现代大学英语 精读3

Technological development is one driver of change. There is another: the sheer numbers of people who are now on the planet. 技术发展是变革的驱动力之一。还有另一个因素：如今生活在这个星球上的人口数量本身。 We are by far the largest population of people that has ever lived on the planet at the same time. 我们无疑是同时生活在这个星球上的有史以来最庞大的人口群体。 In the middle of the eighteenth century, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there were just 1 billion people on earth. 十八世纪中叶，工业革命初期，地球上只有十亿人。 In 1930, there were 2 billion. It took all of human history until about 1800 for the population to reach the first billion. 到1930年，有二十亿。人类花了全部历史，直到大约1800年，人口才达到第一个十亿。 It took only 30 years to add the third in 1960, 14 years to add the fourth in 1974, and 13 years to add the fifth in 1987. 而增加第三个十亿只用了30年（1960年），第四个用了14年（1974年），第五个只用了13年（1987年）。 By the night of the millennium celebrations in December 1999, the world’s population had reached 6 billion. 到1999年12月千禧年庆祝之夜，世界人口已达六十亿。 The United Nations estimates that in 2050 the world population will be close to 10 billion. 联合国估计，到2050年，世界人口将接近一百亿。