We know almost half the world is urban(都市的) now – but what will our world look like in the year 2100? It took about a million years for the global human population to come up to 1 billion in 1800. In the next 200 years, it came up to 6 billion, and it will take only about 20 more years to add another billion. By 2100, the United Nations estimates that the global population will attain more than 10 billion. By the end of 2008, slightly less than 50 percent of the global population lived in cities. If economic development proceeds at today’s pace, over the next century or so it is highly likely that 8 billion people will live in urban centers, up from today’s roughly 3.3 billion. Yes, the world will indeed be able to hold so many people. The major reason is urbanization(城市化). There will be many more new cities in the year 2100, and some of today’s large cities will become super cities, including Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and so on. At the same time, recent advances in agriculture, energy, and water technologies suggest that human creations will keep up with population growth. Rural areas will return to an agrarian (农业的)centre to feed the growing cities. Languages will drop from the current 7,000 across the globe to less than a few hundred. English will be the primary language of the world. As we compress(压缩) people into the urban center, and as we leave behind the rural areas to feed us – will we really live a happy life at that time? We will have to live together in large buildings in cities and save on energy and services delivery cost. There will be few chances for us to get close to nature. We really need to think about the effect of the things we have done and are doing now! 1. The underlined word “attain” in the second paragraph probably has the same meaning as “________” A. increase B. gain C. reach D. limit 2. With the development of urbanization, people in 2100 will have to . A. stay in urban areas and have no chance to get close to nature B. develop industry rather than agriculture to create job opportunities C. live a poor and unhappy life because there will be less energy to use. D. make more creations in agriculture, energy, and water technologies 3. What is the author’s attitude towards urbanization? A. supportive B. disappointed C. surprised D. worried 4. What is the best title for this passage? A. Global urbanization in the year 2100 B. The primary language in the future C. Reasons for the rapid increase of population D. The development of agriculture in 2100 |