Middle class workers aged 50 and above are being forced to delay their retirement until they are “at least 70 , with many blaming their children, a report revealed yesterday. The report, from the inv 题目和参考答案——青夏教育精英家教网—

题目内容

Middle class workers aged 50 and above are being forced to delay their retirement until they are “at least 70”, with many blaming their children, a report revealed yesterday.

The report, from the investment firm Heartwood, said the delay is “not driven by a love of their job, but by concerns of their ability to find their retirement”. It is not the soaring cost of living which is triggering (引起)the delay. Many blame the fact that they are constantly having to bail out their grown-up children at an age when they presumed they would be financially independent. Asked bout the reason for the delay, one in five middle class workers said they “needed to keep working in order to support their children”. Many grown-up children need help to get on to the property ladder, while others ask their parents to clear their university debts.

More than 40 percent said they plan to remain in work “for an average of five years longer that they had originally planned”. Around one in five said they will delay their retirement until they are aged 70 or above. Many are planning to “ semi-retire” , which means they will stop working full-time to switch to part-time work. Simon Lough, chief executive of Heartwood, said longer periods of semi-retirement are “increasingly becoming the norm” among wealthier people in their 50s and 60s.

He added: “In many cases, they are being faced with greater demands being placed on their pension pots, rises in the cost of living and unexpected financial commitments, such as supporting their children for longer than they had originally anticipated.(预料)”.

It comes as a separate report, from the pension giant Scottish Widows, found one in four women is saving “nothing at all” for their retirement, compared to 17 percent of men. This leaves many forced to rely on the state pension, which is just 102.15 pounds a week if they are eligible (合格的)for the full amount. To make matters worse, the age when a woman can claim her state pension is being increased. It used to be 60 but it will reach 66 in 2020, and will continue to rise in the future.

55. According to the report from the investment firm Heartwood, the major reason that so many middle class workers are delaying their retirement age is__.

A. the rising in the cost of living

B. their love for their jobs

C. supporting their grown-up children.

D. the pension reduce.

56. We can infer from the third paragraph that the average retirement age in Britain is about ___.

A. 70　　　　　 B. 65　　　　　　 C. 60　　　　 D. 66

57. The underlined word “semi-retire” in paragraph 3 most probably means _____.

A. work full-time　　　　 B. work on weekends

C. work part-time　　　　 D. work day and night

58. What can we learn from this passage?

A. Many parents are blaming their children for their retirement dreams are crushed because of their inability to get a job.

B. More than 40 percent of the British people are planning to delay their retirement until they are 70 or above.

C. The women in Scotland will have to claim their state pension in an earlier age in the future.

D. The semi-retirement is only popular among a small number of wealthier people in their 50s and 60s.

CBCD

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I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was 36 and when I was 14 he said, “You’re never going to be 37 but a failure.” After five years of 38 jobs, I fell in love with a very nice middle-class girl. It was the beatific 39 that could have happened to me. I 40 I wanted to do something positive (积极地) with my life because I wanted to prove to 41 that what people said about me was 42 . Especially her mother, who had said to me, “Let’s 43 it, you’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done.” So I tried hard with my 44 and went to college. My first novel 45 while I was at college. After college I taught during the 46 in high schools and attended evening classes at London University, where I got a 47 in history. I became a lecturer at a college and was thinking of 48 that job to write full time 49 I was offered a part-time job at Leeds University. I began to feel proud of myself — 50 was a working-class boy who’d 51 school early, now teaching at the university. My writing career (职业) took off when I discovered my own style. Now I’m rich and 52 , have been on TV, and met lots of film stars. 53 what does it mean? I 54 wish all the people that have put me down had 55 : “I believe in you. You’ll succeed.”

You’ve just come home, after living abroad for a few years. Since you’ve been away, has this country changed for the better—or for the worse?
If you’ve just arrived back in the UK after a fortnight’s holiday, small changes have probably surprised you—anything from a local greengrocer suddenly being replaced by a mobile-phone shop to someone in your street moving house.
So how have things changed to people coming back to Britain after seven, ten or even 15 years living abroad? What changes in society can they see that the rest of us have hardly noticed—or now take for granted? To find out, we asked some people who recently returned.
Debi: When we left, Cheltenham, my home town, was a town of white, middle-class families—all very conservative (保守的). The town is now home to many eastern Europeans and lots of Australians, who come here mainly to work in hotels and tourism. There are even several shops only for foreigners.
Having been an immigrant (移民) myself, I admire people who go overseas to find a job. Maybe if I lived in an inner city where unemployment was high, I’d think differently, but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because they’re more open-minded and often work harder than the natives.
Christine: As we flew home over Britain, both of us remarked how green everything looked. But the differences between the place we’d left behind and the one we returned to were brought sharply into focus as soon as we landed.
To see policemen with guns in the airport for the first time was frightening—in Cyprus, they’re very relaxed—and I got pulled over by customs officers just for taking a woolen sweater with some metal-made buttons out of my case in the arrivals hall. Everyone seemed to be on guard. Even the airport car-hire firm wanted a credit card rather than cash because they said their vehicles had been used by bank robbers.
But anyway, this is still a green, beautiful country. I just wish more people would appreciate what they’ve got.
【小题1】After a short overseas holiday, people tend to _______.

A．expect small changes

B．notice small changes

C．welcome small changes

D．exaggerate small changes

【小题2】How does Debi look at the foreign settlers?

A．Cautiously.	B．Sceptically.
C．Positively.	D．Critically.

【小题3】When arriving at the airport in Britain, Christine was shocked by _______.

A．the relaxed policemen	B．the messy arrivals hall
C．the bank robbers	D．the tight security

【小题4】Which might be the best title for the passage?

A．Back in Britain.	B．Life in Britain.
C．Britain in Future.	D．Britain in Memory.

Last year．I took a sightseeing trip to Washington, DC．I heard a voice say, “Can you help me?” When I turned around, I saw an elderly blind woman with her hand extended．Immediately, I pulled out all of my change and placed it on her hand without even looking at her．But the blind woman smiled and said, “I don’t want your money．I just need help finding the post office．”
In an instant, I realized what I had done．I acted with prejudice―I judged another person simply for what I assumed she had to be．I hated what I saw in myself．
The thing I had forgotten about myself is that I am an immigrant．I left Honduras and arrived in the US at the age of 15．I started my new life with two suitcases, my brother and sister．Through the years, I have been a doorkeeper, cashier and pizza delivery driver among many other humble(卑微的)jobs, and eventually I became a network engineer．
In my own life, I have experienced prejudice．I remember a time―at the age of 17―when I was a busboy, I heard a father tell his little boy that if he did not do well in school, he would end up like me．
But now, living in my American middle-class lifestyle, it is too easy to forget my past, to forget who I am, where I have been ,and to lose sight of where I want to be going．That blind woman on the streets cured me of my blindness．She reminded me of my belief in humility(谦虚)．By the way, I helped that lady to the post office．I hope to thank her for the priceless lesson．
【小题1】How did the writer give the blind woman money?

A．In a modest way	B．In a polite way
C．In an impatient way．	D．In a painful way

【小题2】According to the text, the writer__________．
A．still lives a poor life
B．was busy with his work
C．was born in Honduras
D．was a native of Washington D．C．
【小题3】According to the text, the author most probably agrees that one should__________．

A．be nice to the elderly and the disabled

B．try to experience different kinds of culture

C．treat others equally with love and respect

D．think about one’s past as often as possible

【小题4】What would be the best title of the text?

A．A priceless lesson	B．An act of prejudice
C．A sightseeing trip	D．A humble moment

Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮）.

Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.

Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs, which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.

The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money: hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.

The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4m to set up. And, as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.

1.What does this text mainly talk about?

A. Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars.

B. Skiing as a new way of enjoying one’s spare time.

C. Things to be considered when starting a ski resort.

D. A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing.

2.Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?

A. To visit more ski areas.

B. To ski on natural snow.

C. For a large collection of ski suits.

D. For better services and equipment.

3.What is the main problem in running a ski resort?

A. Difficulty in hiring land

B. Lack of business experience

C. Price wars with other ski resorts

D. Shortage of water and electricity

According to sociologists(社会学家), every modern industrial society has some form of social stratification(阶层). Class, power and status are important in deciding people’s rank in society.

Class means a person’s economic position in society. A commonly used classification is lower class, middle class and upper class. While sociologists disagree on how these terms should be exactly defined, they do describe societies like the United States quite well. One study shows that 53% of Americans belong to the lower class, 46% the middle class, and 1% the upper class. Interestingly, a surgeon earning ＄500,000 a year and a bus driver earning ＄50,000 a year both regard themselves as the middle class!

Power refers to the amount of control a person has over other people. Obviously, people in positions of great power (such as governors) exercise(行使)big power, but people who take orders from others have less power. Power and class do not always go hand in hand, however. For example, the governor of a state has great power, but he or she may not belong to a corresponding (相应的)economic class. Generally, however, there is a relationship between power and class.

To our knowledge, there aren’t too many people who aren’t millionaires in the U.S. Senate!

Status is the honor or respect attached to a person’s position in society. It can also be affected by power and class, but not necessarily so. For example, a university professor may have a high status but not belong to a high social class or have a lot of power over others.

1.What can we learn about “the middle class” from Paragraph 2?

A．People earning ＄50,000 a year belong to the middle class.

B．Nearly half Americans belong to the middle class.

C．People generally consider bus drivers as the middle class.

D．Sociologists have a clear definition of the middle class.

2.According to the text, we know that _____.

A．power and class do not always correspond with each other

B．status refers to a person’s economic position in society

C．people with high status have a lot of control over others

D．class is less important in deciding a person’s social rank

3.Which of the following shows the structure of the whole text?

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