首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)One of the paradoxes of human biology is that the rich world has fewer children than the poor world. In most species, improve
(1)One of the paradoxes of human biology is that the rich world has fewer children than the poor world. In most species, improve
admin
2018-05-11
52
问题
(1)One of the paradoxes of human biology is that the rich world has fewer children than the poor world. In most species, improved circumstances are expected to increase reproductive effort, not reduce it, yet as economic development gets going, country after country has experienced what is known as the demographic transition: fertility(defined as the number of children borne by a woman over her lifetime)drops from around eight to near one and a half. That number is so small that even with the reduced child mortality which usually accompanies development it cannot possibly sustain the population.
(2)This reproductive collapse is particularly worrying because it comes in combination with an increase in life expectancy which suggests that, by the middle of the century, not only will populations in the most developed countries have shrunk(unless they are propped up by historically huge levels of immigration)but also that the number of retired individuals supported by each person of working age will increase significantly. If Mikko Myrskyla of the University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues are correct, though, things might not be quite as bad as that. A study they have just published in Nature suggests that as development continues, the demographic transition goes into reverse.
(3)Dr. Myrskyla compared two things. One was the total fertility rate(the number of children that would be born to a woman in a particular country over the course of her life if she experienced the age-specific fertility rates observed in that country during the calendar year in question). The other was the human development index for that country. The HDI, a measure used by the United Nations, has three components: life expectancy: average income per person: and level of education. Its maximum possible value is one.
(4)Back in the 1970s, no country got anywhere near one. Of the 107 places the researchers looked at, the best was Canada, with an HDI of 0.89. By 2005, however, things had improved markedly. Two dozen of what were now 240 countries had HDIs above nine—and something else remarkable had happened. Back in 1975, a graph plotting fertility rate against the HDI fell as the HDI rose. By 2005, though, the line had a kink in it. Above an HDI of 0.9 or so, it turned up, producing what is known in the jargon as a " J-shaped" curve(even though it is the mirror image of a letter J). In many countries with really high levels of development(around 0.95)fertility rates are now approaching two children per woman. There are exceptions, notably Canada and Japan, but the trend is clear.
(5)Why this change has come about, and why the demographic transition happens in the first place, are matters of debate. There are lots of social explanations of why fertility rates fall as countries become richer. The increasing ability of women in the developed world to control their own reproductive output is one, as is the related phenomenon of women entering the workplace in large numbers. The increasing cost of raising children in a society with more material abundance plays a part. So does the substitution of nationalised social-security systems for the support of offspring in old age. Falling rates of child mortality are also significant. Conversely, Dr. Myrskyla speculates that the introduction of female-friendly employment policies in the most developed countries allows women to have the best of both worlds, and that this may contribute to the uptick.
(6)No doubt all these social explanations are true as far as they go, but they do not address the deeper question of why people’s psychology should have evolved in a way that makes them want fewer children when they can afford more. There is a possible biological explanation, though.
Which of the following does NOT contribute to the falling fertility rate in many developed countries?
选项
A、Higher cost of raising children.
B、More material abundance.
C、Better availability of birth control measures.
D、Improved social-security systems.
答案
B
解析
细节题。第五段列举了多方面导致国家越发达生育率越低的社会原因,其中包括职业妇女控制自身生育量、抚养成本的增加、社会保障体系的完善(无需为了养老而多生孩子)等,因此排除[A]、[C]、[D]。社会资源的日益富足本身并不是直接导致生育率降低的原因,只是随着经济发展,抚养孩子的成本日益增加,所以人们不愿意多生孩子。只有[B]不符合文意,故为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/KWoK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
StudyActivitiesinUniversityInordertohelpcollegeanduniversitystudentsintheprocessoflearning,fourkeystudya
PASSAGEFOURWhatcanthesuccessofGooglebeascribedtoaccordingtothefirstparagraph?
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledby
PASSAGETWOWhatdoesthephrase"alevelplayingfield"inParagraph6mean?
SubfieldsofLinguisticsTheoverlappinginterestsbetweenthefieldoflinguisticsandotherdisciplinescreateseveral【T1】
寂寞需要时间,也需要心情。面对生活节奏越来越快的现代人,寂寞似乎少有藏身之地。但是,寂寞却是深刻认识自我、凸现个性的必不可少的前提。不过,寂寞如酒,在长时间的封存和孤独中,不但没有消失它原有的火一般的烈性,反而增添了几分浓郁的芳香。它是人们心灵中的一粒生命
我到这个城市出差,昨天下午下榻在这家旅馆。他和他的妻子就住在我的隔壁。这家旅馆的条件不太好,隔墙很薄,一点都不隔音。他们说话的声音总是很清晰地传过来。很快,我就凭直觉得到了一个印象,那女人很懒,不管什么事情都爱支使丈夫:给我倒杯水:给我找双袜子……
Theprocessofacquiringtheself-disciplineforJapanesebeginsinchildhood.Indeed,onemaysayitbeginsatbirth—howearly
Aprojectlikelytoevolveinthenearorintermediatefutureisspacetourism.Todayspacetourismhasbecomeapurecommercial
随机试题
抑郁症的自杀率为()
企业防御战略类型包括( )
其清除率可用来代表肾小球滤过率的物质是
女性,28岁。因“抽搐、意识不清、高热3天”入院。病程中抽搐表现为双上肢弯曲,双下肢伸直,神志不清,伴有瞳孔扩大,舌咬伤及尿失禁。每次持续5~10min不等,发作间歇期意识不恢复,处于昏迷状态。同时伴有高热,体温达38.2℃~39.7℃。既往有头部外伤史。
屋面均布荷载设计值(包括檩条自重)q=1.5kN/m2。试问,多跨(≥五跨)连续檩条支座最大弯矩设计值(kN·m)与下列( )项数值最为接近。提示:可按M=0.105ql2计算。60m跨度托架端斜杆1的轴心拉力设计值(kN)与下列( )项数
马克思主义中国化的理论成果包括()
材料一《义务教育生物学课程标准(2011版)》对“开花和结果”部分内容标准如下:材料二某教材的相关内容如下:想一想,议一议许多植物的花色彩鲜艳,气味芬芳,让行人禁不住驻足观赏,甚至要凑上去闻一闻那沁人心脾的花香。
IseeabrokenuplandinthefarNorthwest.Itsgrayandpurplerocksareinterpatchedwithcolorsrichandwarm,thenew-bornc
ThenumberofwomendirectorsappointedtocorporateboardsintheUnitedStateshasincreaseddramatically,buttheratiooffe
SharingEconomicLossesThroughInsuranceEachminuteofthedayornight,everyonefacesapossiblefinancialloss.Ahome
最新回复
(
0
)