考研英語閱讀理解命題思路透析和真題揭秘(32)

1998年P(guān)assage 4

Emerging from the 1980 census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional competition, as population growth in the Northeast and Midwest reaches a near standstill.

This development - and its strong implications for US politics and economy in years ahead - has enthroned the South as America's most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation's head counting.

Altogether, the US population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people - numerically the third largest growth ever recorded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years.

Americans have been migrating south and west in larger number since World War II, and the pattern still prevails.

Three sun belt states - Florida, Texas and California - together had nearly 10 million more people in 1980 than a decade earlier. Among large cities, San Diego moved from 14th to 8th and San Antonio from 15th to 10th - with Cleveland and Washington.DC, dropping out of the top 10.

Not all that shift can be attributed to the movement out of the snow belt, census officials say, Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too - and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday's "baby boom" generation reached its child bearing years.

Moreover, demographers see the continuing shift south and west as joined by a related but newer phenomenon: More and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too. Some instances-

● Regionally, the Rocky Mountain states reported the most rapid growth rate - 37.1 percent since 1970 in a vast area with only 5 percent of the US population.

●Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 63.5 and 53.1 percent respectively. Except fro Florida and Texas, the top 10 in rate of growth is composed of Western states with 7.5 million people - about 9 per square mile.

The flight from overcrowdedness affects the migration from snow belt to more bearable climates.

Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West. There, California added 3.7 million to its population in the 1970s, more than any other state.

In that decade, however, large numbers also migrated from California, mostly to other parts of the West. Often they chose - and still are choosing - somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog, crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State. 

As a result, California's growth rate dropped during the 1970s, to 18.5 percent - little more than two thirds the 1960s' growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.

63. Discerned from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, America in 1970s _____.
[A] enjoyed the lowest net growth of population in history
[B] witnessed a southwestern shift of population
[C] underwent an unparalleled period of population growth
[D] brought to a standstill its pattern of migration since World War II

[答案] B

[解題思路]

本題可采用排除法。首先，第三段最后一句話指出"Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years"（即使如此，人口總數(shù)也只增加了11.4％，除了大蕭條時期，這是美國最低的年度增長率），因此A選項是錯誤的，可以排除。C選項在文章中沒有提及。而文章第四段指出"Americans have been migrating south and west in larger number since World War II, and the pattern still prevails"（自從第二次世界大戰(zhàn)以來，美國人口一直大量向南部和西部遷移，而且至今這種趨勢仍然盛行），D選項的表述與原文相反，因而也是錯誤的。而A選項符合上面的第四段話的信息，因而是正確答案。

[題目譯文]

1980年人口普查后提供的令人費解的描述中，20世紀(jì)70年代的美國            。
[A] 經(jīng)歷了歷史上最低的人口凈增長
[B] 見證了人口向該國西南部分的遷移
[C] 經(jīng)歷了一個無可比擬的人口增長期
[D] 終結(jié)了二戰(zhàn)以來的遷移模式

64. The census distinguished itself from previous studies on population movement in that _____ .
[A] it stresses the climatic influence on population distribution
[B] it highlights the contribution of continuous waves of immigrants
[C] it reveals the Americans' new pursuit of spacious living
[D] it elaborates the delayed effects of yesterday's "baby boom"

[答案] C

[解題思路]

文章第七段明確指出"demographers see the continuing shift south and west as joined by a related but newer phenomenon: More and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too"（人口統(tǒng)計學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，向南部和西部的不斷遷移還伴隨著一種與此相關(guān)卻又與以往不同的現(xiàn)象：越來越多的美國人顯然不再僅僅尋找有更多就業(yè)機會的地方，他們也在尋找人口稀少的地方），因此C選項符合原文的意思。文章中并沒有強調(diào)天氣和移民潮的貢獻，因此A和B選項比較容易排除。此外，雖然文章提到了baby boom，但是這并不是作者主要討論的話題，作者只是順帶而過，并沒有"elaborate"。

[題目譯文]

這次人口普查與之前的人口流動研究的區(qū)別在于           。
[A] 它強調(diào)氣候?qū)θ丝诜植嫉挠绊?BR>[B] 它強調(diào)不斷的移民潮的貢獻所在
[C] 它揭示了美國人對于寬敞住房的新追求
[D] 它詳盡闡述了過去"嬰兒潮"的滯后影響

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