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　　Passage 14

　　What is the biggest city in the world？ That is， __1__ city has the largest population？ This seems like __2__ question to answer， but actually it isn't.

　　It's actually rather difficult to say which cities __3__ the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all， it isn't easy to determine a city's boundaries， that is， where a city ends. Nowadays， nearly all cities have a large __4__ area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city， we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it's difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it's difficult to define what a city is.

　　The second reason that it is difficult to __5__ the population of different cities is this： it is almost impossible to get __6__ about the population of all cities for the same year. For example， we might get an estimate of New York's population in 1979 and an __7__ of Mexico City's population in 1981. So we really can't compare the numbers because the information is for __8__ different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly， especially in some cases. For example， the population of Beijing， China may increase by 5% each year， so the population figure will change rather quickly.

　　So we can say that these are our two __9__ for comparing the populations of cities： one， it's difficult to determine the __10__ of a city， and two， it is difficult to get accurate information.

　　1. A. what B. which C. where D. how

　　1. 选B

　　2. A. a difficult B. a troublesome C. easy D. an easy

　　2. 选D

　　3. A. are B. were C. is D. was

　　3. 选A

　　4. A. city B. urban C. suburban D. countryside countryside： 乡村、农村

　　The English countryside looks at its best in spring.

　　4. 选

　　5. A. compile B. compare C. conduct D. conclusion

　　compile 收集、编辑

　　The police have compiled a list of suspects.

　　conduct 领导、控制

　　I asked the attendant to conduct him to the door.

　　5. 选B

　　6. A. informations B. knowledge C. background D. information

　　information 是不可数名词。

　　6. 选D

　　7. A. estimated B. count C. calculate D. estimate

　　7. 选D

　　8. A. one B. two C. three D. four

　　8. 选B

　　9. A. questions B. answers C. solutions D. problems

　　question和problem的中文意思均为“问题”，但question指需要对方回答的问题，如：

　　My question is what language is spoken in Spain.

　　problem指需要解决的问题。如：

　　It will be a big problem if you are always satisfied with what you have got.

　　9. 选D

　　10. A. limits B. end C. limit D. edge

　　limit： 表示界限、界线时，常用复数。如：

　　within the city limits在该城范围内

　　end： 末端、尽头。如：

　　the end of a road 路的终点

　　the house at the end of the street在街道尽头的房子

　　edge： 边缘。如：

　　He fell off the edge of the cliff.他从悬崖边上摔下来了。

　　（fall-fell-fallen）

　　10. 选A

　　涉及到上下文的有6道，语法的有1道