Growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained the planets ecosystems over the past half century, a trend that threatens international efforts to combat poverty and disease, a U. N. -sponsored study of the Earths health warned on Wednesday. The four-year, $ 24 million Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found humans have caused heavy damage to the worlds farmlands, forests and watercourses. Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests, fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks over the next 50 years, it warned. The study was compiled by 1 360 scientists from 95 nations who pored over 16 000 satellite photos from the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and analyzed statistics and scientific journals. Their findings highlight the planets problems at the end of the 20th century, as the human population reached 6 billion. Conservation groups called on governments, businesses and individuals to heed the studys warnings.

The world's exploding population signals even more growing pains ahead for already crowded areas. A new United Nations study forecasts that by the year 2000,2 billion persons will be added to the 4.4 billion in the world today.

Even more troubling than the increasing number of inhabitants are the projections of where they will be concentrated. The study by Rafael M. Solos, executive director of the U. N. Fund for Population Activities, notes that by the year 2000:

Nearly 80 percent of all people will live in less developed countries, many hard pressed to support their present populations. That compares with 70 percent today.

In many of these Third World lands metropolises (大城市) will become centers of concentrated urban poverty because of a flood of migration from rural areas.

The bulging(膨脹的) centers mainly in Asia and Latin America, will increasingly become fertile fields for social unrest. More young residents of the urban clusters(一群) will be better educated, unemployed and demanding of a better lifestyle.

To slow the rush to urban centers, countries will have to vastly expand opportunities in the country side, the study suggests. Solos says: "The solution to the urban problem lies as much in the rural areas as in the cities themselves."

Worldwide, the numer of large cities ,will multiply. Now 26 cities have 5 million or more residents each and a combined population of 252 million. By the end of the decade, the number will escalate to 60. with an estimated total of almost 650 million people.

In the last paragraph, the word "escalate" means ______.

A．decrease

B．increase

C．go down

D．decline

What is the news item mainly about?

A．Experts analysis of the manufacturing activity in U.S.

B．The stock market"s response to U.S. economy.

C．The relationship between manufacturing and economy.

D．The growing of U.S. manufacturing and the different reactions.

Why has the growing population of young people caused the changes in museums?

A．Because they are wealthy.

B．Because they are stronger.

C．Because they have more spare time.

D．Because they are better educated.

Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Growing population.

B．Food shortage.

C．Human illness.

D．Extinction of some species.

Music to My Ears

As a boy growing up in Shenyang, China, I practiced the piano six hours a day. I loved the instrument. My mother, Xiulan Zhou, taught me to read notes, and my father, Guoren Lang, concertmaster of a local folk orchestra, showed me how to control the keys. At first I played on Chinese keyboards-cheap, but the best we could afford. Later my parents bought me a Swedish piano, but I broke half the strings on it Playing Tchaikovsky (柴科夫斯基). That's when my parents and my teacher decided I was too much for such an instrument—and for our hometown. To be a serious musician, I would have to move to Beijing, one of our cultural capitals. I was just eight years old then.

My father, who played the erhu, a two-stringed instrument, knew that life wouldn't be easy. Millions of pianists in China were competing for fame. "You need fortune," my father said. "If you don't work, no fortune comes." "But music is still music," he added, "and it exists to make us happy."

To relocate to Beijing with me, he made a great sacrifice. He quit his concertmaster's job, which he loved, and my mother stayed behind in Shenyang to keep working at her job at the science institute to support us. They both warned me, "Being a pianist is hard. Can you live without your mother?" I said, "I want my mother!" But I knew I needed to be in Beijing. In America, people often move and start over. But it is not in China, not in those days.

Suddenly my father and I were newcomers—outsiders. To the others around us, we spoke with funny northern accents. The only apartment we could find for the money we had was in an unheated building, with five families sharing one bathroom. My father cooked, cleaned and looked after me. He became a "house-husband", basically.

We lived far from my school, and since the bus was too expensive, my father would "drive" me on his bicycle every day. It was an hour-and-a-half trip each way, and I was a heavy boy, much heavier than I am as an adult. He did this in winter too. Imagine! During the coldest nights, when I practiced piano, my father would lie in my bed so it would be warm when I was tired.

I was miserable, but not from the poverty or pressure. My new teacher in Beijing didn't like me. "You have no talent," she often told me. "You will never be a pianist." And one day. she "fired" me.

I was just nine years old. I was desperate. I didn't want to be a pianist anymore, I decided. I wanted to go home to be with my mother. In the next two weeks I didn't touch the piano. Wisely, my father didn't push. He just waited.

Sure enough, the day came at school when my teacher asked me to play some holiday songs. I didn't want to, but as I placed my fingers on the piano's keys, I realized I could show other people that I had talent after all.

That day I told my father what he'd been waiting to hear—that I wanted to study with a new teacher. From that point on, everything turned around.

When Fortune Spots You

I started winning competitions. We still had very little money-my father had to borrow $ 5 000 to pay for a trip to the International Young Pianists Competition in Ettlingen, Germany, in 1994, when I was 12. I realized later how much pressure he was under as I watched footage (電影膠片) of the contest. Tears streamed down his face when it was announced that I'd won—earning enough money to pay back our loan.

It was soon clear I couldn't stay in China forever. To become a world-class musician, I had to play on the world's bigger stages. So in 1997, my father and I moved again, this time to Philadelphia, so I could attend The Curtis Institute of Music. Finally our money worries were easing. The school paid for us an apartment and even lent me a Steinway (斯坦威鋼琴). At night, I would sneak into the living room just to touch the keys.

Now that I was in Ame

A．His mother.

B．His father.

C．His uncle.

D．His kindergarten teacher.

The best title for this piece of news can be ______.

A．American Census

B．Growing population

C．200-Year Flight

D．Crowded Towns