1. Discuss different opinions of the threat of population growth on our planet ( “There’s Plenty of Room Abroad Planet Earth)

For decades, the population explosion has been giving people nightmares. The world’s population increases by 3 billion every decade. With figures such as these, the gloom has been understandable. There’s the thought that the battle to feed all the humanity is over. The world will undergo famine soon; hundreds of millions of people are going to starve in spite of the crash program embarked upon now. The crisis has been deferred, not avoided. The human race will ultimately outgrow its ability to feed itself. Some doubters claim it was erroneously predicted. So dramatic have been changes in population growth, that it’s increasingly difficult to predict future population levels. Indeed, world population is still rising fast, but it’s already plain, that the worst forecasts will never become reality. Far from reaching 15 billion, the odds are that it may never get to 10 billion. So the birthrate is now well below replacement level in many countries. Actually, the change has come about because of dramatic drops in fertility in many countries. But the Green Revolution will enable food production to stay ahead of population growth. It combines classical plant breeding methods with genetic technologies making a huge boost.

Eco’nomic growth has always marched in step with population growth. When population declines, there are fewer people of working age to support those in retirement; also it may prove much harder to recruit people to do unpopular jobs. Those who have painted a rosy picture of an environment recovering its natural beauty as the impact of human numbers declines could find that the opposite is nearer the truth. Paradoxically, the greatest problems may come out not from soaring populations but from the declines now beginning to become evident in some developed countries.

2. Talk about the problems a newly-independent state is confronted with ( “Progress in Samoa”)

Chinese people say that the worth thing is to live in the time of changes. With the rich choice of possible ways of further development comes a bench of problems as well. It’s especially true as for the newly-independent states. I’d like to illustrate (prove) this on the example of Samoa. For centuries time stood still in the country. The people worked banana plantation and respected the customs that the family chiefs represented absolute authority. They owned all the land ‘communally and administrated justice in each village. So, when the progress came and Samoans faced many development projects, they were naturally confused. When all that development schemes are completed, and Samoa, one of the world’s poorest nations in cash terms, is forced into the 21^st century, what is to become of its culture? That’s the main problem. Samoa is a poor country and some change must come, but Samoans want the modern amenities, but they don’t want to throw away their culture to get them. In many ways their culture retards development. The tradition of communal land ownership stultifies individual incentive and has resulted in neglect of the land. The exodus to New Zealand creates a false economy and results in boost of Samoan families ignoring the land living off the earnings of the their expatriate children and the question the people are asking is “what is a balance between the past and the future?” Indeed, Western Samoa has travelled a long way in the 12 years since independence. It has political stability and a people who are 90% literate. It offers investors a cheap labour force, and a land that is 80% uncultivated. It offers visitors the most uncorrupted Polynesian culture left anywhere today.