Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET.
With 950 million people, India ranks second to China among the most populous countries. But since China 【A1】 _____a family planning program in 1971, India has been closing the 【A2】 _____.Indians have reduced their birth rate but not nearly 【A3】 _____ the Chinese have. If current growth rates continue, India’s population will 【A4】_____ China’s around the year 2028 【A5】 _____ about 1.7 billion.
Should that happen, it won’t be the 【A6】 _____of the enlightened women of Kerala, a state in southern India. 【A7】 _____India as a whole adds almost 20 million people a year, Kerala’s population is virtually 【A8】 _____ .The reason is no mystery: nearly two-thirds of Kerala women practice birth control, 【A9】 _____ about 40% in the entire nation.
The difference 【A10】_____ the emphasis put on health programs, 【A11】 _____ birth control, by the state authorities, 【A12】 _____in 1957 became India’s first elected Communist 【A13】 _____. And an educational tradition and matrilineal customs in parts of Kerala help girls and boys get 【A14】 _____good schooling. While one in three Indian women is 【A15】 _____, 90% of those in Kerala can read and write.
Higher literacy rates 【A16】 _____ family planning. “Unlike our parents, we know that we can do more for our children if we have 【A17】_____ of them,” says Laila Cherian, 33, who lives in the village of Kudamaloor. She has limited herself 【A18】 _____three children—one below the national 【A19】 _____ of four. That kind of restraint will keep Kerala from putting added 【A20】 _____on world food supplies.