The following questions are based on Passage 4 in this test paper. Read the passage carefully again and answer the questions briefly by referring back to Passage 4. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage 4
At the age of 97, John Goodenough became the oldest person ever to win a Nobel Prize. The chemistry professor thereby settled an old score: 33 years before he won the award his employer, the University of Oxford, tried to make him retire before he wanted to. He “fled", in his words, to Texas where he has spent the entire intervening period happily working.
Professor Goodenough's work ethic demonstrates what is wrong with the often told story in rich countries about the young shouldering an ever greater burden as they support an ageing population. Those like the professor who might once have been pensioned off by their mid-sixties are now working longer. The young, meanwhile, do not go off to earn as early as they once did, and spend far longer studying.
Social scientists have traditionally used a “dependency ratio” comparing the number of those between the ages of 15 and 64 to everyone else in order to assess the sustainability of welfare states. Those of “working age" must support those who cannot work. A high dependency ratio means fewer people are funding health care, education and social security programmes.
This vision of the workforce is out of date. Advances in medicine mean many people can, and choose to, work far longer than the age of 65. Others, especially the low paid, who have not accumulated private pension rights, have been forced to continue working as state pension ages have increased.
As globalisation and automation have reduced the number of manufacturing jobs in rich countries, workers in the west have been able to keep going for longer. Physical labour wore out the bodies of factory workers and miners, but accountants and call centre operators face different kinds of stress.
In the US, where overall participation in the labour force has been declining since the financial crisis, those above the age of 65 are more likely to be in work now than before 2008. This pattern is the same across rich countries.
The traditional definition of“working age" is redundant. The 15-64 age band should be put out to grass. Instead, experts should use a version that reflects the new milestones in the developed world.
The University of Oxford still has a retirement age of 67, arguing that it needs to “refresh" the ranks of senior academics. Professor Goodenough is a reminder that allowing them to recharge might be more appropriate.
What does the author suggest doing concerning working age?
【正确答案】：(1) The author suggests throwing away the 15-64 age band, the traditional definition of working age, (2) and using a version that reflects the new milestones in the developed world.
