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  3. The world is on the cusp of a staggering rise in the number of old people, an

The world is on the cusp of a staggering rise in the number of old people, an

游客2023-12-31  18
问题    The world is on the cusp of a staggering rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years, the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will lead to slower economic growth and "secular stagnation", while the swelling ranks of pensioners will bust government budgets.
   But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people whereas older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in the U.S., where well-educated baby-boomers are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out the workforce.
   This trend will benefit not just fortunate oldies but also, in some ways, society as a whole. Growth will slow less dramatically than expected; government budgets will be in better shape, as high earners pay taxes longer. Rich countries with lots of well-educated older people will find the burden of ageing easier to bear than other countries like China, where half of all 50-to-64-year-olds did not complete primary-school education. At the other end of the social scale, however, things look grim. Manual work gets harder as people get older, and public pensions look more attractive to those on low wages and the unemployed.
   Nor are all the effects on the economy beneficial. Wealthy old people will accumulate more savings, which will weaken demand. Inequality will increase and a growing share of wealth will eventually be transferred to the next generation via inheritance, entrenching the division between winners and losers still further. One likely response is to impose higher inheritance taxes. So long as they replace less-fair taxes, that might make sense. This would probably encourage old people to spend their cash rather than salt it away. But governments should focus not on redistributing income but on generating more of it by reforming retirement and education.
   How likely are governments to make these changes? Look around the rich world today, and it is hard to be optimistic. The swelling ranks of older voters, and their disproportionate propensity to vote, have left politicians keener to pander to them than to implement disruptive reforms. Germany, despite being the fastest-ageing country in Europe, plans to cut the statutory retirement age for some people. In the U.S., both social security (the public pension scheme) and the fast-growing system of disability benefits remain untouched by reform. Politicians need to convince less-skilled older voters that it is in their interests to go on working. Doing so will not be easy. But the alternative — economic stagnation and even greater inequality — is worse. [br] Which of the following notions tends to be ignored as a new trend?
选项 A、The big gap between the well-educated and the undereducated.
B、The wide gap between male and female workers.
C、The widening gap between the skilled and the unskilled.
D、The growing gap between the working young and the idle old.
答案 C
解析    细节识别。根据关键词notion和a new trend可以检索到第二段的相关表述“a new trend，the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled”，即新的趋势是熟练技工和不熟练技工之间的鸿沟越来越宽。其中，逗号后面的短语是a new trend的同位语，是对后者的解释。这样的同位语在阅读理解题中经常用来确定先行词的词义。因为选项C与原句一致，所以不需要推理即可判断。【知识拓展】本题看似简单，细节识别题很容易找到原句的一致表述，但选项有很强的干扰作用，因为其余的选项在文中均出现过，所以需要紧扣题干，以免落入命题陷阱。题干提到tends to be ignored，与原文的misses相对应，因此，找准notion和misses就可确定答案。否则，逐项对比其余选项会浪费阅读时间。
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