II. Read
Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. 1.Childless - and Happy That Way
In a country where most people believe that a family Is not a family without children, some young couple, especially those with a higher education, have chosen to keep their families to two members-husband and wife.
"I can’t afford to have a child," said Wang, a promising research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Wang has been busy traveling abroad and has received scholarship offers from a number of American universities that would enable him to complete his PhD.
"He is a free bird who may leave the nest any day and I’ve never cared much about a child," said Xiao Wei, Wang’s wife, business representative of a French company in Beijing.
Unlike the Wangs, Zhang and his wife have argued over whether they should have a baby.
"When we were married six years ago, we decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude on the issue. And after a couple of years, my wife said she wanted to have a baby while I insisted we were just fine without one. We have been arguing about the matter ever since, and now that we are over 30, I think we’re likely to end up in accordance with my wishes," said Zhang.
"There are many marriages that should have long been broken. People just hold on because a divorce would hurt the children most and the parents hate to face that prospect. So the couple sticks together and winds up torturing each other.
"A real happy family is a family that, without children, is still a happy family." Said Zhang.
Ma Jiang, who has opened a trading company and was instantly nicknamed Money Bags by his friends, said he would hate to be bothered with a child.
"To me, being without a child, I am less bound by household chores and can concentrate on my business. My lovely wife is all I need, no third person," he said.
Ma’s wife, Xiao Lu, working for a government unit, could have quit her job and become dependent on the "rich" husband. But she decided against it.
"I can’t imagine what I would be like if I stayed at home, doing household chores and breast-feeding a child. I’d rather keep my independence at all costs", she said.
"Whatever people say, I believe that to have a child means a lot of sacrifice. We’re just not ready for that, fun or misery," Ma’s wife said.
Hou Mingkun and his wife Luo Qian said they weren’t against having a child, boy or girl, if only the baby was physically well developed.
"One takes a risk when having a baby. I’ve heard too many stories abut children born with physical defects. Since there’s no guarantee that the same won’t happen to my baby. I think I’d better not get myself involved. People say ’no pain, no gain,’ but for me it’s no gain, no pain," Luo said.
The couple were classmates in high school and went to the same university in Shanghai. Now, they are working fro a computer company in Beijing.
Those who choose not to have children have to overcome some unexpected difficulties in defending their stance.
Influenced by the traditional view that one’s worst sin is having no descendants, most people still accept that a wife is not a good wife if she doesn’t have a child.
Though few Chinese believe in an after-life, they do care a lot about growing old. For centuries, one of the purposes of having children, sons especially, was to have someone take care of the parents when they were old.
"Now, since both husband and wife are working, they will have a pension when they retire. What happens now is that the retired parents are supporting their adult children,:" Wang said.
"We’re normal people, just like everyone else, We’ve just chosen to live our own which harms no one. I hope people understand us," Wang said.
2. Three Babies Are Born Every Second There are over 3,800 million people in the world today, and the total is increasing at the rate of more than 76 million a year. United Nations experts have calculated that it could be more than 7,000 million by the end of this century.
The population is growing more quickly in some parts of he world then others. The continents with the fastest growth rates are Latin America (2.9 per cent) and Africa (2.6 per cent). Asia comes third (2.1 per cent) but because its present population is so large it is there that by far the greatest number of people will be added before the end of the century.
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3. Population Increase Has Wiped out the Material Benefits People Have
Achieved
Matthew: Sarah, is there a need to control population only in countries like India, Africa, Brazil ... those countries that we call the underdeveloped countries, or is there a case for limiting population in Europe, for instance?
Sarah: The reason one would have to limit population is because you’re running out of food and you’re running out of resources. The people in Europe and America consume a far greater proportion of the world’s resources and the world’s food than they do in India. So ... um ... population is directly related to ... um... consumption and your general impact on the environment. If as an individual your impact is far greater then anybody else’s, um...then that is the factor that’s important, rater than how many people there are., or how many people can the world support. Now it’s ...obviously in that sense, it’s possible to increase population if everybody’s willing to un... use less material or eat less food, but it isn’t if everybody’s continually wanting more and more and more, and this is ...seems to be the trend at the moment...higher and higher consumption.. with at the same time a greatly expanding population. And the problem in ... um ...areas which are poor and which have expanding populations is that they try and develop and try and... er ...get...er...more material benefits, but as soon as they do this, the population increase has wiped out any benefits that they may have um...achieved.
Matthew: But do you feel that this battle with a ...a rapidly expanding population can be won?
Sarah: The most sensible thing is to realize that you can’t go on expanding human populations for ever and countries and individuals must decide to have a policy which would limit population.
4. An African Woman Says: "...the Men Never Talk about It."
"To us, children are the most important thing in life. When we marry, it is not above all to get a husband or wife, but to have children. I had my thirteenth birth only a few months ago, and most of my adult life I have had to care for a baby as well as do all my other work in the house and in the fields. For a long time I have wanted no more children, but I keep having them as long as I am with my husband. A nurse comes to visit our village regularly. She holds meetings for all the men and women together, to explain abut family planning. Now these are well. Known facts to us, but still nobody in our village practices birth control. When we sit together with the nurse, everybody seems to agree that this is the right thing to do when a family had grown big enough to give the parents security in their old age, and there are enough hands to attend to all the daily work. But when we go home, the men never talk about it. my husband and I attend every meeting, but in our home we have never talked about birth control. I desperately want to stop having more children, but this can only be done if my husband suggests it."