阅读理解
The alarm on our household computer terminal rings and wakes me up. My husband simply stirs and goes back to sleep. I transfer today's information onto the personal data card I carry with me everywhere and scan today's readings. Values are given as to the number of liters of water I can use, the amount of coal-generated electricity I have allocated and how many 'enviro-credits' I have learned. I am free to use the water and electricity as I chose, however I notice that the ration of electricity is decreasing every day. Of course, this will not be a problem when we have earned enough enviro-credits to buy another solar panel. Enviro-credits are earned by buying goods with limited of no packaging, minimizing the amount of garbage thrown out by financially supporting 'environtechnology'. Before cars were phased out due to unpopularity, credits could be gained by using public transport. I notice all extra passage added to the readings. At last I have been given permission to have a child. Almost instantaneously a package arrives with a label on it-'Anti-sterilization Unit'. Inside there are instructions and a small device that looks like a cross between a pistol and a syringe. Eagerly I follow the instructions. The procedure is painless and I don't know if I am imagining it but I seem to feel the effects at once. Shaking my husband awake, I tell him the good news. I want to get started baby-making right now. 'You've been on the waiting list for 37 years,' he says, 'Can't you wait until I've woken up properly?' I decide that I probably don't have much choice and wander downstairs. I am feeling very privileged to have the opportunity to create a new life. It is saddening, however, when I realize that, because of strict population controls, this new life will be replacing an old one. I decide to ring my mother and tell her the good news. When she answers the phone she is crying. She has received word that my grandmother has failed her latest health check and will be euthanized next week. For some reason, I don't feel like creating that new life anymore.