1998年Passage 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.

　　65. We can see from the available statistics that _____ .

　　[A] California was once the most thinly populated area in the whole US

　　[B] the top 10 states in growth rate of population were all located in the West

　　[C] cities with better climates benefited unanimously from migration

　　[D] Arizona ranked second of all states in its growth rate of population

　　[答案] D

　　[解題思路]

　　本文多次提到加利福尼亞州，但是并沒有說其是全美人口最少的州，因此可以首先排除A選項。文章倒數第五段中談到"Except for 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"(除了佛羅里達州和得克薩斯州外，處于人口增長率前10位的都是西部各州，共有750萬人--每平方英里約9個人)，可見B選項錯誤。C選項的表述則過于絕對，在文章中并沒有對應的信息。而文章倒數第五段也談到"Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 63.5 and 53.1 percent respectively"(內華達和亞利桑那是增長率最高的兩個州：其增長率分別為63.5%和53.1%)，D選項正好符合這句話的細節。

　　[題目譯文]

　　我們可以從已得到的數據中判斷 。

　　[A] 加利福尼亞以前曾經是全美國人口最少的地區

　　[B] 人口增長排前10名的州都在西部

　　[C] 氣候條件更好的州都從接納移民中獲益

　　[D] 亞利桑那州的人口增長率在所有的州中排名第二