Ladies and gentlemen, before I give you my speech, I'd like to draw your attention to your watch for just one second. During this time, 174 new babies were born. Can you imagine how many babies will be born in a minute? In an hour? Even in a day?

Today population expansion is really one of the most serious problems in the world. We're living in a crowded world. With better medical care, fewer babies die today, but the birth rate re-mains unchanged. Moreover, the death rate has been lowered by various kinds of progress. People generally live longer now. All of there circumstances contribute to problems such as: shortage of national resources and food supply, crowded cities and high rates of unemployment.

To solve all these problems, we must take measures to con-trol the birth rate. The first important step is to educate people— to help them understand the advantages of small families. Anoth-er important measure is to raise people's living standards.

China has a large population of 1. 2 billion, so it is important to control the growth of its population. The government of China is carrying out a policy to deal with this problem. It is called "One couple, one child. "Great progress is being made at present.

Though it is a difficult task, we should try our. best to carry out birth control. If we fail to do so, the world will be standing room only for everyone, and the natural resources will be depleted.

All of us are eager to have more room to live and develop. Our society and the whole world also need development.

Which kind of life do you want to lead, wide and comfortable or standing room only? We can choose.

指导教师：张瑞安 王曦波