A serious problem for today’s society is who should be responsible for our elderly(老年人) and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.
First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.
Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.
In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions（养老金）. Furthermore, some in-situation should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.
One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.
To sum up, all these options（选择）have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.
【小题1】What is the passage mainly about?

A serious problem for today’s society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.
First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.
Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.
In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions(养老金). Furthermore, some in-situations should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.
One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.
To sum up, all these options(选择) have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.
【小题1】According to the passage, how can the government help to improve the lives of retired people?

A serious problem for today's society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.
First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.
Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.
In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.
One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.
To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.
【小题1】What is the passage mainly about?

A serious problem for today's society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.

First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.

Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.

In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.

One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.

To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A．The problems faced by the old in society.

B．Why we should take responsibility for the old.

C．How we can improve the lives of the old.

D．Where the old can go to get their pensions.

2. The underlined word "viable" most probably means"       ".

A．impossible         B．practical          C．useful            D．important

3.What is the writer's main purpose in writing this article?

A．To point out the need for government support for old people.

B．To make general readers aware of the problems of retired people.

C．To discuss some possible solutions to an important social problem.

D．To instruct retired people on how they can have a happier life.

4.The text is most likely to be found in a book about____.  

A．social science                          B．historical events

C．political problem                        D．political systems

       A．Use cash．Instead of paying things with credit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas and groceries．Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there’s an added advantage of knowing when you’re out of cash.

       B．Small weekly savings transfers．I got this idea from my friend, who automatically deducts(扣除) $20 a week from his check to savings．I decided that I could live with the deduction of $40/week without really feeling it — it’s a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about $2,000 a year!

       C．Stay at home．Going out makes you spend money unnecessarily．You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, and stop at the gas station for snacks．It’s hard to avoid spending when you’re on the road．Instead, stay at home and find free entertainment．It’s also a great way to bond with your family.

       D．Don’t get catalogs(商品宣传册)．Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very temting(引诱人的) to buy something you don’t need．Instead, stop getting the catalogs, and you’ll spend less.

       E．Keep a 30-day list．If you have an impulse(冲动) to buy something you don’t absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list．You can’t buy anything but necessities — everything else goes on the list．When the 30 days are up, you can buy it — but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.

       F．Cook at home．I know it seems more difficult than eating out．But it doesn’t have to be hard．Make home-made pizza with a ready-made crust, some sauce, cheese and veggies．Put some spices on something and throw it in the oven while you cook some brown rice．Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, but it’s healthier.

阅读下面几位消费者的情况介绍，并为他们匹配合适的建议。

1.Mr．And Mrs．Brown are a newly-married couple who work in the same company．They don’t earn much in their work, but they have to spend a larger part of their income to pay for their rent and daily necessities．Furthermore, they seldom eat at home because neither of them cooks well．Therefore, they have to pay a lot more extra money for food.

2.Mrs．Wang enjoys shopping very much because she is free all day long．Whenever she is wandering in the shops or stores, she will have a strong impulse and find it difficult for her to get back home with her hands empty．But it is quite often that she will find what she has bought is almost useless when she gets home.

3.Tony is a university student in New York, who is far away from his parents．He pays everything with his credit card．He finds it very cool for him to purchase with his credit card．However, he often finds his money has already run out in the middle of the month.

4.Miss Betty is a high school girl whose parents give her some money every week．As her parents don’t earn much money, she wants to save some money secretly so that she can buy a digital camera.

5.Miss Catherine is a young girl who is easily to be persuaded into buying something useless．She will get encouraged to buy something when she sees an advertisement．Her parents have warned her many times against doing such stupid things, but it doesn’t work much.