Grade 9 Unit 1 Topic 2 Section C

In 2015, the world’s population was about 7.2 billion. More than four billion people live in Asia now. That’s more than half of the world’s population.

China has the largest population in the world, and about one fifth ^[1]one fifth: 五分之一；也可以写成one-fifth of the people in the world live in China. Because of ^[2]because of: prep. 由于 后面跟名词性成分 the large population, there is less living space for each family. And it is difficult for lots of people to find jobs. At the same time ^[3]At the same time: 同时；另一方面；与此同时, the large population has caused many other difficulties for the whole nation. For example ^[4]for example: 例如, it is hard for China to supply ^[5]supply: US: [səˈplaɪ]   UK: [sə’plaɪ]  n. 供应量；供给量；储备；补给品   v. （尤指大量）供应 water and energy to satisfy people’s daily needs. Most cities are more crowded than before, and the traffic is much heavier. Natural ^[6]natural: US: [ˈnætʃ(ə)rəl]  UK: [‘nætʃ(ə)rəl]  adj. 自然的；天然的；正常的；意料之中的 environments are becoming worse ^[7]worse: US: [wɜrs]  UK: [wɜː(r)s]   adv. 更糟；更坏；更严重；更差     adj. 病情更重；更差的；更糟的；更坏的 and worse. The large population has been a serious problem.

So far (so far: 就是那么些；到现在为止；到目前(此地)为止；就此范围来说), our government has taken many measures to ^[8]take measures to do sth. : 采取措施做某事 solve the population problem. One was known as ^[9]be known as: 被称为；被认为是；以……著称 the one-child policy. It worked well in ^[10]work well in: 在……有成效；发挥很好的作用；做的很出色 controlling China’s population. Thanks to ^[11]thanks to: 幸亏；由于 the policy, China is developing quickly and people’s living conditions are improving rapidly. However, the population problem is still serious in China. We still have a long way to go.