如果你家的孩子屬于“90后”，而且孩子的性別是女性，那么13年后你可賺大了，物以稀為貴嘛！1月11日，一項最新人口發展戰略研究報告顯示，2005年以后，中國新進入婚育年齡人口男性明顯多于女性，到2020年，20-45歲男性將比女性多3000萬人左右。這將意味著，到2020年，中國將至少出現3000萬左右的光棍，個別省份如廣州未來新娘稀缺現象更為嚴重。

By 2020, some 30 million Chinese men will find itwell-nighimpossible to find a bride as a result of a rising gender imbalance, a report warned yesterday.

For every 100 baby girls born in 2005, there were 118.58 baby boys, and the gap will continue to widen, said the report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission.

In southern provinces such as Guangdong and Hainan, the picture is grimmer: There are 130 baby boys for every 100 baby girls.

Since 2005, the number of men reaching marriage age has been much more than women. "The increasing difficulties men face finding wives may lead to social instability," said the report by more than 300 Chinesedemographersafter two years' research.

This is because Chinese traditionally prefer boys, and with their financial status improved, those in the booming coastal areas can afford to find out the sex of the foetus.

The picture will be starker in the countryside than in cities, said the report.

To solve the problem, there must be afull-fledged social security systemso that rural residents don't have to depend on their sons when they get old, said Wang Guangzhou, researcher at the Institute of Population and Labour Economics affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to the report, China's population will increase by 200 million in 30 years, which means the total population will hit 1.36 billion by 2010 and 1.45 billion by 2020 before peaking at 1.5 billion in 2033.

The figures are calculated on the assumption that China's birth rate will be kept at the current 1.8 meaning one woman of childbearing age giving birth to 1.8 babies. The country must maintain the ratio if it wants to build itself into a well-off society reaching the goal of US$3,000 per capita of GDP in 30 years, said the report.

Thesilver liningis that "for a long time to come, China will not be short of manpower", it said. There were 860 million Chinese of working age between 15 and 64 in 2000, and the number will reach 1.01 billion in 2016, which is "more than the total number of working age people in all the developed countries".

（China Daily）

Vocabulary:

well-nigh：Nearly（幾乎）

demographers：人口統計學家

full-fledged social security system：完善的社保體制

silver lining：（黑暗中的）一線希望，一絲寬慰

（英語點津陳蓓編輯）