Question

There have been discussions about retire age limit recently. Does it make sense to make people retire at a particular age, say, 55? 60?

Some people work well into their 70s and 80s, running families, countries or corporations while other people, despite being fit and highly talented, are forced to retire in their fifties or even earlier. Here I will examine whether people should be allowed to continue working as long as they want or whether they should be encouraged to retire at a particular stage.

Some people think there are several reasons for allowing older people to continue working. Firstly, older employees are more experienced and their knowledge can be lost to his company or business if they are made to retire. Secondly, older employees are often extremely loyal and more willing to carry out company policies than younger staff. Another point is related to our society’s attitudes to the old. To force someone to retire at 50 or 60 indicates that the society does not value the contribution of these people, which may be regarded as age discrimination.

However, others believe that allowing older people to work indefinitely(無限期) is not a good policy. Age alone is no guarantee of ability. Old people are ambitious workaholics. Many young employees are more skillful than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement encourages new ideas in an organization. In addition, without age limits, many people would continue to work purely because they did not have any other plans. Another reason is that older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy their leisure. We now have youngsters who can’t find jobs because old people refuse to retire. This new generation of “old people” may think they will never die due to modern advances in medicine.

With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, older workers are expected to retire. However, this can affect their right to work. I feel that giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit both society and the individual.

1.All the following statements are reasons for allowing old people to continue working EXCEPT that _______.

A．their contributions should be valued

B．their experience should be appreciated

C．they can be ambitious workaholics

D．they are extremely loyal employees

2.The underlined sentence in the fourth passage suggests that _______.

A．retired people support the young to be creative

B．more fresh employees mean more fresh ideas

C．retired people are unwilling to praise new ideas

D．young employees are forced to be creative

3.The structure of the passage is arranged as __________

4.The author is likely to agree that ________’

A．it’s not wise to suggest lengthening the retirement age

B．it does make sense to set a particular retirement age

C．having different retirement age sounds unreasonable

D．when to retire should depend on the employees themselves

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要講述的人們對老工人是應該退休還是應該繼續工作這一話題的討論。分別從支持者和反對者兩個方面進行了闡述，在文章最后一段還方便了作者自己的觀點。

1.C 細節題。根據文章第三段Some people think there are several reasons for allowing older people to continue working. Firstly, older employees are more experienced and their knowledge can be lost to his company or business if they are made to retire. Secondly, older employees are often extremely loyal and more willing to carry out company policies than younger staff. Another point is related to our society’s attitudes to the old. To force someone to retire at 50 or 60 indicates that the society does not value the contribution of these people, which may be regarded as age discrimination.說明ABD三項都是原因。根據文章第四段Old people are ambitious workaholics.說明C項不是支持老人繼續工作的的原因。故C項正確。

2.B 推理題。根據Many young employees are more skillful than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement encourages new ideas in an organization.說明很多的年輕人很有技巧，更能帶領新的思想，故B正確。

3.A 篇章結構題。文章第一段引起話題，第二段進行解釋說明。第三段和第四段分別從支持和反對的角度展開說明，最后一段進行總結。故A正確。

4.D 推理題。根據文章最后一句I feel that giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit both society and the individual.說明作者認為應該給人們更多的自由和靈活性，讓他們自己選擇。故D正確。

考點：考查議論文閱讀

點評：本文主要講述的人們對老工人是應該退休還是應該繼續工作這一話題的討論。從題目設置的角度看，本題側重對學生把握文章中心段落和各段落的中心句的能力的考查，所以遇到這類題后，要注意把握好文章結構，了解文章中心意思，找到各段落中心句。不要讓文中的一些生詞影響了注意力。