Prática de Shadowing: Why China's population is shrinking - Aprenda a falar inglês com vídeo

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This chart shows
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China's birth and death rate over the last 60 years.
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For most of it, births are high.
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But in 2022, China had more deaths than births, causing its population to decrease for the first time in six decades.
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To get why this is such a big deal, consider this.
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China is the world's manufacturing superpower, and that's in large part because of its huge population.
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Nearly 30 % of the country's economic output comes from manufacturing.
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Now here's China's population over the last 60 years.
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Even after losing almost a million people in 2022, its population is still about as big as it's ever been — 1 .4 billion people.
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But that's projected to shrink by nearly half by the end of the century.
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Over the years, China's growth and policies have contributed to its population decline.
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Today, it's looking to reverse course, to keep its population steady.
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The problem is, it might be too late.
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In the 50s under Mao, China experienced one of the most gruesome famines on record.
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30 million people died.
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If we look at that on the birth and death rates chart, you'll see a big spike in deaths.
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At the same time, the birth rate dropped, causing the population to shrink.
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But as often happens with wars, famines and other major crises, immediately after, there was a baby boom.
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Combined with global medical advances that decreased infant mortality rates, China's average family now had six children.
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The birth rate had skyrocketed, which the government saw as a big problem.
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The Chinese leadership realized the population was growing too fast and something needs to be done.
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The government came out with a policy.
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They called it later, longer, fewer.
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Later marriages, longer birth intervals, and fewer births.
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As a result, China's birth rate started trending down.
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But it wasn't low enough for China's leaders.
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And in 1980, they implemented the extreme one -child policy, which limited most families to one child.
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That policy was also backed up by very harsh measures.
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There were campaigns of sterilization, IOD insertion, and induced abortions.
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And while these campaigns began during the later longer -fewer era, they were at their worst under the one -child policy,
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when China sterilized 20 million men and women and induced nearly 15 million abortions in a single year.
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But China had accomplished its goal.
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Population growth was under control.
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Except, as China would soon realize, these restrictive policies worked a little too well.
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In order for any population to stay the same size in the long run, each couple needs to have, on average, 2 .1 children.
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This is called the replacement rate.
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The idea is that one child replaces one parent, and that 0 .1 makes up for children who die before they become adults.
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But China has had a fertility rate that's far below two for over three decades.
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To bring that up, in 2016, China finally ended the one -child policy.
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And after briefly trying out a three -child policy, in 2021, they finally let families have as many children as they'd like.
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But it hasn't worked.
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One big reason is the unique family structure produced by the one -child policy.
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We're looking at what's called a 4 -to -1 family structure with a couple having four parents above them
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and one child below.
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Most countries have diverse family structures, some with three kids, others with none.
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But with China's 4 -to -1 model, millions of only children are under increasing pressure to care for their aging parents and elderly grandparents.
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And this can make having multiple children even harder, especially as the cost of living keeps rising.
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A recent survey revealed
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that more than 50 % of young people don't want more than one child because of financial and work pressures.
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We've seen cash subsidies for additional birth, longer maternal leaves, subsidizes for kindergarten,
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and all sorts of monetary support.
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Well, the thing is, almost none of them has worked because having a child is exceedingly expensive and it's a lifelong commitment.
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And so it's not — it's really actually hard to put a price on this.
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But China's population crisis isn't just about babies.
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It's also about the balance between young and old.
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If we look at population pyramids that show distribution by age, we see that countries like Kenya, with rapid population growth, look like this.
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Wide at the bottom, representing a lot of new young people, and narrow at the top.
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Countries experiencing slower growth, like the Philippines, are still triangular, but the difference between top and bottom is less pronounced.
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Now take a look at China and notice the narrow bottom, so fewer babies, and the heavy top, a larger number of elderly people.
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Which is happy.
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outcome of our improvement in health and in standard of living,
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but combined with sustained low fertility and that just produces sustained population aging.
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In 2050, that pyramid is projected to look like this.
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And that will further drive down
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China's population, shrink its labor force, and put the whole country in a uniquely difficult position.
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In the 80s, China became a hotspot for foreign investment, cheap manufacturing and exports.
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A generation later, it was shooting up the ranks and becoming one of the world's leading and fastest growing economies by GDP.
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But not only did that economic modernization drive birth rates down further, it also didn't translate to an equally strong economy for everyone.
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If we look at the GDP per capita, the best indicator we have for standard of living, China is much lower than these high -income countries.
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China became a major world economy nearly overnight, but it's still a middle -income country.
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Many, especially in rural areas, haven't benefited much from China's economic boom.
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And China has yet to develop the necessary safety nets to support its aging population.
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To build the social infrastructure,
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like the social programs in health care and in pension, It takes time.
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And that's getting actually tougher with the economy that's slowing down.
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And a slower economy will inevitably redefine
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China's role in the world as a manufacturing superpower.
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What this means for China,
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for the world, is that the resource constraints from within would also constrain the Chinese ambition and its global reach.
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In some ways, China isn't alone.
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A lot of Asian and European countries are experiencing population declines, too.
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What makes China different is how fast this all has happened.
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It was only 40 years ago that
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China started leveraging its booming population to become an economic superpower, all while still trying to stem population growth.
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Now that China's population growth is officially over, China may have to rethink its future, not just as a global superpower,
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but for its citizens at home, too.

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Vocabulário e dicas de fala para esta lição

Esta aula de conversação usa o vídeo “Why China's population is shrinking”. As palavras que mais se repetem: population, China, birth, rate, policy. Este vídeo tem 87 frases e 1091 palavras para praticar shadowing. A fala dura 7:22. O falante mantém um ritmo estável de cerca de 148 palavras por minuto, confortável para o shadowing. 85% das palavras estão entre as 3.000 mais comuns do inglês; vale a pena estudar o restante antes de começar.

Vocabulário principal deste vídeo

15 palavras do vídeo que vale a pena aprender, com pronúncia e significado:

PalavraPronúnciaSignificado
fewer/ˈfjuː.ɚ/menos
boom verbo/bum/estrondear, ribombar
chart substantivo/t͡ʃɑɹt/carta náutica
decline verbo/dɪˈklaɪn/declinar
narrow adjetivo/ˈnæɹəʊ/estreito, estreita
abortion substantivo/əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/aborto induzido, aborto
decrease verbo/dɪˈkɹiːs/diminuir, reduzir
elderly adjetivo/ˈɛldɚli/idoso, idosa
combine verbo/kəmˈbaɪn/combinar
sustain verbo/səˈsteɪn/suster
fertility substantivo/fɝˈtɪləti/fertilidade
pyramid substantivo/ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/pirâmide
famine substantivo/ˈfæm.ɪn/fome
induce verbo/ɪnˈduːs/induzir
subsidy substantivo/ˈsʌbsɪdi/subsídio, subvenção

Phrasal verbs que você vai ouvir

PalavraSignificado
slow down verbodesacelerar
try out verboprovar, experimentar

Gramática neste vídeo

As estruturas que o falante mais usa, com as palavras exatas do vídeo:

EstruturaNo vídeo
Present perfect have/has + particípio passado — uma ação passada que ainda importa agorait's ever been · have contributed · has had
Voz passiva be + particípio passado — o foco está no que acontece, não em quem fazbe done · was also backed · is called

Pronúncia para ficar de olho

O falante usa 10 contrações e formas reduzidas, como isn't, didn't, don't. Diga-as na forma curta, do jeito que você ouve.

  • Os sons de “sh” e “zh”: abortion /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/, pension /ˈpɛnʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, ambition /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
  • Palavras longas — acerte a sílaba tônica: fertility /fɝˈtɪləti/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, monetary /ˈmʌnɪtəɹi/, indicator /ˈɪn.dɪˌkeɪ.tə(ɹ)/, inevitably /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbli/

Sons difíceis para falantes de português:

  • Consoante final — sem acrescentar um “i” depois: chart /t͡ʃɑɹt/, pyramid /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/, rank /ˈɹæŋk/, replacement /ɹɪˈpleɪsmənt/, commitment /kəˈmɪtmənt/
  • /l/ final — a língua toca o céu da boca, não vira “u”: reveal /ɹɪˈviːl/, interval /ˈɪntɚvəl/, maternal /məˈtɝnəl/
  • s + consoante no início — sem um “i” antes: steady /ˈstɪdi/, stem /stɛm/, spike /spaɪk/, skyrocket /ˈskaɪˌɹɒk.ɪt/, sterilize /ˈstɛɹɪlaɪz/

Como praticar com este vídeo

  1. Ouça o vídeo inteiro uma vez sem falar e anote as palavras que você não conhece.
  2. Faça shadowing frase por frase na velocidade normal, repetindo cada uma até o seu ritmo ficar igual ao do falante.
  3. Grave a sua voz e compare com o original, prestando atenção a palavras como fewer, boom, chart.

O que é a Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing é uma técnica de aprendizado de idiomas com base científica, originalmente desenvolvida para o treinamento de intérpretes profissionais. O método é simples, mas poderoso: você ouve áudio em inglês nativo e repete imediatamente em voz alta — como uma sombra seguindo o falante com 1-2 segundos de atraso. Pesquisas mostram melhora significativa na precisão da pronúncia, entonação, ritmo, sons conectados, compreensão auditiva e fluência na fala.

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