单选题
单选题
Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early Protestant immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude, the Protestant Work Ethic, still influences America today. Work is not only important for economic benefits, the salary, but also for social and psychological needs, the feeling of doing something for the good of the society. Americans spend most of their lives working, being productive. For most Americans, their work defines them: they are what they do. What happens then, when a person can no longer work Almost all Americans stop working at the age of sixty-five or seventy and retire. Because work is such an important part of life in this culture, retirement can be very difficult. Retirees often feel that they are useless and unproductive. Of course, some people are happy to retire; but leaving one’s job, whatever it is, is a difficult change, even for those who look forward to retiring. Many retirees do not know how to use their time or they feel lost without their jobs. Retirements can also bring financial problems. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. Each employer also gives a certain percentage to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. Senior citizens, those over sixty-five, have to have savings in the bank or other retirement plans to make ends meet. The rate of inflation is forcing prices higher each year; Social Security checks alone cannot cover these growing expenses. The government offers some assistance, Medicare(health care)and welfare (general assistance), but many senior citizens have to change their life styles after retirement. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to buy food, fuel and other necessities.
Of course, many senior citizens are happy with retirement. They have time to spend with their families or enjoy their hobbies. Some continue to work part time, others do volunteer work. Some, like those in the Retired Business Executives Association, even help young people to get started in new business. Many retired citizens also belong to "Golden Age" groups. These organizations plan trips and social events. There are many chances for retirees.
American society is only beginning to be concerned about the special physical and emotional needs of its senior citizens. The government is taking steps to ease the problem of limited income. They are building new housing, offering discounts in stores and museums and on buses, and providing other services such as free courses, food service, and help with housework. Retired citizens are a rapidly growing percentage of the population. This part of the population is very important and we must meet their needs. After all, every citizen will be a senior citizen some day.
The passage is mainly about ______.
A:money and check B:senior and junior C:work and retirement D:Protestants and Americans
Text 1
The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required from pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people.
Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future.
Earlier criticism of retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1996. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive.
In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rates higher.
There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is, adaptations of retirement rules or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.
A:Retirement stopped being practiced. B:Age limitation in retirement was abolished. C:Retired people were no longer entitled to pensions. D:Age discrimination was legally abolished.
Text 1
The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required from pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people.
Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future.
Earlier criticism of retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1996. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive.
In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rates higher.
There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is, adaptations of retirement rules or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.
A:Because it is believed that to manage an older workforce is challenging. B:Because retirement expands opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. C:Because older workers can adjust to retirement soon. D:Because it is supported by both government and private industry.
Text 1
The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required from pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people.
Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future.
Earlier criticism of retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1996. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive.
In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rates higher.
There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is, adaptations of retirement rules or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.
A:retraining of old people in modern skills. B:the trend toward early retirement. C:the expansion of agriculture and manufacturing industry. D:the declining younger labor force.
Text 1
The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required from pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people.
Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future.
Earlier criticism of retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1996. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive.
In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rates higher.
There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is, adaptations of retirement rules or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.
A:it gives more leisure to old people than they know how to use. B:it costs too much money in the form of retirement pensions. C:it is too rigid and flexibility should be integrated into it. D:retirement should be practiced only in the public sector.
Opponents of the retirement policy say
A:it gives more leisure to old people than they know how to use. B:it costs too much money in the form of retirement pensions. C:it is too rigid and flexibility should be integrated into it. D:retirement should be practiced only in the public sector.
Why is retirement found to be a convenient practice for managing the labor force
A:Because it is believed that to manage an older workforce is challenging. B:Because retirement expands opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. C:Because older workers can adjust to retirement soon. D:Because it is supported by both government and private industry.
Just recently the trustees of Social Security and Medicare issued their annual reports on the programs’ futures. Here’s one startling fact: By 2030 the projected costs of Social Security and Medicare could easily consume—via higher taxes—a third of workers’ future wage and salary increases. We’re mortgaging workers’ future pay gains for baby boomers’ retirement benefits.
This matters because Social Security and Medicare are pay-as-you-go programs. Current taxpayers pay current benefits. Future taxpayers will pay future benefits. Baby boomers’ retirement benefits will come mostly from their children and grandchildren, who will be tomorrow’s workers. Consequently, baby boomers’ children and grandchildren face massive tax increases. Social Security and Medicare spending now equals 14 percent of wage and salary income, reports Elizabeth Bell, a research assistant to Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.. Of course, payroll taxes don’t cover all the costs of Social Security and Medicare. Still, these figures provide a crude indicator of the economic burden, because costs are imposed heavily on workers via some tax, government borrowing and cuts in other government programs.
It can be argued that the costs are bearable. The wage gains in the trustees’ reports could prove too pessimistic. Like all forecasts, they’re subject to errors. Even if they come true, they assume that tomorrow’s wages will be higher than today’s. Productivity increases; wages rise. In 2030, under the trustees’ "intermediate" assumptions, workers’ before-tax incomes would be about a third higher than now, says Tom Saving of Texas A&M University. What’s the complaint if workers lost—through steeper taxes— some of that Why shouldn’t they generously support parents and grandparents Well, maybe they will. But there are at least two possible flaws in this logic.
The first is that, on a year-to-year basis, wage gains would be tiny—less than 1 percent. When they’ve gotten that low before, people have complained that they’re "on a treadmill" and that the American dream has been withdrawn. Even these gains might be diluted by further tax increases to trim today’s already swollen budget deficits. The second and more serious threat is that higher taxes would harm the economy. They might dull economic vitality by reducing investment and the rewards for work and risk-taking. Productivity and wage gains might be smaller than predicted. Then we’d flirt with that death spiral: We’d need still higher taxes to pay benefits, but those taxes might depress economic growth more.
One way or another, workers may get fed up with paying so much of their paychecks to support retirees, many of whom were living quite comfortably. So we ought to redefine the generational compact to lighten the burden of an aging population on workers. The needed steps are clear: to acknowledge longer life expectancies by slowly raising eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare; to limit future spending by curbing retirement benefits for the better-off; to keep people in the productive economy longer by encouraging jobs that mix "work" and "retirement".
To avoid a dismal future of the retirement programs, maybe we could
A:acknowledge generational conflicts. B:raise the retirement age by several years. C:impose a heavy tax on rich people. D:encourage early full retirement.
A:money and check B:senior and junior C:work and retirement D:Protestants and Americans
您可能感兴趣的题目
