雅思高频范文：延迟退休

延迟退休的问题虽然刚提上议程没有几年，但对于雅思考试，它已是一道常考的老题。由于全球人口平均预期寿命的不断增长和老龄化现象的加剧，各国都面临养老金不足和社会保险经济压力过重的问题。包括英国、德国、法国、美国在内的众多国家都不约而同地出台了延迟法定退休年龄的措施，这一现象已经成为世界流行的趋势。同时，也因为损害了劳动者权益，遭到了其国内民众的强烈反对：

EU urges governments to raise retirement age

(BRUSSELS) - European governments need to raise the retirement age becauseworkers are living longer and their pension systems could implode, the EuropeanCommission said on Wednesday。

The European Union"s executive arm formally launched a debate alreadyraging in several EU countries that are planning unpopular measures to bringdown huge public dicits and keep their pension systems afloat。

"The number of retired people in Europe compared to those financing theirpensions is forecast to double by 2060 -- the current situation is simply notsustainable," said EU social affairs commissioner Laszlo Andor。

"The choice we face is poorer pensioners, higher pension contributions ormore people working more and longer," Andor said at the official presentation ofa "green paper" on pensions。

Weak growth, ballooning national debt and higher unemployment "have made itharder" to make good on pension promises and "more urgent" to rorm them, thecommission paper says。

In the past 50 years, life expectancy in the European Union has risen byabout five years and could increase by another seven years by 2060, thecommission says。

At the moment there are four working-age people for every person over 65 inthe 27-nation EU. That ratio will drop to two for every person over 65 by 2060,the commission says。

On average, Europeans retired at the age of 61.4 in 2008.

This compares to 65 years for workers in the United States and 70 years inJapan. In the 31-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development,the average retirement age for men is 63.5.

Andor denied "unfounded rumours" that he was calling for the retirement ageto be raised to 70 in Europe。

John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation,said the commission"s proposal was "unrealistic"。

"Where is the evidence that employers want to keep older workers in work?"Monks said in a statement。

"We know the life expectation is rising but see no evidence that a higherage of retirement would be matched by employers developing workplaces whichencourage older workers to remain at work," he said。

我们来看看各国在这一问题上的不同反应：

Govt denies immediate plan for retirement age rise

BEIJING - China"s human resources authorities are seeking to relievegrowing public concerns over the government"s reported consideration to lift theretirement age in response to a financial shortage facing the country"s pensionfund。

"China has no immediate plan to adjust the retirement age," an unidentifiedofficial of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) wasquoted as saying on Thursday by People"s Daily。

France retirement age protests turn violent

(PARIS) Protests against a proposed hike in retirement age by the Frenchgovernment took an increasingly radical turn with masked youths setting fires incities across France yesterday。

UK retirement age challenge fails

In the UK, a worker can see their employment end at the age of 65 withoutany redundancy payment - even if they do not want to retire。

However the judge in the case said there was a compelling case for thecompulsory retirement age to rise。