Online Class Notes (Tibo) [S+R]

Finish reading the article ( https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/12/asia/china-second-child-economy-intl/index.html ) write down words you don’t know.

My hometown is in Zhejiang. about 5 hours. half by train and half by bus. It is easier than before to get tickets. I think 5 years ago the train tickets was very hard to buy because you could only buy the ticket by yourself at the station but now you can buy it by internet. You can buy the ticket 60 days ago before your train so it is very easy to buy. I think on the past few years there are more train than before. so the tickets is more than before.
I think it is different from Shanghai because Shanghai is a big city but my hometown is a small one so the time is slower than Shanghai. I mean for example in SH you need to get up at 7am and go to the office by the subway there are many people so you need to go to the station on time or maybe you will be late but in my hometown there are not so many people so you can do things very slowly.

In the first part is about why China’s birth rate is very slow because it takes a third of a family annual income to raise a child comparing to America, the number is a fifth of their income.
I think it is a problem because the house price is high so Chinese people cannot have enough money to consume.
I think the first reason is women and men are busier than before, especially women, they don’t have enough energy to have another child. and the second reason is to have a child is too expensive to have. I think the 2 reasons are the main reasons.

My hometown is in Zhejiang. about 5 hours from Shanghai . half by train and half by bus. It is easier than before to get tickets. I think 5 years ago the train tickets were very hard to buy because you could only buy them by yourself at the station/ because you had to go to the station to buy them/ because you had to be present at the station to buy them but now you can buy it on the internet. You can buy the ticket 60 days before departure so it is very easy to get. I think in the past few years there are more train than before. There are more tickets than before.
I think it is different from Shanghai because Shanghai is a big city but my hometown is a small one. so the pace (the pace of life) is slower than Shanghai. I mean for example in SH you need to get up at 7am and go to the office by the subway there are many people so you need to go to the station on time or you may be late / you may run late but in my hometown there are not so many people so you can do things very slowly / you can take your time.

The first part is about why China’s birth rate is very slow.  The reason is that it takes a third of a family’s annual income to raise a child in China, comparatively in America, the number is a fifth of their income./ it is only a fifth / but in the US it only takes a fifth of the annual income.
I think it is a problem because the house price is high so Chinese people do not have much available income / Chinese people cannot afford to splash out on gadgets
I think the first reason is women and men are busier than before, especially women, they don’t have enough energy to have another child. and the second reason is raising a child is too expensive . I think those are the 2 the main reasons.

Vocabulary

pace / how fast or slow something is
The pace of life is quite fast in Shanghai.

available income / money left for you to enjoy life and consume
Life is so expensive here, after paying the rent, my available income is very low.

to be present / to show up somewhere.
You have to be present to open an account at the bank.

departure / when you leave
The departure time for our flight is 9:40am

take your time / 不着急
Don’t worry, take your time.

to run late / when you realize that you don’t have enough time
I am sorry I am running late., can we postpone (push back) the meeting by 20 minutes.

to postpone / to reschedule something at a later time
Since the boss isn’t there we had to postpone the meeting to next week.

to hesitate / to wonder
I hesite to go to Beijing, I am not sure.

to shrink / become smaller
My clothes shrunk after I washed them.

to prioritize / to give priority to something / to decide what is more important
When you work you need to prioritize what is the most important

to fuel / to create / to give energy to something
The trade war with the US is fueling fears of an economic slow down.

to swallow / 吞下
When you brush you teeth you do not swallow the water.

a third (1/3)

comparatively / when you compare to

60 days ago before your train -> ago can only be used when talking in the past

incentive / when you try to motivate someone to do something
The government could have a financial incentive to make people have more babies.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/12/asia/china-second-child-economy-intl/index.html