大学英语视听说4第六单元文本

第六单元
ALS-I
Script
Tanya: Hello, everyone. Welcome to your Tuesday Lunch Break. I’m Tanya Rivero. We begin today with the latest census report out this morning, showing the US population is expected to grow significantly older over the next several decades. By 2050 it is projected to reach 83.7 million, almost double the number of elderly in 2012. The baby boomers are largely behind this shift, as the first wave began turning 65 a few years ago. And the racial face of the elderly is changing, with many more Hispanics and non-Whites in the mix. By 2050, the U.S. is expected to have the largest older population of all developed nations with the exception of China and India, the world’s two mo st populous countries.
Joining us now to break this all down is Daniel Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Libertarian think-tank, the Cato Institute. Hi Daniel, thanks for being with us.
Daniel: I’m glad to be on the program.
Tanya: So, Daniel, this report concludes that this dramatic population shift is expected to drain resources from areas like education and shift them toward areas like health care. I think that’s probably an obvious shift, but what are some of the other changes in store? Daniel: From an e conomic perspective, the big thing we need to look at is we’re going t o have a worsening worker-dependent ratio. What does that mean? It simply means that as our population ages, there are going to be more and more old people relying on that 16 to 64 working age group, to produce the goods and services our economy needs. Tha t’s a big challenge. Setting aside government policy and everything else, an aging population, whether it’s in the US, Japan, or in Europe, is going to be a significant burden for a lot of economies moving forward.
Tanya: So what does that mean specificall y? Let’s talk about Medicare, is there any chance it will last?
Daniel:That’s the real challenge. Now let’s bring government policy into the mix. When you have tax and transfer programs like Medicare, like Social Security, like Medicaid, and a lot of these programs explicitly funnel big benefits to the elderly, and your population is aging;
that’s a recipe for fiscal crisis. I mean, we all probably remember in school, learning about a po pulation pyramid. The assumption was always that you’d have a lot more workers and a small group of retirees. Well, we’re moving from a population pyramid to something more like a population cylinder, and tax and transferring government programs simply don’t work. You’re going to have too many people riding in the wagon, and not enough people pulling the wagon because the tax rates that you would have to impose on those workers would be crippling to the economy.
Tanya: And that cylinder can almost get top heavy, which would certainly mean it might topple.
Now let’s talk a lit tle bit about the younger workers. Is there any hope for this group?
What do they have to look forward to?
Daniel: Well right now, they’re already paying 15.3% payroll taxes, between Soc ial Security and Medicare, that’s the so called FICA, part of their pa ycheck. Of course, they only see half of it because the other half is paid on their behalf by their employers. But, it’s 15.3% now.
In order to try to bail out Social Security and Medica re, you’re talking about those tax rates in effect doubling. And of co urse, that’s a huge burden on these younger workers at
a time when economic growth is likely to slow down because so many people are going
to be leaving the labor force. Which, to me, is why we’re facing a slow-motion train wreck. That’s the bad news. The good news, it’s slow motion.
Tanya: Right.
Daniel: If we do real genuine retirement reform now, we can avoid the crisis 15, 20, 25 years down the road.
Tanya:All right, we’ll all have t o get to work. Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute. Thank you for that.
Daniel: Thank you.
ALS-II
Scripts:
Many don’t like the idea of spending their later years in a retirement home and more and more are seeking alternatives.
This group of people founded a cooperative and bought a house right in Bern’s old town, close to the market and the river. On Saturdays, residents and friends gather for lunch. “We have our own apartments and can continue organizing our own lives. But on the other hand, we’re like a family in this house. People know each other and help and look afte r one another.”
Swiss life expectancy is among the highest in Europe. At the same time, the fertility rate is low. This results in one of the largest aging populations in the world. But what does this mean for society, and how happy are the elderly in this country? Francois Hoepflinger is an expert on aging demographics. According to his studies, a greying society to a large extent has positive effects.
“There are more grandparents which are healthy and can engage with young children, and surprisingly, how active the ‘young’ o ld are! We have a real revolution of active seniors, elderly. There are increasing costs in health systems, in pensions. But on the other side, all the people are consumers. That’s one of the largest and most rapidly-increasing consumer markets.”
Indeed, by and large, the elderly in Switzerland have a high standard of living. Social security for the elderly is better than it is for young families. But what about social contact?
Pro Senectute is Switzerland’s biggest organization helping people to maintain life quality in their old age as well as giving advice on financial and health issues. Pro Senectute offers a wide range of activities for seniors.
Pensioner Marie Therese Sieber works as a volunteer for the foundation two days a week. For the former school teacher, retirement wasn’t easy in the beginning. Now she’s used to her new weekly structure and enjoys having a lot of spare time.
“In Switzerland, we are aware that there are a lot of elderly and there are a lot of opportunities
for them. For instance, I can travel at low cost or I can join organized hiking trips. When people get lonely in their old age, such activities are important for meeting others. However, people should be able to stay in their own surroundings as long as possib le. From what I’ve s een, once people have to move to an old people’s home, they no longer have to deal with things and they become lethargic.”
At the cooperative in Bern, as well as personal apartments, there’s a communal kitchen, a guest room and even a meditation room.
For Hilde Thalman, this is one of the reasons she decided to live here.
“Together we organize up to four events a year, cultural, social or political events. With today’s life expectancy, we have to assume that we still have several years l eft. So it’s importa nt to keep doing something.”
“I wouldn’t want to become as old as our parents holed up in their houses.”“That’s easy for us to say. We never had a house like our parents.”
This home is one of four such places in Bern.
Today there are more choices of how t o spend one’s later years than there were in recent decades. As long as people remain healthy, there’s still a lot they can get out of life. According to Francois Hoepflinger’s studies, this is a reversal of the situation forty years ag o, when the elderly were a marginal group, mostly poor and unhappy. They even have the edge on the young.
“People who are retired have a much higher life satisfaction than younger generations. And we found that, in fact, in many instances, the social problems we have in Switzerland are more problems of young people than of the elderly.”
SLS
Word Bank
bad off 经济条件差的luxury adj. 奢侈的
shrink v. 收缩，使缩小hospice n. 救济院，收容所
facility n. 设施，设备
1. bad off 经济条件差的
e.g. The widower was bad off every day when he was left alone.
这个鳏夫丧偶之后，经济每况愈下。

She can no longer spend money since her family is bad off.
自从她家道中落之后，她就再也没钱用了。

2. shrink v.收缩，使缩小
e.g.In the next few years, the nation’s wealth will either stagnate or shrink.
未来几年，该国经济要么停滞不前，要么大幅缩水。

China’s central bank has raised interest rates five times since mid-2010 to try to shrink inflation.
从2010年中期中国央行已经五次提高利率以减少通涨。

3. facility n.设施，设备
e.g. This facility will need to be available for the disaster recovery effort.
灾后重建工作需要这种设施。

Before it was decommissioned in 1992, the facility was used to build and test nuclear reactors.
在1992年退役之前，该设施一直服务于核反应堆的修建和测试工作。

4. luxury adj. 奢侈的
e.g.I don’t believe that luxury goods are needed for a high quality of life.
我认为高品质的生活并不需要奢侈品。

European-style villas and luxury apartments are being built behind the club’s main polo fi eld.
俱乐部后面的球场正在修建欧式别墅和高档公寓。

5. hospice n.救济院，收容所
e.g. The Netherlands has hospice units of two to four beds in nursing homes rather than hospitals.
荷兰的救济院有2—4床的养老套房，但是医院却没有这样的套房。

In the small rural community, hilly terrain separating the local AIDS clinic and hospice makes communication difficult.
在一些农村地区，山区地形使艾滋病诊所和救济院很分散，这造成了交通的困难。

Scripts
90-year-old Lu Jicai and his 85-year-old wife Ma Huayun lead a happy life at home. The elderly couple is taken care of by their 60-year-old daughter Lu Min g who’s also retired.
“Their health is still good. So we haven’t had to do much. Our family i s not so bad off, so we don’t have many concerns.”
Ms. Lu lives with her parents, keeping them company and making sure they’re well fed. But she relies on a nurse to come in weekly to check blood pressure and help them exercise.
There’s a whole generation of people like Ms. Lu, who work with their brothers and sisters to care for their aging parents.
Almost 90% of the elderly who need care receive it from their fami ly. But as China’s aging population grows, the number of family members to care for loved ones is shrinking, thanks to the country’s on e-child policy.
For every one child, there will be two parents to care for. Ms. Lu has only one daughter who will marry, and she and her husband will then have four parents to watch over.
“Say if my daughter finds a boyfriend who’s also a single child. After they marry, they’ll have both sides’ elderly parents by their side. They certainly won’t be able to look after us. So I’ve not planned for them to take care of us in the future.”
Ms. Lu isn’t alone. By 2030, China’s elderly population is expected to reach 235 million, that’s
nearly 75% of the U.S. population. So, many Chinese families will have to consider nursing homes. China today has only enough facilities to house 2% of seniors. Luxury nursing homes are new in China, and few can afford the $1600 a mo nth fee, an amount way over most people’s pensions. Cheaper alternatives like the Chun House Community Center offer meals and basic care for up to $800 a month, but many have long wait lists and services are limited. Cost is one reason why 60-year-old Su Yapa has chosen hospice care for her parents. Sontang Hospice, a private center in Beijing, costs as low as $450 a month.
“After she got sick, she stayed in the hospital for more than 70 days with a high temperature. But because we were breaking the limits of our insurance coverage, we couldn’t take care of her at home, so we chose to bring her here. ”
Sontong wasn’t always w elcome. The nursing home has been forced out of neighborhoods over the past three decades, many people fearing the idea of nursing homes and death. But with more people aging, the idea of giving people a place to live before they die is becoming more acceptable.
“We didn’t feel as if we were welcomed before. We were forced to move around. The fina l time we moved, it felt the community was in support of us, helping us move into the neighborhood.”
Most won’t be as lucky as Liu and Ma, who celebrate 60 years o f marriage together under the care of their daughter. With fewer children to look after their parents, the elderly could prove to be a burden on China’s rising generation.
Words and Expressions
1. bad off: economically poor; in a disadvantageous position 经济条件差的
e.g. The widower was bad off every day when he was left alone.
这个鳏夫丧偶之后，经济每况愈下。

She can no longer spend money since her family is bad off.
自从她家道中落之后，她就再也没钱用了。

2. shrink v. to reduce in size 收缩，使缩小
e.g. In the next few years, the nat ion’s wealth will either stagnate or shrink.
未来几年，该国经济要么停滞不前，要么大幅缩水。

China’s central bank has raised interest rates five times since mid-2010 to try to shrink inflation.
从2010年中期中国央行已经五次提高利率以减少通涨。

3. facility n. something designed and created to serve a particular function and to afford a particular convenience or service 设施，设备
e.g. This facility will need to be available for the disaster recovery effort.
灾后重建工作需要这种设施。

Before it was decommissioned in 1992, the facility was used to build and test nuclear reactors.
在1992年退役之前，该设施一直服务于核反应堆的修建和测试工作。

4. luxury adj. of or pertaining to something that is unnecessary and expensive 奢侈的
e.g.I don’t believe that luxury goods are needed for a high quality of life.
我认为高品质的生活并不需要奢侈品。

European-style villas and luxury apartments are being built behind the club’s main polo field.
俱乐部后面的球场正在修建欧式别墅和高档公寓。

5. hospice n. nursing home or program for people who are dying or incurably ill 救济院，收容所
e.g. The Netherlands has hospice units of two to four beds in nursing homes rather than hospitals.
荷兰的救济院有2—4床的养老套房，但是医院却没有这样的套房。

In the small rural community, hilly terrain separating the local AIDS clinic and hospice makes communication difficult.
在一些农村地区，山区地形使艾滋病诊所和救济院很分散，这造成了交通的困难。