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  3. "Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth—but more by accident than by desi

"Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth—but more by accident than by desi

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问题      "Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth—but more by accident than by design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had a better result without really trying," says George Martine at Harvard.
     Brazil’s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
     Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas and installment plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globe, Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.                          
      "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values—not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine, "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package."
     Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the Ix)or to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.
What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?
选项 A、The increase in birth rate will promote consumption.
B、The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.
C、Consumption patterns and reproduction patterns are contradictory.
D、A country’s production is limited by its population growth.
答案B
解析 根据最后一段中的“…consumption was incompatible with unlimited reproduction"，可以肯定A “生育率的提高将有助于刺激消费”错误，同时可以肯定C “消费模式与生育模式是矛盾的”亦不正确。根据“This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns…”，可以推理出B “消费的欲望有助于降低出生率”，故B 为正确答案。而D “一个国家的产量受其人口增长的限制”未在文中提到，也无法推理出来。
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