China records slowest population growth in decades

admin 2021年5月12日

Beginner

Business & Economy, Business & Economy - Beginner, world news, world news - beginner

Pre-reading questions:

I will read each question. Then, please answer them.

講師がそれぞれの質問を読むので答えましょう。

How many are you in your family?
Which do you prefer: a big or a small family?

Vocabulary:

I will read the words, meanings, and sample sentences. Then, repeat after me.

単語、意味、例文を読みます。講師に続いて音読しましょう。

census /SEN-suhs/

[noun] – a count for official purposes, especially one to count the number of people living in a country and to collect information about them
PSA is responsible for the census of our country’s population.

newborn /NYOO-born/

[noun] – a baby that was born recently
The father went to the hospital’s nursery room to look at his newborn.

encourage /en-KUR-ij/

[verb] – to make someone more likely to do something, or to make something more likely to happen
My parents encouraged me to learn English so I could have more job opportunities.

couple /KUHP-uhl/

[noun] – two people who are married or in a romantic or sexual relationship, or two people who are together for a particular purpose
The married couple have been together for 40 years.

career /KUH-reer/

[noun] – the job or series of jobs that you do during your working life, especially if you continue to get better jobs and earn more money
More women are having professional careers in the recent times.

Article reading:

Please read the whole article. Then, I will check your pronunciation and intonation.

記事を音読しましょう。講師はあなたの発音とイントネーションを確認します。

China’s latest census reveals that its population rate is at its slowest growth in decades. The annual rate was down from 0.57% from 2000 to 2010, to 0.53% from 2010 to 2020. This brought the population to 1.41 billion. From 18 million newborns in 2016, only 12 million babies were born in 2020. The results made the government encourage couples to have more babies. The census was released in late 2020 with seven million census takers going to every house to get information from Chinese families. According to Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, the lower birth rate is a natural result of China’s growth in its economy. He added that as countries develop, there is a possibility to have lower birth rates because the population focuses on other things such as career and education.

True or False:

Read the sentences and identify if they are true or false based on the article.

文章を読んで、記事に基づいて正誤を答えましょう。

The annual birth rate in China decreased from 0.57% in the 2000s to 0.53% in the 2010s.
Only 16 million babies were born in 2020 in China.
The Chinese government urges their people to control their population last year.
Ning Jizhe said that the lower birth rate is a natural result of China’s growth in its economy.
Ning added that as countries grow in economy, there is a possibility to have lower birth rates because the population focuses on other things like education and career.

Fill in the blanks:

Choose the correct word from the table then fill in the blanks.

適切な言葉を選んで空欄を埋めましょう。

census

newborn

encourage

couple

career

The married ___________ live in the northern province of Abra.
She would like to change her ____________ and pursue what she really want in life, becoming a musician.
The _____________ result shows that there is a decline in population in the country.
We _____________ our students to join school clubs.
The ____________ was premature and had to be put in the incubator for a month.