Problems of the Elderly Gerontologists (老年人问题学者) study how old people are treated within a society and how the elderly deal with the inevitable problems of aging, particularly those involving health and income. Health problems include normal losses in hearing, eyesight, and memory, and the increased possibility of chronic(慢性的)diseases. These losses are gradual and proceed at different rates for each individual. In general, the health of old people today is better than that of earlier generation-a condition that is likely to improve still further as more people receive better medical care throught their lives. Because most old people are no longer in the labor force, a steady source of income is necessary. Systems of pensions and benefits are characteristic of industrial societies. One example is Social Security in the U. S. , which is now increased automatically as the cost of living rises. thus reducing somewhat the effect of inflation. Although the income of retired people is about half that of working people, most manage to remain financially independent. Income needs and health are what people consider most when they decide whether to retire or not. Putting an end to the limit on the retirement age is not expected to cause many workers to stay on the job if they can afford to retire. The need to relieve strains on the Social Security System, however, has led to legislation that gradually raises the age at which people can get full benefits. This might force them to work longer in the future. Elderly people themselves often display high spirits, satisfaction with life, and feelings of selfworth. The important factors are health and income. The task of modern societies is to ensure that the aged have their basic needs met and that they can continue to function in the community.

They had put up with the behavior from their son which they would not have tolerated from anyone else. accepted suffered endured received

The next morning she told us that the last question didn’t depart till well after midnight. go leave come appear

What makes a major success in Los Angeles is the strength of his public support. concentration intensity conservation stress

All dogs are capable of doing harm to human beings. damage injury danger wound

The people who speak Esperanto hope that the language someday will become the international language for trade, science, and diplomacy. common unique official well-known

Smoking is not permitted in the office. probable possible admitted allowed

On British Newspapers Besides the daily newspapers, there are a number of Sunday newspapers in Britain. Many of them are connected with the “dailies“, though not run by the same editor and his members. The Sunday papers are larger than the daily papers and usually contain more articles concerned with comment (评论) and general information rather than news. The national daily and Sunday papers have the largest circulation(发行) in the world. Of the Sunday papers, the Observer and the Sunday Times are the best known. It is a regrettable fact that the number of magazines of a literary or political nature has dropped down since the war. This has probably been caused by the ever-wider use of radio and television. The most successful magazines are those published for women. Their covers are designed to catch the eye, and they certainly succeed in doing so! They offer their readers articles on cookery (烹饪法), fashion, needlework, and many other matters of women interest. They also provide advice to those in love, and adventures with handsome heroes. Some women’s magazines also include serious articles of more general interest. The visitor who looks at the magazines displayed in a large bookstall (书摊) which may be found in an important railway station will notice that there is a wide variety of technical or semitechnical(半专业的) books and magazines. There are magazines for the motorist, the farmer, the gardener, the nurse, and many others. There are many local and regional newspapers. It is common in Britain for a news agent(报刊经售人) to deliver (投递) the morning papers to his customers for a small extra payment, this service is usually performed by boys and girls who want to earn some pocket-money.

Electric Backpack Backpacks are convenient. They can hold your books, your lunch, and a charge of clothes, leaving your hands free to do other things. Someday, if you don’t mind carrying a heavy load, your backpacks might also power your MP3 player, keep your cell phone running, and maybe even light your way home. Lawrence C. Rome and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. , have invented a backpack that makes electricity from energy produced while its wearer walks. In military actions, search and-rescue operations, and scientific field studies, people rely increasingly on cell phones, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, night-vision goggles, and other battery-powered devices to get around and do their work. The backpack’s electricity-generating feature could dramatically reduce the amount of a wearer’s load now devoted to spare batteries, report Rome and his colleagues in the Sept. 9 Science. The backpack’s electricity-crew, ring powers depend on springs used to hang a cloth pack from its metal frame. The frame sits against the wearer’s back, and the whole pack moves up and down as the person walks. A gear mechanism converts vertical movements of the pack to rotary motions of an electrical generator, producing up to 7.4 watts. Unexpectedly, tests showed that wearers of the new backpack alter their gaits in response to the pack’s oscillations, so that they carry loads more comfortably and with less effort than they do ordinary backpacks. Because of that surprising advantage, Rome plans to commercialize both electric and non-electric versions of the backpack. The backpack could be especially useful for soldiers, scientists, mountaineers, and emergency workers who typically carry heavy backpacks. For the rest of us, power-generating backpacks could make it possible to walk, play video games, watch TV, and listen to music, all at the same time. Electricity-generating packs aren’t on the market yet, but if you do get one eventually, just make sure to look both ways be{ore crossing the street!

He was awarded ＄1,000 damages for the injury he suffered in the accident. compensation insurance commission substitution

They have been tightening their belts for months, adapting themselves to a war economy. modifying adopting arranging adjusting

You don’t need to carry large amounts of cash; actually all financial businesses will be conducted by computers. transmissions transitions transactions transportation

Women’s Rights Movement 1 Women’s rights are guarantees of political, social, and economic equality for women in a society that traditionally gives more power and freedom to men. Among these rights are control of property, equality of opportunity in education and employment, right of voting, and freedom of marriage. Today, complete political, economic, and social equality with men remains to be achieved. 2 Male control was obvious from the time of the earliest written historical records, probably as a result of men’s role in hunting and warfare. The belief that women were naturally weaker and inferior to men was also found in god-centered religions. Therefore, in most traditional societies, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education was limited to learning domestic skills, and they had no access to positions of power. A woman had no legal control over her person, her own land and money, or her children. 3 The Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, which caused economic and social progress, provided a favorable climate for the rise of women’s rights movement in the late 18th and 19th century. In 1848 more than 100 persons held the first women’s rights convention in New York, and the feminists demanded equal rights, including the vote. 4 In the late 1960s women made up about 40 percent of the work force in England, France, Germany, and the United States. This figure rose to more than 50 percent by the mid-1981s. A commission under the President was established in 1960 to consider equal opportunities for women. Acts of Congress entitled them to equality in education, employment, and legal rights. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act, initially intended only for blacks was extended to women. 5 The objectives of the women’s movement included equal pay for equal work, federal support for day-care centers, recognition of lesbian(女性同性恋) rights, making abortion legal, and the focus of serious attention on the problems of forced sex relations, wife and child beating, and discrimination against older and minority women. A) Goals B) History of Women’s Rights Movement C) Start of Women’s Rights Movement D) Traditional Status of Women E) Rights of Women F) Development

Valuing Childhood The value of childhood is easily blurred (变得模糊不清) in today’s world. Consider some recent developments: The child-murderers in the Jonesboro, Ark. schoolyard shooting case were convicted and sentenced. Two boys, 7 and 8, were charged in the murder of an 11 year old girl in Chicago. Children who commit horrible crimes appear to act of their own will. Yet, as legal proceedings in Jonesboro showed, the one boy who was able to address the court couldn’t begin to explain his acts, though he tried to apologize. There may have been a motive-youthful jealousy(妒忌) and resentment. But a deeper question remains: Why did these boys and others in similar trouble apparently lack any inner, moral restraint? That question echoes for the accused in Chicago, young as they are. They wanted the girl’s bicycle, a selfish impulse common enough among kids. Redemption (拯救) is a practical necessity. How can value be restored to young lives distorted by acts of violence? The boys in Jonesboro and in Chicago will be confined in institutions for a relatively short time. Despite horror at what was done, children are not-cannot be-dealt with as adults, not if a people wants to consider itself civilized. That’s why politicians’ cries for adult treatment of youthful criminals ultimately miss the point. But the moral void(真空)that invites violence has many sources. Family instability contributes. So does economic stress. That void, however, can be filled. The work starts with parents, who have to ask themselves whether they’re doing enough to give their children a firm sense of right and wrong. Are they really monitoring their activities and their developing processes of thought? Schools, too, have a role in building character. So do youth organizations. So do law enforcement agencies, which can do more to inform the young about laws, their meaning, and their observance (遵守). The goal, ultimately, is to allow all children a normal passage from childhood to adulthood (成年), so that tragic gaps in moral judgement are less likely to occur. The relative few who fill such gaps with acts of violence hint at many others who don’t go that far, but who lack the moral foundations childhood should provide-and which progressive human society relies on.

How to Jump Queue Fury If you find yourself waiting in a long queue at an airport or bus terminus this holiday, will you try to analyze what it is about queuing that makes you angry? Or will you just get angry with the nearest official? Professor Richard Larson, an electrical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hates queuing but rather than tear his hair out, he decided to study the subject.【46】.He cites an experiment at Houston airport where passengers had to walk for one minute from the plane to the baggage reclaim and then wait a further seven minutes to collect their luggage. Complaints were frequent, especially from those who had spent seven minutes watching passengers with just hand baggage get out immediately. The airport authorities decided to lengthen the walk from the aircraft, so that instead of a one-minute fast walk, the passengers spent six minutes walking【47】.The extra walk extended the delay by five minutes for those carrying only hand baggage, but passenger complaints dropped almost to zero. The reason? Larson suggests that it all has to do with what he calls “social justice“. If people see others taking a short cut, they will find the wait unbearable【48】. Another aspect Larson studied was the observation that people get more fed up if they are not told what is going on【49】. But even knowing how long we have to wait isn’t the whole answer. We must also believe that everything is being done to minimize our delay. Larson cites the example of two neighboring American banks. One was highly computerized and served a customer, on average, every 30 seconds.【50】But because the tellers at the second bank looked extremely busy, customers believed the service was faster and many transferred their accounts to the slower bank. Ultimately, the latter had to introduce time-wasting ways of appearing more dynamic. A) So in the case of the airport, it was preferable to delay everyone. B) The other bank was less automated and took twice as long. C) When they finally arrived at the baggage reclaim, the delay was then only two minutes. D) His first finding, which backs up earlier work at the US National Science Foundation, was that the degree of annoyance was not directly related to the time. E) It’s unbearable for the airport to delay everyone. F) Passengers told that there will be a half-hour delay are less unhappy than those left waiting even twenty minutes without an explanation.

Highways in the US The United States is well-known for its network of major highways designed to help a driver get from one place to another in the shortest possible time.【51】these wide modern roads are generally smooth and well maintained, with【52】sharp curves and many straight sections, a direct route is not always the most【53】one. Large highways often pass【54】 scenic areas and interesting small towns. Furthermore, these highways generally【55】large urban centers which means that they become crowded with【56】traffic during rush hours, when the “fast, direct“ way becomes a very slow route. However, there is【57】always another route to take if you are not in a hurry. Not far from the【58】new “superhighways“, there are often older,【59】heavily traveled roads which go though the countryside.【60】 of these are good two lane roads; others are uneven roads【61】through the country. These secondary routes may go up step slopes along hilly【62】or down frightening hillsides to towns【63】in deep valleys. Though these are less direct routes, longer and slower, they generally go to places【64】the air is clean and the scenery is beautiful, and the driver may have a chance to get a fresh, clean【65】of the world.

The second injection should have been given once the first drug had taken effect. taken place injected worked out worked

Capital punishment was abolished some years ago in some states of the U.S. created decorated improved eliminated

Human facial expression differ from those of animals in the degree to which they can be deliberately controlled and modified. sufficiently noticeably intentionally absolutely

Gambling is lawful in this state. legal irresistible enjoyable profitable

I didn’t help him. I would have however didn’t have the money. or but otherwise still

According to the last paragraph, which of the following is NOT true of elderly people?

The most important factors that one has to consider in making the decision to retire are

The expression “if they can afford to retire“ in paragraph 4 probably means

Social Security in the U.S. is increased

According to the first paragraph, which of the following is NOT a problem of aging?