英语听力精选进阶版 6292（在线收听）

It is official: there are now seven billion of us! This week baby Danica had hardly been brought to life in a Manila hospital's delivery room when she was awarded a Symbolic Seven Billionth Person certificate.

But there were claims in Russia and India of other newly-born babies being 'Citizen Seven Billion'.

The UN's population demographer, Gerhard Heilig, accepted that it is impossible to know accurately who carries the honour as the figures come with a 1-2% margin of error. But this is an important milestone.

The UN wanted to draw attention to the speed of population growth as it took less than 13 years for the Earth to welcome a billion more people.

And the organisation published a report that highlights the rise in average life expectancy and the fact that children are much less likely to die in infancy.

But it also mentions the challenges for a species with a high fertility rate living on a planet of limited resources and uneven development conditions. It points out that 200 million women have no access to family planning advice.

''Sex education has an impact in delaying the age at the first sexual intercourse, in increasing the use of contraception methods and condoms,'' says Gabriela Rivera from the UN's population agency.

Amid articles about population control measures, The Guardian, in Britain, invited its readers to send Danica a message. A comment signed by Faisal Al Mutar said: ''Having beaten out around 275 million other little spermatozoa you're already a winner!''

Quiz 小测验

1. Why has Danica become famous? 

Because she is considered the seven billionth person to live on Earth.

2. Why is it difficult to know who the seven billionth person is? 

Because the figures carry a 1-2% margin of error.

3. Why has the UN decided to talk about the number of people on Earth now? 

To point out the implications of a fast growing population.

4. What expression in the article refers to the first few hours of a baby's life? 

Newly-born.

5. Is this statement true, false or not given? Two hundred million women had babies when they didn't want to. 

It is not given. The article says that 200 million women had no access to family planning advice but it does not mean that they had unwanted babies.

Glossary 词汇表

brought to life 给以生命

delivery room 产房

newly-born 新生儿

demographer 人口统计学家

accurately 准确的

margin of error 误差

to draw attention to 引起注意，关注

population growth 人口增长

average 平均

in infancy 初期，婴儿期

resources 资源

fertility rate 受孕率

family planning advice 计划生育咨询

sex education 性教育

contraception methods 避孕措施

condoms 避孕套

population control 人口控制