2 . Many adults in South Korea have chosen either not to have children or not to marry. A South Korean government agency announced in September that the total fertility rate reached 0. 81 last year. The total fertility rate is the average number of babies born to each woman in their reproductive years. South Korea5s fertility rate has been the world’s lowest for three years now.
The population decreased for the first time in 2021. It raised concerns for severe damage to the economy. Some observers expect labor shortages and high spending on retirement payments as the number of older people increases while the number of taxpayers decreases. President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered policymakers to find better ways to deal with the problem. The fertility rate, he said, is still decreasing although South Korea spent $ 210 billion over the past 16 years to increase it.
Many young South Koreans say that they don’t want to have a family. Reasons some say for not having children include: a difficult job market, costly housing, inequality between the sexes, and social inequality. The high cost of raising children in a competitive society is also a reason. Some women say men expect them to do much of the childcare while they face discrimination at work.
Lee So-Young is a population policy expert at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. She said, “People think our country isn’t an easy place to live.” And she added, “They believe their children can’t have better lives than them.” Choi Yoon Kyung is an expert at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education. She said many people who fail to enter good schools and get good jobs feel they have become “dropouts” who “cannot be happy”.
South Korea has been offering different incentives (刺激) and support programs for those who give birth to many children. But Choi said the fertility rate has been falling too fast to see any real effects.
1. Why does the author mention the number in paragraph 1?
| A．To present a fact. | B．To explain a rule. |
| C．To clarify a concept. | D．To make a comparison. |
2. What could be a result of low fertility rate?
| A．More citizens fail to be happy. |
| B．Retirement payment falls down. |
| C．People have to pay higher taxes. |
| D．Less people are available for work. |
3. Which is a cause of the decreasing fertility rate in South Korea?
| A．The gender equality. |
| B．The loss of government support. |
| C．The ever increasing life pressure. |
| D．The high expectation of children. |
4. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The rising stress among young South Koreans. |
| B．The government^ effort to improve fertility rate. |
| C．The continuous low fertility rate in South Korea. |
| D．The severe economic damage of less new-born babies. |
