World population hits 8 billion全球人口突破80 億

羅躍梅

主題語境：世界人口 篇幅：308詞 建議用時：6分鐘

The worlds population was to reach 8 billion people on15 November， 2022， representing a“milestone in human de?velopment”before birth rates start to slow， according to a re?port from the United Nations.

In a statement， the UN said the figure meant 1 billionpeople had been added to the global population in just 12years.“This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual in?crease in human lifespan owing to improvements in publichealth， nutrition， personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistentlevels of fertility （生育力） in some countries，”the UN statement read.

Middle?income countries， mostly in Asia， accounted for most of the growth over the pastdecade， gaining some 700 million people since 2011. India added about 180 million peo?ple， and is set to surpass China as the worlds most populous nation in the near future.

But even while the global population reaches new highs， experts note the growth ratehas fallen steadily to less than 1% per year. This should keep the world from reaching 9 bil?lion people until 2037. The UN projects the global population will peak at around 10.4 bil?lion people in the 2080s and remain at that level until 2100. Most of the 2.4 billion peopleto be added before the global population peaks will be born in sub?Saharan Africa， accord?ing to the UN， marking a shift away from China and India.

Having more people on the Earth puts more pressure on nature， as people competewith wildlife for water， food and space. Meanwhile， rapid population growth combined withclimate change is also likely to cause mass migration and conflict in coming decades， ex?perts say.

Resource pressure will be especially daunting in African nations， where populationsare expected to boom， experts say. These are also among the countries most vulnerable toclimate impacts， and most in need of climate finance.

Reading

Check

1. The rapid world population growth has partly resulted from .

A. abundant food supply B. longer human lifespan

C. environmental improvement D. higher fertility worldwide

2. Which will be the biggest contributor to the world population growth by 2100？

A. India. B. China. C. Europe. D. Africa.

3. What does the author focus on in the last two paragraphs？

A. The trend of world population growth.

B. The various challenges facing Africa.

C. The consequences of overpopulation.

D. The way of dealing with climate change.

4. What does the underlined word“vulnerable”mean in the last paragraph？

A. Similar. B. Opposed. C. Connected. D. Sensitive.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Most of the 2.4 billion people to be added before the global population peaks will beborn in sub?Saharan Africa， according to the UN， marking a shift away from China and India.根據聯合國的數據，在全球人口達到高峰之前增加的24億人口中，大部分將出生在撒哈拉以南非洲，這標志著最高人口出生率從中國和印度的轉移。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句。before引導時間狀語從句；現在分詞短語marking a shift away from China and India 作伴隨狀語。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

due to 因為；由于

owing to 因為；由于

be set to 設定；確定；安排

compete with 同……競爭

be combined with 與……結合/聯合

in need of 需要