This year almost every country in Europe will conduct a census, to help governments plan for the future. Sixty years ago the population of the EU’s 27 members was 12% of the world’s total. Today it is 6% and by 2070, unless the censuses reveal surprises, it will have shrunk to 4%. Many European countries have next to no immigration and much emigration, and their populations have been shrinking for years. Without immigration the population of all European countries will shrink, as deaths outnumber births. Populations are ageing, too: on current projections the working-age population will shrink by 18% by 2070, while 30% of the population will be aged 65 or above, up from about 20% today. Some say a smaller population would be a good thing: the Earth’s resources are already stretched. But it still poses an economic problem if it is mostly made up of expensive pensioners rather than tax-paying workers.
语言知识点
1 重点词汇表达
1. census, noun, an official process of counting a country’s population and finding out about the people 人口普查eg. A national consensus was conducted in China last year.
conduct/ carry out census，进行，开展人口普查
complete/ official census, 全面人口普查/ 正式人口普查
2. shrink, vt, If something shrinks or something else shrinks it, it becomes smaller. 使缩小，使收缩，使减少
eg. The firm’s staff had shrunk to only four people because of losing business to covid-19 pandemic.
shrink/ fall/ drop/ reduce by/ to 减少了/ 减少到
rise/ grow/ increase/ gain by/ to 增加了/ 增加到
shrinkage, noun, 缩小，减少
3. outnumber, vt, to be more in number than another group 比…...多，在数量上胜过eg. Their failures vastly outnumber their successes.
easily/ greatly/ vastly outnumber， 容易/ 远远胜过
4. ageing, adj, Someone or something that is ageing is becoming older and less healthy or efficient. 变老的，变旧的eg. The situation of ageing population is increasingly serious worldwide.
aging popoulation, 人口老龄化
5. stretch, vt, If something stretches your money or resources, it uses them up so you have hardly enough for your needs. 耗尽，竭尽(财力或物力)
eg. If they had not been manufactured immediately after an outbreak of the virus, medical resources would have been stretched and healthcare worker would have been exposed to the higher risk of the coronavirus soon.
6. pensioner, noun, a person who is receiving a pension, especially from the government 领养老金（或退休金、抚恤金）者
eg. Pensioners are on the rise in a country.
pension，养老金
2 固定搭配
1. next to, 接近
eg. We sat next to each other.
close to，接近
2. working-age population，劳动人口eg. Drop in the working-age population around the world has posed great challeges to mankind .
3. (be) made up of, 由......组成/构成
eg. A company in China was made up of ten women and sixteen men in 2019.consist of/ constitute，由......组成/构成
3 术语表达
1. the EU, the European Union, 欧洲联盟，简称欧盟，是欧洲多国共同建立的政治及经济联盟，总部设在比利时首都布鲁塞尔，该联盟拥有27个会员国（英国于2020年1月退出），正式官方语言有24种。1952年，欧洲煤钢共同体建立，六年后，欧洲经济共同体和欧洲原子能共同体成立。1993年《马斯特里赫特条约》生效，欧共体转变成欧盟，渐渐地从贸易实体转变成经济和政治联盟。
4 语法点津
1. But it still poses an economic problem if it is mostly made up of expensive pensioners rather than tax-paying workers.
句子结构：主语it + 谓语poses + 宾语problem + 条件状语从句
条件状语从句：主语it + 谓语is made up of + 宾语pensioners
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