完形填空      With 950 million people, India ranks second to China among the most populous countries. But since China     56    a family planning program in 1971, India has been closing the     57    .  Indians have reduced their birth rate but not nearly     58    the Chinese have. If current growth rates continue, India's population will     59    China's around the year 2028     60    about 1.7 billion. Should that happen, it won't be the     61    of the enlightened women of Kerala, a state in southern India.     62    India as a whole adds almost 20 million people a year, Kerala's population is virtually     63    . The reason is no mystery: nearly two-thirds of Kerala women practice birth control,     64    about 40% in the entire nation.
    The difference     65    the emphasis put on health programs,     66    birth control, by the state authorities,     67    in 1957 became India's first elected Communist     68    . And an educational tradition and matrilineal (母系的) customs in parts of Kerala help girls and boys get     69    good schooling. While one in three Indian women is     70    , 90%of those in Kerala can read and write.
    Higher literacy rates     71    Family planning. 'Unlike our Parents, we know that we can do more for our children if we have     72    of them,' says Laila Cherian, 33, who lives in the Village of Kudamaloor. She has limited herself     73    three children--one below the national     74    of four. That kind of restraint (抑制, 克制) will keep Kerala from putting added     75    on world food supplies.