Noriko Takida
11/3/98

In this article, the writer tells us that even though the world population is aging, it is still increasing every year. There are some areas in developed world whose population is growing very slowly, such as Europe's. On the other hand, in developing countries, the population is growing very rapidly, especially in Africa. Although AIDS kills many people, the population continues to increase. It is because a lot of babies are born. Because of AIDS, life expectancy is decreasing. If there was no AIDS in Africa, an average life expectancy would increase by 16 years. In fact, more than 10 % of the adult population has HIV in 9 African countries. In Europe, life expectancy is increasing and the population is getting older. The world population is growing by 1.33 % per year, which is about 78 million people.

I decided to read this article just because I was interested in this topic. While I was reading, I thought this was not a good article because I felt it was only about AIDS. I agree that AIDS affects population growth very much, however, this article should tell about population change from many points of view. I read a book about world population when I was in Japan. The book said many matters affect population, for example the U.N. helps developing countries by giving them medical aid. In fact, the medical treatment has improved recently. In addition to the narrow view point, I found one mistake in this article. The writer missed one word in third paragraph. If there is even one mistake, the article is not good because It makes readers feel hard to understand. Moreover, I was confused when I was reading paragraph 5 and 7. The number was very confusing, I think. According to this article, in spite of suffering from AIDS, the population is increasing especially in Africa. I cannot imagine what our lives will be like if the population continues to grow.

1. devastate(v)-----to damage or destroy something
devastation(n)
devastating(adj)
"AIDS is taking such a 'devastating toll' in Africa that life expectancy is decreasing instead of increasing."

2. decline(v)-----to decrease
declension(n)
declination(n)
declivity(v)

3. fertility(n)-----produse a lot of babies
fertile(adj)
fertilize(v) "Even though fertility is continuing to decline in much of the world, global population is expected to climb to 6 billion in 1999."

4. intensify(v)-----to increase in strength
intense(adj)
intension(n)
intensity(n)
intensive(adj)
intensively(adv)
"And the demographic impact ' is expected to intensify in the future,'...."

5. surpass(v)-----to be better or greater than something or someone else
surpassing(adj)
"And during the last two years, Africa's population, now 749 million, surpassed Europe's, which is currently 729 million, the U.N. said."

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