英语听力精选进阶版 13321

Countdown to seven billionth baby

24 October 2011

Today begins the one-week countdown to 31st October when the world population is predicted to reach seven billion.

That's a rise of two billion in less than a quarter century.

Reporter:

Barbara Plett

New born baby 

October 31st will welcome the seven billionth member of the human race

Report

Seven days from now the world's seven billionth baby will be born. That's according to the UN's projections¹, and it's using the milestone² to take stock of trends in population growth.

The big question is how long the planet can continue to satisfy the voracious³ appetite of its growing number of human inhabitants.

In fact, over the past six decades, the global fertility rate has been cut in half. Statistically⁴ from five children per woman to 2.5. But 78 million babies are still being born every year, almost all of them in developing countries.

The UN says women in these countries are having so many babies because of poverty, lack of education, income and access to birth control.

Not only that, they and their children face a high risk of poor health, and early death. So the UN is highlighting the need to boost education and employment opportunities for poor women: in other words, address the poverty, and the demography⁵ will look after itself, as it did in Europe.

Barbara Plett, BBC News, New York

1 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

2 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

3 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

4 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

5 demography   

n.人口统计，人口学

参考例句：

• Demography is the analysis of population variables.人口学是对人口变量的分析。
• It was once a rule of demography that people have fewer children as their countries get richer.按人口统计学的一贯规律，一个国家里的人民越富有，他们所拥有的孩子就越少。