DEVELOPMENT REPORT - UN Population Study

DEVELOPMENT REPORT – December 16, 2002: UN Population Study

By Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: December 16, 2002

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The United Nations Population Fund has released a new study on the condition of the world’s population. The
main idea of the report is poverty and its relationship to population issues. It says that several steps need to be
taken immediately to reduce poverty by half by the year two-thousand-fifteen.

The first is to improve health care systems. In the world’s poorest countries, people are expected to live just
forty-nine years. One in ten children do not reach their first birthday. The study says that poor health and poverty
are linked.

The report also says that women are affected² most by poor health care systems, especially pregnant women. It
says that better reproductive health can reduce poverty and build economic growth. The report says family
planning and helping³ women avoid unwanted pregnancies⁴ are also ways to reduce poverty.

The study says that when given a choice, poor people in developing countries have fewer children than their
parents did. Smaller families have fewer expenses and more chances to increase their earnings⁵ and savings⁶.

Since nineteen-seventy, developing countries with lower birth rates and slower population growth have had faster
economic growth. They have had higher productivity, more savings and more investment.

The report also notes that poor people are more at risk for the infection that causes AIDS. This is because they
lack the knowledge and power to protect themselves against the disease.

The report says that investing in education, especially for women, can also reduce poverty. Educated women
have more choices in life and are more likely to send their children to school. The study found that the right to an
education has improved over the past ten years. However, poor people in many developing countries are still less
likely to attend school. The report urges governments to change this and make sure all citizens learn to read and
write.

The U-N study also says that women and men should be treated equally. This means that legal and human rights
for women should be strengthened, as well as their ability to earn money and speak out socially and
politically.The U-N report says that half the world’s population live on less than two dollars a day. One-
thousand-million people live on less than one dollar a day.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

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1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。