About three hundred years ago, there were approximately half a billion people in the world. In the two centuries that followed the population doubled, and, by 1850, there were more than a billion people in the world. It took only 75 years for the figure to double once more, so that now the population figure stands at approximately six and one half billion. Each day the population of the world increases by about 150,000.

In former centuries the population grew slowly. Famines, wars, and epidemics, such as the plague and cholera, killed many people. Today, although the birth rate has not changed significantly, the death rate has been lowered considerably by various kinds of progress.

Machinery has made it possible to produce more and more food in vast areas, such as the plains of America and Russia. Crops have increased almost everywhere and people are growing more and more food. New forms of food preservation have also been developed so that food need not be eaten as soon as it has grown. Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables can be dried, tinned or frozen, then stored for later use.

Improvement in communications and transportation has made it possible to send more food from the place where it is produced to other places where it is needed. This has helped reduce the number of famines.

Generally speaking, people live in conditions of greater security. Practices such as the slave trade, which caused many useless deaths, have been stopped.Progress in medicine and hygiene has made it possible for people to live longer. People in Europe and North America live, on the average, twice as long as they did a hundred years ago. In other countries, too, people generally live much longer than they once did. Babies, especially, have a far better chance of growing up because of increased protection against infant disease. However, all countries do not benefit to the same degree from this program in medicine and hygiene.

26. came after (Para. 1)

27. a particular amount expressed as a number (Para. 1)

28. conditions of extreme scarcity of food (Para. 2)

29. many different (Para. 2)

30. large areas of flat dry land (Para. 3)

31. preparation of food to resist decay (Para. 3)

32. a means of carrying goods from one place to another (Para. 4)

33. the state of being safe (Para. 5)

34. a baby or a very young child (Para. 6)

35. to receive something intended to help (Para. 6)

Excellencies, you are the United Nations. (46. The staff who were killed and injured in the attack on our Baghdad headquarters were your staff. You had given them a mandate to assist the suffering Iraq people, and to help Iraqi recover its national sovereignty. )

In future, not only in Iraq but also wherever the United Nations is engaged, we must take more effective measures to protect the security of our staff. I count on your full support —legal, political and financial.

(47. Meanwhile, let me reaffirm the great importance I attach to a successful outcome in Iraq, Whatever view each of us may take of the events of recent months, it is vital for all of us that the outcome is a stable and democratic Iraq. at peace with itself and with its neighbors. and contributing to stability in the region. ) In that context I deplore as I am sure you all do-the brutal attempt on the life of Dr. Akila al-Hashemi, a member of the Governing Council, and I pray for her full recovery, too.

Subject to security considerations, the United Nations system is prepared to play its full part in working for a satisfactory outcome in Iraq, and to do so as part of an effort by the whole international community, pulling together on the basis of a sound and viable policy. (48. If it takes extra time and patience to make a policy that is collective. coherent and workable, then I for one would regard that-time as well spent, Indeed, this is how we must approach all the many pressing crises that confront us today. )

Excellencies, three years ago, when you came here for the Millennium Summit, we had a shared vision of global solidarity and collective security, expressed in the Millennium Declaration.

But recent events have called that consensus in question. (49. All of us know here are new threats that must be faced - or. perhaps, old threats in new and dangerous combinations: new forms of terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. )

But, while some consider these threats as self-evidently the main challenge to world peace and security, others feel more immediately threatened by small arms employed in civil conflict, or by so-called “soft threats”such as the persistence of extreme poverty, the disparity of income between and within societies, the spread of infectious diseases, or climate change and environmental degradation.But, while some consider these threats as self-evidently the main challenge to world peace and security, others feel more immediately threatened by small arms employed in civil conflict, or by so-called “soft threats” such as the persistence of extreme poverty, the disparity of income between and within societies, the spread of infectious diseases, or climate change and environmental degradation.

In truth, we do not have to choose. The United Nations must confront all these threats and challenges - new and old,“hard”and“soft". It must be fully engaged in the struggle for development and poverty eradication, starting with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; in the struggle to protect our common environment; and in the struggle for human rights, democracy and good governance. (50. In fact. all these struggles are linked. We now see, with chilling clarity, that a world where many millions of people endure brutal oppression and extreme misery will never be fully secure, even for its most privileged inhabitants.)

Yet the“hard"" threats, such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, are real, and cannot be ignored.

Paragraph Ten

Usually a combination of causes produces a result. People need to distinguish between necessary and sufficient conditions. Air is a necessary condition for the maintenance of plant life, but air alone is not sufficient to produce plant life. Different causes at different times may produce the same result.

Many causes may l______ to the same result.

Paragraph Nine

All arts are one in the sense that everyone is in some measure an artist, even though he may shy away from art galleries and exhibits. Daily we express our artistic taste in our choice of clothing, household, furniture, costume, jewelry, flowers, CDs, radio and TV programs and movies.

Everybody has the p______. to appreciate arts.

Paragraph Seven

Opponents of strict gun controls argue that the right to own firearms is guaranteed by the US Constitution. They recognize that a gun, after all, is a lifeless object incapable of acting on its own. The fault lies with the people who misuse it - the criminals. Violence will be reduced only if we restrict those who pull the trigger.

Opponents d_____ the right to own guns.

Paragraph Six

Kerri Miller was a top student and athlete at her college. But after she fell in love with a man who offered her some cocaine, something went wrong completely. She became dependent on it. As she entered her second year of drug use, she began losing weight. Her nose had begun to bleed. She even had difficulty breathing.

Drug use totally destroyed her h_______

Paragraph Eight

All types of men now on earth have a common origin. All men belong to one great family: though long, long ago there was separation into groups, and the groups moved outward from their center or centers, and a gradual development of different types (which we now call races) took place.

The s_____ and growth of human races.

Paragraph Three

No matter how vicious a man may be, there is always in him a part of our common humanity. All people are reachable somewhere and, if you can control your own fear, something in the very danger itself will tell you how to act.

The necessity to o_____ fear when dealing with an evil person.

Paragraph Five

The education of the mind is not a mere question of remembering facts which someone else gives us. In fact, the mind should conduct its own education to a better extent. It cannot do this unless it analytically thinks for itself. A mind that does not reason is comparatively useless.

An educated mind does m_____ than remembering given facts.

Paragraph Four

Naturalization in the UK requires five years' residence or three years if the applicant's spouse is a Briton. Other conditions include good behavior and sound mind. Those who are not married to a Briton are also required to have a sufficient knowledge of English. They must also intend to have their main home in Britain.

R_____ for acquiring British citizenship.

Paragraph One

The frightened feeling of getting cancer is catching. The earth itself is coming to seem like a huge substance which can cause cancer. The statement that something between 80 to 90 percent of all cancers is due to the things in the environment is taken to mean that none of us will be safe until the whole environment is“cleaned up”.

People's f____ of getting cancer.