According to this passage， in the early part of 20th century， Italy was an __________.

材料

A.families often become larger

B.the birth rate generally goes down

C.women usually decide not have a family

D.the population generally grows rapidly

Why So Many Children

In many of the developing countries in Africa and Asia， the population is growing fast. The reason for this is simple : Women in these countries have a high birth rate——from 3.0 to 7.0 children per woman. The majority of these women are poor， without the food or resources to care for their families. Why do they have so many children? Why don"t they limit the size of their fami-lies? The answer may be that they often have no choice. There are several reasons for this.

One reason is economic. In a traditional agricultural economy， large families are helpful. Having more children means having more workers in the fields and someone to take care of the parents in old age. In an industrial economy， the situation is different. Many children do not help a family; instead， they are an expense. Thus， industrialization has generally brought down the birth rate. This was the case in Italy， which was industrialized quite recently and rapidly. In the early part of the twentieth century， Italy was a poor， largely agricultural country with a high birth rate. After World War Ⅱ， Italy"s economy was rapidly modernized and industrialized. By the end of the century. the birth rate had dropped to 1.3 children per woman， the world"s lowest.

However， the economy is not the only important factor that influences birth rate. Saudi Ara-bia， for example， does not have an agriculture-based economy， and it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Nevertheless， it also has a very high birth rate （7.0）. Mexico and Indonesia， on the other hand， are poor countries， with largely agricultural economies， but they have recently reduced their population growth.

Clearly， other factors are involved. The most important of these is the condition of women. A high birth rate almost always goes together with lack of education and low status for women. This would explain the high birth rate of Saudi Arabia. There， the traditional culture gives women little education or independence and few possibilities outside the home. On the other hand， the improyed condition of women in Mexico， Thailand， and Indonesia explains the decline in birth rates in these countries. Their governments have taken measures to provide more education and oppor-tunities for women.

Another key factor in the birth rate is birth control. Women may want to limit their families but have no way to do so. In countries where governments have made birth control easily available and inexpensive， birth rates have gone down. This is the case in Singapore， Sri Lanka， and India， as well as in Indonesia， Thailand， Mexico， and Brazil. In these countries， women have also been provided with health care and help in planning their families.

These trends show that an effective program to reduce population growth does not have to depend on better economic conditions. It can be effective if it aims to help women and meet their needs. Only then， in fact， does it have any real chance of success.

In a traditional agricultural economy， a large family __________. 查看材料

A.can be an advantage

B.may limit income

C.isn"t necessary

D.is expensive

材料

A.Talking with your mouth full.

B.Putting bones on your plate.

C.Putting your elbows on the table.

D.Chewing with your month open.

All of the following are finger foods except 查看材料

A.soup

B.sandwiches

C.cookies

D.hamburgers

Which utensil is used first? 查看材料

A.The knife.

B.The fork.

C.The spoon.

D.The one furthest from the plate.

The napkin is used only for __________. 查看材料

A.your forehead

B.your mouth

C.your nose

D.your face

）第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。

Keeping Cut Flowers

1 While everybody enjoys fresh cut flowers around his/her house， few people know how to keep them for as long as possible. This may be done by keeping in mind a few simple facts.

2 An important thing to remember about cut flowers is that they are sensitive to temperature. For example， studies have shown that cut carnations （康乃馨） retain their freshness eight times lon-ger when kept at 12℃ than when kept at 26℃. Keeping freshly harvested flowers at the right tem- peratures is probably the most important aspect of flower care.

3 Flowers are not intended by nature to live very long. Their biological purpose is simply to at-tract birds or insects， such as bees， for pollination （授粉）. After that， they quickly dry up and die. The process by which flowers consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide （二氧化碳）. called respiration （呼吸）， generates the energy the flower needs to give the flower its shape and color. The making of seeds also depends on this energy. While all living things respire， flowers have a high level of respiration. A result of all this respiration is heat， and for flowers the level ot heat relative to the mass of the flower is very high. Respiration also brings about the eventualdeath of the flower. Thus the greater the level of respiration， the sooner the flower dies.

4 How， then， to control the rate at which flowers die? By controlling respiration. How is respi-ration controlled? By controlling temperature. We know that respiration produces heat， but the re-verse（相反的过程） is also true. Thus by maintaining low temperatures， respiration is reduced and the cut flower will age more slowly.

5 Another vital factor in keeping cut flowers is the quality of the water in which they are placed. Flowers find it difficult to "drink" water that is dirty or otherwise polluted. Even when water looks and smells clean， it almost certainly contains harmful substances that can endanger the flowers.

To rid the water of these unwanted substances， household chlorine bleach （漂白剂） can be used in small quantities. It is recommended that 15 drops of chlorine bleach （at 4% solution） be add-ed to each litre of water. The water and solution should also be replaced each day.

Paragraph 2 ___________. 查看材料

A.Control of Respiration

B.Beauty of Fresh Cut Flowers

C.Role of Respiration

D.Most Important Aspect of Flower Care

E.Need for Clean Water

F.Ways of Stopping Respiration

正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B；如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

What are special effects? Do you enjoy movies that use a lot of special effects Dinosaurs（ 恐龙） from the distant past! Space battles from the distant future! There has been a revolution inspecial effects， and it has transformed the movies we see.

The revolution began in the mid 1970s with George Lucas"s Star Wars， a film that stunned（使震惊） audiences. That revolution continues to the present， with dramatic changes in special-effects technology.

The company behind these changes is Lucas"s Industrial Light & Magic（ILM）. And the man behind the company is Dennis Muren， who has worked with Lucas since Star Wars.

Muren"s interest in special effects began very early. At the age of 6， he was photographing toy dinosaurs and spaceships. At 10， he had an 8 millimeter movie camera and was making these things move through stop-motion. （Stop-motion is a process in which objects are shot with a camera， moved slightly， shot again， and so on. When the shots are put together， the objects appear to move. ）

Talk to Muren and you"ll understand what ILM is all about: taking on new challenges. By 1989， Muren decided he had pushed the old technology as far as it would go.

He saw computer graphics （图像） （CG） technology as the wave of the future and took a year off to master it.

With CG technology， images can be scanned into a computer for processing， for example，and many separate shots can be combined into a single image. CG technology has now reached the point， Muren says， where special effects can be used to do just about anything so that movies can tell stories better than ever before. The huge success of Jurassic Park and its sequel （续集）， The Lost World， the stars of which were computer-generated dinosaurs， suggests that this may very well be true.

The special-effects revolution began in the mid 1970s with Star Wars. 查看材料

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned

Tom searched his pockets looking for the keys.

A.went on

B.was after

C.went through

D.cleared up

I had neither time nor inclination to hear about the afflicted cow.

A.energy

B.patience

C.dullness

D.interest