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

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

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(出生率) and strengthen the country's workforce.

China 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.

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

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.

A teacher and population expert, Jiang Quanbao, explained how Chinese families will react to the policy."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 the mare already allowed to have two children."

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 20years.

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1.The two-children policy must be approved by _____before it becomes law.

A Chinese top legislature

B Present Xi Jinping

C local legislature

D all the citizens

解析：选A。细节理解题。根据文章第2段2句The official Xinhua news agency says the country's top legislature(立法机构) must approve the proposal before it becomes law.可知全国最高立法机构通过二孩政策才能生效，故选A。

2.Which of the followings is NOT the reason that China plans to end its one-child per family policy？

A It tries to balance the population development in China.

B It attempts to stop a declining birth rate.

C The two-children policy will strengthen the country's workforce.

D The people will not be lonely any longer.

解析：选D。细节理解题。A、B、C三个选项都是实施二孩政策的原因，D选项称人们将不再孤单，太片面，故不是实施二孩政策的原因。

3.What kind of couples are permitted to have two children according to the old policy?

A One of the parents is an only child.

B The couple’s first-born is a girl.

C The couple get married after they are 35 years old.

D Both of the couples live in rural provinces.

解析：选A。细节理解题。文章第5、6段提到在19 个农村省份，如果第一胎是女孩，允许其有二胎；或者父母中有一个是独生子女，也可以生二胎，A选项符合文意。

4.What does the underlined word “ease” mean in Chinese?

A 增加

B 缓和

C 平衡

D 消除

解析：选B。词义猜测题。根据上下文可知，二孩政策全面放开，可以提高出生率，从而缓和我们国家劳动力短缺的问题，故ease 在此作“缓和”理解。

5.What can be the best title of this passage?

A One-child per family policy

B Who can have two children

C Chinese families can have two children soon

D The disadvantages of one-child per family policy

解析：选C。文章大意题。通读全文可知，文章只要是介绍中国将全面放开二孩政策以及实施的原因和背景，A选项只提到独生子女政策，B选项“谁可以有二胎”，D选项“独生子女政策的缺点”都不符合，故选C。