People in China are among the most fearful of getting old, a new global survey suggests.
According to Bupa, a British healthcare organization, which asked 12262 people in 12
countries about their attitudes toward aging, 28 percent of the Chinese polled said they feel
depressed when they think about getting old.
And although 72 percent of all respondents aged 65 and over said they do not feel old,
the survey conducted in June and July this year found more than half of those aged 45 to 54
in China already consider themselves to be elderly. About 30 percent of Chinese respondents
said they worry about who will look after them in later years, while 91 percent agreed the
government of the world"s most populous nation should improve care for the elderly.
However, because people in China think about their future earlier, research suggests the
country could be one of the best prepared for addressing the aging problem. About one third
of Chinese respondents--more than double the global average-said they have put money aside
for retirement, while 46 percent have taken out insurance, the poll showed. Despite being one
of the best prepared nations, three fifths of those surveyed in China expect their family to care
for them when they can no longer do so themselves.
A Bupa-sponsored report,however, revealed that the "informal care network" (the traditional
pattern of families looking after the elderly) is disintegrating. This is due to a number of factors,
said the report, including structural changes to the population, the increase of women in employment,
the increase of one-person households and the rise in divorce rates.
The first batch of Chinese couples with only one child are largely in their 50s or 60s because the
country"s family planning policy was adopted in the late 1970s.
Li Yinping, 55, a retired accountant, said she thinks only people in their 70s can be called old.
She said her pension is enough to support her in later years and that her only hope is that her son
can visit regularly. "I don"t worry about my later years at all," said Li. "When I"m old, I can turn to a
rest home. The local hospital can deliver the medicine I need with just a phone call."
Xiao Zhe, a 26-year-old computer engineer in Beijing, is an only child whose parents live in his
hometown of Chongqing. "I"m so busy with my work that I can"t go back to visit them often," he said.
"When they"re not able to care for themselves, I will hire a nurse to look after them."
China will become the oldest society in the world by 2030, according to a recent report by a
Beijing-based government think tank. The United Nations also forecasts that people aged 60 and
over will account for 28 percent of the country"s total population by 2040.
B. Who is to look after the elders
C. Chinese are afraid of getting old
D. Old Home Is Popular in China
B. the increase of women in employment
C. the development of economy
D. the rise in divorce rates
B. giving birth to more children
C. hiring a nurse
D. turning to a rest home
A. Chinese government put forward family planning policy in the late 1970s.
B. Senior citizens will account for a high percentage of the country"s total population by 2040.
C. The local hospital can deliver the medicine to senior citizens in need.
D. There is a trend that grown-up children live apart from parents
made public at a kids expo in east China"s Zhejiang Province has predicted.
The market 1 for children"s products in China was more than 1 trillion yuan (152 billion
U. S. dollars) in 2010 and that 2 is expected to hit 2 trillion yuan by 2015, according to
the report.
The report said that the 3 growth of the business had a lot to do with the country"s large
population, steady consumption (消费) and 4 attention to child health and education in
recent years.
It is 5 that China has a population of about 200 million 6 under the age of 10 according
to the report.
A Chinese family will spend an 7 of 5,000 yuan (758 dollars) per child each year, according
to a 8 by the Hangzhou Association of Industries on Children. This money goes to a variety of
companies 9 child products and 10 such as baby milk powder, clothing, toys, education and
entertainment.
According to a report by the China E-commerce Research Center, online shopping of baby
milk powder from overseas companies 11 reached 2.4 billion yuan in 2010. __12 is another
area that has 13 investors (投资者) at home and abroad. Twelve Chinese educational
institutions (机构) have won __14 support from overseas investors, with 15 totaling 100 million
dollars so far.
( ) 1.A. request ( ) 2.A. figure ( ) 3.A. smooth ( ) 4.A. existed ( ) 5.A. recorded ( ) 6.A. children ( ) 7.A. offer ( ) 8.A. survey ( ) 9.A. making ( )10.A. prices ( )11.A. hopefully ( )12.A. Education ( )13.A. surprised ( )14.A. entertaining ( )15.A. materials | B. demand B. result B. small B. reduced B. advertised B. adults B. amount B. record B. sending B. services B. unexpectedly B. Entertainment B. influenced B. financial B. exports | C. requirement C. production C. rapid C. drawn C. said C. teenagers C. expense C. document C. providing C. cares C. theoretically C. Culture C. shocked C. training C. investments | D. devotion D. money D. slow D. increased D. admired D. students D. average D. finding D. leading D. qualities D. fortunately D. Agriculture D. attracted D. cultural D. products | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
阅读理解。 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The US Department of Labor statistics show that there is an oversupply of college trained workers and that this oversupply is increasing. Already there have been more than enough teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly trained people to compete for jobs that aren"t there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the professions for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which do not require a college degree. On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, TV repairmen. These people have more work than they can deal with, and their annual incomes are often higher than those of college graduates. The old gap that white-collar workers make a better living than blue collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen. The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a prosperous future. A large part of American society matches success in life equally with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating (灌输) their children with this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn"t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs available to them. One result of this emphasis on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. It"s implied but not stated in the passage that ______. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. many other countries are facing the same problem B. fewer students will prefer to go to college in the future C. the law of supply and demand has a strong effect on American higher education D. white-collar workers in the US used to make more money than blue-collar workers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2. Which of the following is NOT a reason why the number of college students goes up every year? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. Many parents want their children to go to college. B. Every young man and woman wants to go to college. C. High school teachers urge their students to go to college. D. Many people believe that the only way to success is a college education. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3. By saying that "many people go to college who do not belong there", the author means that______. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. many people who do not have enough money go to college B. many people who go to college have their hopes destroyed C. many people who go to college drop out within the first year D. many people who are not fit for college education go to college | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4. We can infer from the passage that the author believes that ______. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. college education is a bad thing B. every young man and woman should go to college C. people with a college education should receive higher pay D. fewer people should go to college while more should be trained for skilled jobs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
阅读理解。 请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格的空格处里填入最恰当的单词。 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Profits of Praise Are we too quick to blame and slow to praise? It seems we are. Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow unwilling to give others the warm sunshine of praise. It"s strange how mean we are about praising. Perhaps it"s because few of us know how to accept praise gracefully. Instead, we are embarrassed and shrug off the words we are really so glad to hear. Because of this defensive reaction, direct compliments are surprisingly difficult to give. That is why some of the most valued pats on the back are those which come to us indirectly, in a letter or passed on by a friend. Do you ever go into a house and say, "What a tidy room!" Hardly anybody does. That"s why housework is considered such a boring job. Shakespeare said, "Our praises are our wages." Since so often praise is the only wage a housewife receives, surely she is well worth praising. Mothers know naturally that for children an ounce of praise is worth a pound of scolding. Still, we"re not always aware of children"s small achievements and we seldom apply the rule. One day I was criticizing my children for quarreling. "Can you never play peacefully?" I shouted. Susanna looked at me, confused. "Of course we can," she said. "But you don"t notice us when we do." Teachers agree about the value of praise. "I believe that a student knows when he has handed in something above his usual standard," writes a teacher, "and that he waits and is hungry for a brief comment in the margin to show him that the teacher is aware of it, too." Behavioral scientists have done countless experiments to prove that any human being have a tendency to repeat an act which has been immediately followed by a pleasant result. In one such experiment, a number of schoolchildren were divided into three groups and given arithmetic tests daily for five days. One group was consistently praised for its previous performance; another group was criticized; the third was ignored. Not surprisingly, those who were praised improved dramatically. Those who were criticized improved also, bus not so much. And the scores of the children who were ignored hardly improved at all. Interestingly the brightest children were helped just as much by criticism as by praise, but the less able children reacted badly to criticism, needed praise the most. Yet the latter are the very youngsters who, in most schools, fail to get the pat on the back. To give praise costs the giver nothing but a moment"s thought and a moment"s effort-perhaps a quick phone call to pass on your praise, or five minutes spent writing an appreciative letter. It is such a small investment-and yet consider the results it may produce. "I can live for two months on a good compliment," said Mark Twain. So, let"s be alert to the small excellences around us-and comment on them. We will not only bring joy into other people"s lives, but also, very often, added happiness into our own. Title: Profits of Praise
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