VOA慢速英語：中國結(jié)束獨生子女政策將全面實施普遍二孩政策

The government in China plans to end its one-child per family policy and instead let families have two children.

中國政府計劃結(jié)束每個家庭獨生子女政策，允許每個家庭可以擁有兩個孩子。

The plan was announced Thursday after high-level political meetings in Beijing. The official Xinhua news agency says the country's top legislature must approve the proposal before it becomes law.

周四，在北京舉行高層政治會議后，該計劃被宣布。中國官方媒體新華社報道，在將它定為法律之前，該提案必須得到國家最高立法機(jī)關(guān)的批準(zhǔn)。

FILE - A Chinese woman cuddles her child in Beijing. China announced Thursday it was ending its long-standing one-child policy and will now allow all couples to have two children. (2014 AP PHOTO)

A Chinese Communist Party statement gave a number of reasons for the change in policy. The statement said the change is meant to balance population development. It said the move also attempts to stop a declining birth rate and strengthen the country's work force.

在一份中國共產(chǎn)黨的聲明中發(fā)表了政策變化的一些原因。該聲明表示，這一變化是為了平衡人口發(fā)展。它聲稱，此舉還試圖阻止出生率不斷下降并增加本國勞動力。

China- the world's most populous country - launched the one-child policy in 1980. But the government permitted only a small number of couples to have two children. For example, some rural families were given approval to have two children.

中國——世界上人口最多的國家，于1980年推出獨生子女政策，但政府只允許少數(shù)家庭生育兩個孩子。例如，一些獲得批準(zhǔn)的農(nóng)村家庭，可以擁有兩個孩子。

A total of 19 rural provinces have a partial two-child policy. That policy states if the first-born is a girl, a second child is permitted.

共有19個農(nóng)業(yè)省份開放部分二胎政策。政策提出，如果第一胎是女孩，則允許有第二個孩子的。

In 2013, the Chinese government gave other couples a chance to have two children. Families could have two if one parent was an only child.

在2013年，中國政府給予其他夫妻可以生育兩個孩子的機(jī)會。如果父母一方是獨生子女，該家庭可以生育兩個孩子。

A teacher and population expert, Jiang Quanbao, explained how Chinese families will react to the policy.

姜全保，教授及人口專家，他解釋道中國家庭將如何應(yīng)對該政策。

"Too many young people in the cities are probably no longer interested in having a second child," he said. "People in rural farming villages may be more interested. But again, some of them are already allowed to have two children."

他說：“在城市里，太多年輕人可能不再有興趣生育第二個孩子，而在農(nóng)村的人們可能會更感興趣。但同樣，他們中的一些已經(jīng)被允許生育兩個孩子。”

At the end of 2014, China had a population of 1.37 billion people. A total of 800 million of them are employed. But that job market population is expected to drop by 2050. With the two-child policy, an increase in births will ease the labor shortage, starting in 20 years.

在2014年底，中國有13.7億人口，其中總共有800萬人就業(yè)。但預(yù)計到2050年，就業(yè)市場的人口數(shù)量將有所下降，但近20年間，出生率的增加將緩解勞動力短缺的狀況。

 I'm Anna Matteo.

我是安娜·馬特奧。

Joyce Huang reported on this story for VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

boost – v. to increase the force, power or amount of something

populous– adj. having a large population

province– n. any one of the large parts that some countries are divided into