VOA标准英语2012--World Population Day Focuses on Family Planning

 

World Population Day Focuses on Family Planning

There are already seven billion people living in this world. Half of the population is under the age of 25.

“We add a quarter of a million people a day to the world population, and, of course, the planet¹ itself is not growing,” said John Seager, president of Population Connection, an organization that promotes stabilizing² population numbers.

Seager says all women should be able to select the size of their families and, when they do, they typically choose to have fewer children. But a recent United Nations report says 222 million women worldwide who want to avoid or delay pregnancy³ have no access to birth control. And that the number of women not using contraception in the world's poorest countries has increased over the past four years.

Two of those countries are Pakistan and India. Ilhaam Jaffer came to the United States from Pakistan as an infant⁴. Her mother is Pakistani and her father, Indian. She says talk of birth control in her parents' countries is often taboo⁵ for religious and cultural reasons.

“If a woman has a pregnancy prior⁶ to when she had planned on it, in her mind, education and her career and various other things are put on the back burner,” Jaffer said.

Jaffer says that creates a society of young mothers with lower earning power and that ultimately⁷ affects the nation's economy.

Another poor country with a big population is Ethiopia. Mahala Dejene arrived in the United States two years ago and says family planning has improved in Ethiopia.

“Before - year by year - they have children. Now, they control the baby, the family,” Dejene said.

The United Nations calls for universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Ilhaam Jaffer thinks she knows the key to getting there.

“The only solution I think is educating the women. If you educate a woman, you educate an entire family,” Jaffer said. 

1 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

2 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

4 infant   

n.婴儿，幼儿；adj.婴儿的；幼稚的，初期的

参考例句：

• Tourism was then still in its infant stage.旅游业当时还处在初创阶段。
• I also need an infant's food for my baby.我要买些婴儿食品给我的孩子。

5 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

6 prior   

adj.更重要的，较早的，在先的；adv.居先；n.小修道院院长；大修道院副院长

参考例句：

• The duty to protect my sister is prior to all others.保护我的妹妹是我最重要的责任。
• I took up one-year prior course in German in this college.我在这所大学读了一年的德语预科。

7 ultimately   

adv.最后地，最终地，首要地，基本地

参考例句：

• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience.那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。
• Vitamin C deficiency can ultimately lead to scurvy.缺乏维生素C最终能道致坏血病。