The Economist对中国全面开放二胎的政策评论道：与其说是拯救出生率（这已经太迟了），不如说是为自己的权威留存些颜面而已。
独生子女政策给那些想要多生育的家庭带来了深重的灾难。城市里的父母会受到重罚或失去工作；而乡村里的穷困家庭有时则甚至会被收刮干净，家徒四壁。这个政策的最终结果却是：如今中国的婴儿太少了，而非太多。
实际上在70年代后，随着教育普及，中国的出生率就开始下降。尽管独生子女政策加速了出生率下滑，但其他国家也同样呈现出这样的趋势。从那些国家的变化中我们可以看到，促使中国出生率降低的更紧要因素其实在于女性开始更多地参与劳动，教育不断进步，结婚年龄延后与快速增长的教育和住房消费。而独生子女政策最大的效果只是：侵害人权，惩戒了一小部分触犯这个政策的家庭。
此外，新的全面开放二胎政策也是具有误导性质的。或许吧，一些家庭会以为他们被鼓励着去生两个孩子，但这可能也无济于阻止人口的持续滑坡[1]。之前有限制地开放二胎却只换来寥寥响应的结果已经给出了明证。一代人已经被灌输了中国人口太多的思想。如今，除非是富裕阶层，比起生养几个孩子，大多数人更倾向于举全家之力培养一个孩子。
没有任何证据显示全面开放人口政策会引致出生率剧增。所以当今ZF如此不上不下的做法，恐怕主要还是为了再表现表现肌肉、保存点面子以及找个借口养活一百万无处安放的计生干部们……
The Economist在最后说道：限制人口的政策必须得被废除。这并非要促进出生率增长，而是为了那些被独生子女政策伤害过的广大中国家庭。
作为独生子女中的一员，自己一直都希望有个兄弟姐妹在身边。有些话有些事，既不愿意告诉父母长辈，也不能向恋人朋友倾诉，只能憋在心中，默默消解。我们不得不因此而常常感到孤单。这只是我个人微不足道的想法，也或许这样的想法亦存在于许多独生子女的心灵深处。
Cheatsheet
disguised [ADJ]
: Having an appearance that hides the true form
undergo [VERB-T]
: If you undergo something necessary or unpleasant, it happens to you
abortion [NOUN]
: A failure
benighted [ADJ]
: without knowledge or morals
synonymous [adj]
: If you say that one thing is synonymous with another, you mean that the two things are so closely connected in most people's minds that one suggests the other
brutal [ADJ]
: cruel, violent and completely without feelings
bitter [ADJ]
: with an unpleasantly sharp taste/ expressing a lot of hate and anger
irony [NOUN]
: a means of expression which suggests a different, usually humorous or angry, meaning for the words used
belatedly [ADV]
: coming later than expected
rudimentary [ADJ]
: Rudimentary things are very basic or simple and are therefore unsatisfactory
oppression [NOUN]
: when people are governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom
cruelty [NOUN-C/U]
: cruel behaviour or a cruel action
foster [VERB-T]
: to encourage the development or growth of ideas or feelings
egregious [ADJ]
: Egregious means very bad indeed
lukewarm [ADJ]
: not enthusiastic or interested
indoctrinate [VERB-T]
: to repeat an idea or belief frequently to someone in order to persuade them to accept it
bizarrely [ADV]
: very strange and unusual
surge [NOUN]
: a sudden and great increase crippling population surge
crippling [ADV]
: If you say that an action, policy, or situation has a crippling effect on something, you mean it has a very serious, harmful effect
be subject to
: To be subject to something means to be affected by it or to be likely to be affected by it
for the sake of
: in order to help or bring advantage to someone/ because of, or for the purpose of something
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
