. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to check your answers when appropriate.
Population
A very important world problem, if not the most serious of all the great world problems which affect us at the moment, is the increasing number of people who actually inhabit this planet. The limited amount of land and land resources will soon be unable to support the huge population if it continues to grow at its present rate.
In an early survey conducted in 1888, a billion and a half people inhabited the earth. Now, the population exceeds five billion and is growing fast – by the staggering figure of 90 million in 1988 alone. This means that the world must accommodate a new population roughly equal to that of the United States and Canada every three years! Even though the rate of growth has begun to slow down, most experts believe the population size will still pass eight billion during the next 50 years.
So why is this huge increase in population taking place? It is really due to the spread of the knowledge and practice of what is becoming known as "Death Control". You have no doubt heard of the term "Birth Control" – "Death Control" is something rather different. It recognizes the work of the doctors and scientists who now keep alive people who, not very long ago, would have died of a variety of then incurable diseases. Through a wide variety of technological innovations that include farming methods and sanitation, as well as the control of these deadly diseases, we have found ways to reduce the rate at which we die – creating a population explosion. We used to think that reaching seventy years old was a remarkable achievement, but now eighty or even ninety is becoming recognized as the normal life-span for humans. In a sense, this represents a tremendous achievement for our species. Biologically this is the very definition of success and we have undoubtedly become the dominant animal on the planet. However, this success is the very cause of the greatest threat to mankind.
If we examine the amount of land available for this ever-increasing population, we begin to see the problem. If everyone on the planet had an equal share of land, we would each have about 50,000 square metres. This figure seems to be quite encouraging until we examine the type of land we would have. Not all land is useful to humans as it cannot produce food. We can cut out about one fifth of it because it is permanently covered by snow and ice. Then we can cut out another fifth because it is desert. Another fifth is too mountainous or is too great a height above sea-level. A tenth doesn't have enough soil for crops to grow – it is bare rock. Now the position begins to look rather more bleak!
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Obviously, with so little land to support us, we should be taking great care not to reduce it further. But are we? Mankind seems to be unable to accept that we live on a finite planet – we act as if its resources were infinite. Because of overpopulation and over-consumption, humanity is incapable of supporting itself on its "income" – the energy arriving continuously from the sun. Instead, we are consuming its "capital" – its nonrenewable fossil fuels and other mineral deposits that took millions of years to form but which are now being destroyed in decades. We are also doing the same with other vital resources not usually thought of as being nonrenewable such as fertile soils, groundwater and the millions of other species that share earth with us.
Man is constantly destroying the very resources which keep him alive. He is destroying the balance of nature which regulates climate and the atmosphere, produces and maintains healthy soils, provides food from the seas, etc. In short, by only considering our needs of today, we are ensuring there will be no tomorrow.
An understanding of man's effect on the balance of nature is crucial to be able to find the appropriate remedial action. It is a very common belief that the problems of the population explosion are caused mainly by poor people living in poor countries who do not know enough to limit their reproduction. This is not true. The actual number of people in an area is not as important as the effect they have on nature. Developing countries do have an effect on their environment, but it is the populations of richer countries that have a far greater impact on the earth as a whole.
The birth of a baby in, for example, Hong Kong, imposes more than a hundred times the amount of stress on the world's resources as a baby in India. Most people in India do not grow up to own cars or air-conditioners – nor do they eat the huge amount of meat and fish that the Hong Kong child does. Their life-styles do not require vast quantities of minerals and energy. Also, they are aware of the requirements of the land around them and try to put something back into nature to replace what they take out. The Hong Kong person simply takes without any thought as to what effect he is having on nature.
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For example, tropical forests are known to be essential to the balance of nature yet we are destroying them at an incredible rate. They are being cleared not to benefit the natives of that country, but to satisfy the needs of richer countries. Central American forests are being destroyed for pastureland to make pet food in the United States cheaper; in Papua New Guinea, forests are destroyed to supply cheaper cardboard packaging for Japanese electronic products; in Burma and Thailand, forests have been destroyed to produce more attractive furniture in Singapore and Hong Kong. Therefore, a rich person living thousands of miles away may cause more tropical forest destruction than a poor person living in the forest itself.
In short then, it is everybody's duty to safeguard the future of mankind – not only through population control, but by being more aware of the effect his actions have on nature. Nature is both fragile and powerful. It is very easily destroyed; on the other hand, it can so easily destroy its most aggressive enemy – man.
1. From the information given in paragraph 2, the combined population of the US and Canada is:
a) a staggering 90 million;
b) exactly 270 million;
c) about 90 million;
d) approximately 270 million.
2. The main purpose of paragraph 2 is:
a) to put forward the argument that world population has to be reduced;
b) to give a brief history of the growth in world population;
c) to emphasise how quickly the world population is rising;
d) to stress how large the world population is now.
3. In paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT given as a reason for a reduction in death rates:
a) new inventions;
b) better hygiene;
c) improved food production;
d) better control of fatal diseases.
4. Which of the following is closest in meaning to "eighty or even ninety ... normal life-span for humans"?
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a) on average, people now live to be over eighty;
b) we should recognise that people now live to between eighty and ninety on average;
c) nowadays it isn't normal for people to die younger than eighty;
d) average life expectancy is increasingly being considered to be eighty or more.
5. According to paragraph 4, how much per person of the earth's surface can be used to produce food?
a) 25000 square metres;
b) 15000 square metres;
c) 2500 square metres;
d) 5000 square metres.
6. In paragraph 9, the writer claims it is commonly believed that:
a) people from poor countries produce too many goods;
b) poor people in undeveloped countries have too many children;
c) in undeveloped countries, poor people cannot reproduce enough;
d) there are too many poor and uneducated people in some parts of the world.
7. The writer's main purpose in paragraph 8 is to argue that:
a) people in developed countries generally have more impact on nature than others;
b) Hong Kong children are generally better off than children born in India;
c) Hong Kong children consume too much of the world's resources;
d) people from some countries are more selfish than others in their consumption of resources.
8. Based on information in the passage, which of the following would the writer probably recommend:
a) increasing food and industrial production, and encouraging people in undeveloped countries to have fewer children;
b) improving education about the environment and banning the export of wood products from poor to rich countries;
c) encouraging people worldwide to have fewer children and to behave in a more responsible way towards nature;
d) restricting population worldwide and increasing the use of nonrenewable resources.
9. Which of the following does "Their" refer to in line 66?
a) babies in India;
b) babies in Hong Kong;
c) cars and air-conditioners;
d) the world's resources.
10. Which of the following could replace "on the other hand" (line 84) without changing the meaning:
a) besides;
b) furthermore;
c) while;
d) however.
11. What does "it" refer to in line 4?
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a) important world problem;
b) increasing number;
c) limited amount of land;
d) huge population.
12. Which of the following could replace "yet" (line 72) without changing the meaning of the sentence:
a) but;
b) still;
c) and;
d) since.
13. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the last sentence of paragraph 4:
a) the amount of productive land available is falling;
b) the situation now looks more serious;
c) the situation is becoming dangerous;
d) the position is changeable.
14. "Pastureland" (line 75) means the same as:
a) land for crops;
b) forest products;
c) land where animals can feed;
d) areas for building factories.
15. "crucial" (line 54) means the same as:
a) essential;
b) probably important;
c) quite important;
d) useful.
16. "this is the very definition of success" (line 25) refers to:
a) increasing life span to 80 or 90 years;
b) reaching 70 years old;
c) having a normal life span;
d) technological innovations.
PART 3. PRACTICE YOUR VOCABULARY
AND USE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS
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