The rapidly graying population     1     (eye) by the government as a potential market for medical technology now.     2     (disappoint) government predictions show that by 2025, Japan’s first baby boomers will have turned 75 and about 7 million people are likely to suffer from some form of dementia (痴呆). The nation won’t be able to avoid a dementia crisis     3     an additional 380,000 senior care workers.

The long-standing     4    (short) of professional care workers has encouraged the Japanese government     5     (simplify) procedures for foreign caregivers to be trained and certified. The current Technical Intern Training Program between Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, under     6     economic partnership agreement, was extended to include nursing care as well as agriculture, fishery, and construction sectors.

    7     the government made efforts to increase the numbers of senior care workers, the target number of foreign graduates has still fallen flat, with the national caregiver examination     8    (prove) a major obstacle to pass. The success rate for foreign students was a merely 106 students last year,     9     has slightly improved to 216 students this year. Another depressing reality is that 19 to 38 percent of foreign nurses who pass the exam opt to leave the industry and return home. All the challenges above account for     10     the government believes care robots will soon step in.

2 . As more cities and companies become increasingly international, there is a growing number of children that are creating their own sub-culture. Often ________ to as TCKs (Third Culture Kids) or Global Nomads, these students have a ________ impact on the global community.

So who are these Third Culture Kids? They are not a new phenomenon. As one ________ history, there is a realization that certain groups of people have led highly ________ lives, a key factor in describing TCKs. They often ________ their parents into another country and spend a significant part of his or her development years ________ their culture of origin. They are ________ to new cultures and to other people in the community who move ________. Their numbers ________ into the hundreds of thousands and are increasing. ________ of travel and constant relocation of people through multinational companies and global business links contribute to this trend.

The question “Who am I?” is frequently asked by TCKs. They have ________ a host of cultural identities, and have built relationships to all the cultures, ________ they do not have full ownership of any. Although elements from each culture are absorbed into TCK’s life experience, the sense of ________ is in relationship to others of a similar background.

As you enter into the world of TCKs, it is ________ after spending only a short time with them, that they represent many countries and cultures. They are future cross-culturalists and ________, future politicians, diplomats, government employees and educators.

3 . Why is the world’s population growing?     1    . The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits, but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies. In 1900, people died at the average age of 30. By 2000 the average age was 65. But while increasing health was a typical feature of the 20th century, declining birth rate could be a defining one of the twenty-first century.

Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 nowadays. Furthermore, around 50% of the world’s population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level (i.e. 2.1 births per woman) and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-replacement birth rate.     2    , but you’d be wrong. Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too, which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades.

    3    What does it imply? First, China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country. Second, if other factors such as technology remain constant, economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble.

Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise. Since 1992 the number of people dying has been bigger than that of those being born by a massive 50%. Indeed official figures suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961.     4    Nobody is quite sure, but poor diet and above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it. If current trends don’t bend, Russia’s population will be about the size of Yemen’s by the year 2050.

    5    As for the USA, it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010—2030. Moreover, the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants. As a result it’s likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term.