Death
and births are two sides of the same coin. Today, we can clearly observe that
these two share a positive relationship in that both death and birth rates have
declined. What do you think are some of the reasons for both declines? You
should write at least 350 words.
The
declining death rates are related to how infectious disease has always been a
major cause of human mortality. Over the years, these diseases have included
malaria, influenza, tuberculosis and cholera. In particular, childhood
diarrhoea and respiratory diseases of bacterial or viral origin ravage
the young in poor nations. Infant mortality was a common occurrence. However,
the battle against infectious diseases gained force early in the modern era
through the development of public health regimes. With twentieth-century
patient-directed medicine, we learned how to avoid the perils of
contaminated drinking water, to drain swamps where mosquitoes harbour the
malaria parasite, to immunize the young, to quarantine the infected, and to
teach the public hygiene. In addition, improved nutrition not only saved lives by
itself but also strengthened resistance to infection. These simple preventive
strategies were sometimes inexpensive and colonists brought them along
to protect themselves and their workers. Even today, the transfer of technology
and know-how from more developed countries continues to reduce mortality rates
in some of the less developed countries.
Declining
birth rates are today an anomaly as children are naturally loved and
valued for themselves, especially in traditional settings. Children are also
economic assets that being they are a ready source of capital and security when
alternatives are out of reach. Some are of particular value since it is they
who typically inherit both the family plot and the responsibility for caring
for ageing parents. For practical reasons, daughters are often less desired:
they may be regarded as not as productive and as likely to marry and move on,
often with a costly dowry payment. Such views become institutionalised
in cultural norms and shared practices.
While it is possible for a
woman to bear as many children in her lifetime, this is rare. Rather, parents
universally chose to limit family size because too many children present costs
in excess of benefits. Thus, many traditional values and practices foster procreative
restraint. In addition, desperate measures to control family size are
frequently taken by those who lack better options. Infanticide is
another long-standing solution. Especially in hard times, the girls are
selected against. For example, ultrasound previews, while typically illegal,
are widely used in Asia these days to pick out female foetuses for abortion.
The various practices favouring male heirs is said to account for “100 million
missing women” worldwide. Just as the Industrial Revolution precipitated a fall
in death rates with a consequent surge in population, it had also driven the
subsequent fall in birth rates and the resolution of that explosion. This is
because industrial societies have substituted alternative sources of economic
security for large family sizes. This is not just a wealth effect. Rather,
modern countries have elaborated civil institutions that provide a social
safety net that makes possible smaller families with greater investment in each
individual. Bigger families and higher birth rates would become too costly for
an average-earning family. The health and education of these offspring are
usually of the highest concern to parents. Wanting to provide the best for their
children, many couples resort to smaller families, with the notion that quality
is better than quantity.
Additionally, women in
developed countries too typically expect to have two children and generally
have slightly fewer. In these nations, women tend to marry late or not at all. Contraception
is widespread. Increasingly, individuals in impoverished nations have
become aware of modern lifestyles through education, trade, migration and mass
media such as radio or television. Indeed, nearly half of the human population
now lives in cities from which they report trends to those back home. Their
window on the outside world has also shown them ways to build social welfare in
advance of industrialization and wealth creation. Similarly, the sense of
security of those in poverty increases with opportunities for education,
physical and social mobility, economic advance and the accumulation of modest
personal savings, if there are fewer children involved. As a result, population
growth is declining in all parts of the world.
Vocabulary:
ravage
(v) - to cause great damage to something (严重破坏)
regimes
(n) - a particular way of operating or organizing a system (组织方法；管理体制)
perils
(n) - great danger, or something that is very dangerous (巨大的危险)
colonists
(n) - someone who lives in or goes to live in a country or area that is a
colony (殖民地居民)
anomaly
(n) - a person/thing that is different from what is usual, or not in
agreement with something else and therefore not satisfactory异常的人（或事物）；不规则
institutionalised
(v) - to make something become part of a particular society, system or
organization (使成惯例；使制度化)
infanticide
(n) - the crime of killing a child (杀婴罪)
contraception (n)
- (the use of) any of various methods intended to prevent a woman from becoming
pregnant 避孕（法）
impoverished
(adj) - very poor (赤贫的)
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