1 . In 2050, one in four people will be over 60 in the Asia-Pacific region. Are countries there prepared to fully address the needs of older persons so that they age with dignity?
In the past, senior citizens might have been supported by their families and communities. Yet times are changing.
More than ever, there is an urgent need for policy reform in addressing population aging. This must be driven by a shift in mindset to turn the challenges into a demographic opportunity.
It is noteworthy that, in the Asia-Pacific, with more than half of the older population being women, it is crucial to adopt a life-cycle approach to population aging, grounded in gender equality and human rights. Investing in each stage of life determines the path of a woman’s life course. When a girl has access to quality education, it helps her make informed decisions about life-changing matters.
While there is no single comprehensive policy that can address population aging, we need to take action now.
A.Couples are having fewer babies. |
B.Pensions are increasing, pressuring governments further. |
C.We must rethink population aging, celebrating it as the victory of development. |
D.Migration and urbanization have shifted traditional support systems for the elderly. |
E.The decisions she makes paves the way towards a healthier and wealthier silver age. |
F.We must invest in better policies that focus on the needs of people at every age of their life. |
G.Life-long gender discrimination leaves women even more disadvantaged in an aging society. |
World Population Day was founded by the United Nations, and this holiday is
The idea of World Population Day started in the late 1960s,
In 1989, the world population quickly increased to five billion. During this same year, the United Nations founded World Population Day. Both events
World Population Day is celebrated in many ways‒‒much of this depends on the region. For participants who live in countries where gender
Every July 11th, the United Nations also has central celebrations in which all nations
3 . New research shows that the cost of raising a child in China is nearly seven times its GDP per capita (头数), far more than in the United States and Japan.
GDP, or gross domestic product, is the measure of the total value of goods and services in a country. GDP per capita is a measure resulting from GDP divided by the size of a nation’s total population.
The high cost of child-raising is one more difficulty Chinese policymakers face as they try to deal with quickly decreasing birth rates.
Experts warn China’s aging population will put pressure on its health and social security systems. A decrease in workers could also severely limit growth for the world’s second largest economy in the coming years.
New policies permit families to have as many as three children But China’s birth rate dropped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021. That is the lowest since the National Bureau of Statistics began recording the information in 1949.
The high costs of raising a child have caused officials in China to place restrictions (限制规定) on the private tutoring industry. Some areas have been giving couples money for having a second or third child.
The average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2019 was 485,000 yuan for a first child. That is 6.9 times China’s GDP per capita that year. That information comes from a recent report from the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing.
China ranks second highest among the 13 countries included in the study. The country is behind only South Korea, which has the lowest birth rate in the world. The United States number, based on 2015 data, is at 4.11 times GDP per capita. Japan stands at 4.26, based on data from 2010.
Child raising costs are even higher in China’s major cities, reaching more than 1 million yuan in Shanghai and 969,000 yuan in Beijing. Birth rates in the two cities are even lower than the national average.
YuWa warned the decreasing birth rate would “profoundly (深刻地) affect” China’s economic growth potential, its ability to create and its welfare (福利) problems.
The study found that China would need to spend at least 5 percent of its yearly GDP to provide reasons for couples to have more children. That would include education funding (基金), special housing loan (贷款) rates and tax breaks. Other considerations include equal time for mothers and fathers to be away from their jobs and the building of more childcare centers.
1. Why do officials in China place restrictions on the private tutoring industry?A.Because of the high cost of childcare. |
B.Because there are too many extra-curricular tutoring classes. |
C.Because the tutoring industry does not help students improve their grades. |
D.Because many families want to give their children more leisure time. |
A.China has the lowest birth rate in the world. |
B.The cost of childcare in Beijing is higher than that in Shanghai. |
C.The reduction of workers won’t limit China’s growth in the future. |
D.The birth rate in 2021 has been the lowest since 1949. |
A.About 3,346,500 yuan. | B.Around 70,300 yuan. |
C.Less than 50,300 yuan. | D.More than 80,000 yuan. |
A.The measures that can reduce education costs. |
B.The conclusion of the research by YuWa Population Research Institute. |
C.The ways to increase the birth rate. |
D.The impact of the decline of the birth rates. |
4 . According to the recent (最近的) report, five of the ten most populous (人口众多的) countries are in Asia, three in the Americas, and one each in Europe and Africa. With over 1.4 billion people, China has the largest population in the world. India comes in second with 1.355 billion, and the United States comes in third with around 328 million. Indonesia comes in fourth and Pakistan comes in fifth of the world’s most populous countries.
However, China is facing a serious aging population problem now. To solve the problem, China began relaxing its family planning policy (生育政策) in 2012. It said that if either one of the couples was the only child of their parents, they could have two children in 2013. And in 2016, China further relaxed the two-child policy (二胎政策) to all couples. In 2021, China allowed all couples to have three children.
However, a good family planning policy alone is not enough. The government should find ways to lower the cost of raising children and improve the elderly care services. Also, a friendly social and cultural environment should be provided for couples who want to have three children.
1. Half of the ten most populous countries are in .A.The Americas | B.Asia | C.Africa |
A.China and the US. | B.Indonesia and China. | C.India and China. |
A.In 2012. | B.In 2013. | C.In 2016. |
A.The changes of China’s family planning policy. |
B.The influence of China’s family planning policy. |
C.The problem of China’s family planning policy. |
A.need more people’s help | B.need to do more work | C.should take care of elderly people |
5 . COVID-19 shutdowns forced people out of work and pushed tens of millions into poverty worldwide. Governments tried hard to provide aid. It was easy in a small country, but difficult for a country with large population and vast rural areas.
Researchers have been finding ways to identify areas of wealth and poverty in satellite images. Through some satellite data and aerial images of one town or another, you can sort of tell whether it’s wealthy or not. Wealthier homes tend to have metal roofs while poor homes tend to have thatched roofs. Wealthier neighborhoods have paved roads and bigger plots of lands, more spaced out.
The researchers use the system to identify about 60,000 people to receive benefits. The advantage of the satellite imagery and phone data approach is that it’s extremely fast and very convenient.
A.It was opposite in a big country. |
B.How do they locate the neediest people? |
C.So there’s a lot of information in the images. |
D.Most importantly, it’s very cheap to carry out. |
E.Worse still, it’s not so economical as a house-to-house survey. |
F.However, in general, poorer people will just have feature phones. |
G.What the researchers did next was to target the neediest people in those regions. |
6 . In the early 1970s, a computer program called World One predicted that civilization would likely collapse in the near future.
When deciding the fate of civilization, the program considered the following variables: pollution, population, the availability of natural resources and global quality of life. The program produced graphs that indicated what would happen to those variables in the future. The graphs identified 2020 as a turning point for civilization.
“At around 2020, the condition of the planet becomes highly unlivable. If we do nothing about it, the quality of life goes down to zero. Pollution becomes so serious that it will start to kill people, which in turn will reduce the population to the level in the 1900 and that civilized life as we know on this planet will disappear around 2040 to 2050.”
This was not the end of the model. In 1972, the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, a book that built on a program called World Three. This time the variables were pollution, population, food production, consumption of nonrenewable natural resources and scientific developments.
The Limits to Growth pushed the collapse of civilization to 2072, when the limits of growth would be the most readily apparent and result in population and industrial declines.
The book touched off a fierce media war. The New York Times, for instance, wrote that the book assumed that a resource could never change over time, leaving their data shortsighted to any possible changes in consumption habits.
Writing in The Guardian, Cathy Alexander, a Melbourne-based journalist, argued, “The research does not say that collapse of the world economy, environment and population is a certainty. Nor does it claim the future will unfold exactly as the models predicted. But the findings should sound an alarm bell. It seems unlikely that the search for ever-increasing growth can continue unchecked to 2100 without causing serious negative effects—and those effects might come sooner than we think.”
1. When would civilization start to disappear according to World One?A.By 2020. | B.By 2040. | C.By 2072. | D.By 2100. |
A.Interesting. | B.Worrying. | C.Unscientific. | D.Uncreative. |
A.Take the warnings seriously. | B.Ignore the unlikely forecasts. |
C.Accept the predictions as certainties. | D.Change our consumption habits now. |
A.By listing statistics. | B.By using examples. | C.By comparing. | D.By reasoning. |
The Chinese government
Since China
Local reports from Chinese
8 . As the global population grows and shifts towards urban living, the land available in our cities is being under increasing pressure.In order to be sustainable, cities need to find ways to minimize their urban expansion.One option is to build upwards; another is to dig down.
In Montreal, constructed underground to relieve overcrowding in the city streets is RESO —one of the largest underground complexes in the world.It is a network connecting everything from shops and banks to flats and hotels.This shows how going underground can meet human needs whilst also bringing certain environmental benefits.Underground transport can reduce traffic jam above ground, thereby improving air quality.Furthermore, thanks to their relatively constant climate throughout the year, underground spaces consume less energy for heating and cooling.
When planning underground construction projects, developers must consider existing structures on or near the site, such as the remains of historic buildings.Designers must also ensure any underground space intended for human use has good air quality.One example is the forthcoming LDN Hotel,an underground hotel beneath the streets of London.Designers are using a wide range of plans to help keep the air inside clean,together with a state-of-the-art ventilation system (通风系统).
Light is another key consideration.In New York, plans for the world's first underground park Demonstrate novel ways of bringing natural rays beneath the surface.By employing solar technology light is to be reflected down through a series of pipes into the terminal below.This light would be sufficient for photosynthesis (光合作用) to occur and the park's plants to grow naturally.
Today's architects are developing innovative ways to make underground spaces functional and comfortable.The question remains whether they can provide sustainable and realistic options for the future.Besides practical considerations, there exists the challenge of building a positive perception of “going underground".Yet, the obvious challenges of constructing habitable underground spaces must be weighed against the urgent issue of housing the world's ballooning population.One day, it will feel as natural to live and work underground as it does to do so over 100 storeys high.
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 2?A.To advertise the underground complexes. |
B.To give suggestions on relieving crowdedness. |
C.To explain how the underground network works. |
D.To introduce the benefits of building underground. |
A.By giving examples. |
B.By listing study findings. |
C.By making comparisons. |
D.By quoting others' words. |
A.Going underground can solve the problem of global warming. |
B.Good air quality is superior to other factors. |
C.Natural light is not necessary for underground plants. |
D.The future of going underground calls for people's positive attitude. |
A.Ways to house the world population. |
B.Concerns for the urban expansion. |
C.Why and how to build underground. |
D.The promising future of our cities. |
9 . Look into the future of what we eat, and you'll start wondering what could happen to our meals. As the world's population surpasses nine billion, our food needs will grow by 50 percent. How do we meet them without clearing more forests or expanding industrial agriculture, one of the most significant contributors to climate change? How do we keep our soil healthy, so that crops can grow well?
These questions are challenging. "But one thing is clear," says food journalist Lin Yee Yuan. "To feed nine billion people," she warns, "we're going to need all hands to the pump."
Many of those hands likely will be trying to find new ways to produce protein as the environmental stress of animal production becomes increasingly great. Animal production represents about one-seventh of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions. Beef produced in concentrated feeding operations typically requires nearly eight times the water and 160 times the land per calorie as vegetables and grain. No wonder United Nations officials have been urging everyone to eat less beef—and new food companies are taking it seriously.
Among them is the producer of the Beyond Burger, a patty with beefy coloring and protein from plants that is already available throughout the United States in about 10,000 grocery stores and many restaurants.
Other solutions take inspiration from nature. By the early 2000s, staff at the Land Institute were selectively breeding a grain to create a variety with better production, seed size, and disease resistance.
Today the result, called Kernza, is growing on 500 acres in the United States. A variety of food producers are readying it for market—including Bien Cuit, a high-end bakery in New York, which has made bread with it, and Hopworks Urban Brewery in Oregon, which sells a Kernza beer. "Whatever our meals may be like in 50 years, climate change will require us to make better use of what we already have," says global food expert Raj Patel. "The 21st century is teaching us that things once thought to be weeds and pests could turn out to be food."
1. What do the questions in the first paragraph focus on?A.Climate change. | B.Global feeding. | C.Future diet. | D.Increasing population. |
A.To stress the benefits of meat-free food. | B.To introduce food companies' dilemma. |
C.To explain the success of plant-based burgers. | D.To show an environment-friendly meat alternative. |
A.It is losing its market. | B.It has obvious drawbacks. |
C.It is the solution to saving the world. | D.It has found its way into food products. |
A.We need to widen our food sources. | B.We will run out of ideas in 50 years. |
C.Everything will be tough in the 2lst century. | D.Everyone should make an effort to save food. |
10 . Are you the only child in your family? If so, do you enjoy it or do you want more siblings(兄弟姐妹)?
On May 31, a key meeting of the Communist Party of China unveiled a policy that would allow all couples to have up to three children.
The move is expected to maximize the population's role in driving economic and social growth, since this is a critical time for China to transform the world's most populous country into a powerhouse(强国)with a quality workforce, according to the National Health Commission.
The three-child policy is also expected to prevent the decline in the nation's birthrate and address the challenge of a rapidly aging population, China Daily reported.
China's annual number of newborns has fallen for four years in a row. The country's total birthrate—the average number of children born to each woman—stood at 1.3 in 2020. The number is below the rate of 2.1 that would maintain a stable population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The declining birthrate has also brought a sharp increase in the proportion of the population aged 60 or above, rising from 10.3 percent to 18.7 percent in the past decade. An increasingly elderly population will increase the cost of labor and the pressure on the social security net. It also means there will be a lack of young labor force. Therefore, it's not good for economic growth, according to Chen Youhua, a professor at Nanjing University.
In fact, the new birth policy is a step to further relax the family planning policy. The one-child policy was introduced in the 1970s and aimed to control the fast-growing population. Then in 2013, China allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child, and in 2016, all couples were allowed to have two children.
However, not all people have shown their support for this latest policy. Many couples complained about the rising costs of raising a child. A netizen named Qinfeng commented, "High cost of education and both the physical and mental exhaustion stopped me from having more than one child." Also, many women are reluctant(不情愿的)to give birth because that could mean sacrificing their career prospects, according to Mu Guangzong, a professor at Peking University.
In that case, Mu noted that it is better to implement supporting measures with the three-child policy, such as more preferential(优惠的)policies for couples that would ease their parental burden.
1. What might NOT be the main cause for the new policy?A.To increase the population's role. |
B.To stop the declining birthrate. |
C.To improve the child- care service system. |
D.To address the challenge of the aging population. |
A.China's annual number of newborns has fallen for decades. |
B.The government will protect the legal rights of women in employment. |
C.Measures will be taken to improve the high-quality education. |
D.The new policy allows couples to have up to three children. |
A.To carry out. | B.To get along with. |
C.To make use of. | D.To have a command of. |
A.To show his love of children healthcare. |
B.To introduce the new family size policy. |
C.To share his concerns about birthrate. |
D.To emphasize the physical and mental exhaustion. |