The decade of the “young old” begins“悠得人”的十年

山東東明縣東方高中 李全忠

2020年將開啟“悠得人”（“yold”）的十年。“悠得人”即“年輕老人”（young old），是日本人對65至75歲人群的稱呼，現在這個說法已在世界范圍傳播使用。

題材社會體裁說明文文章詞數 難度 建議用時329 ★★★ 6 分鐘

難詞探意

1. retirement /r??ta??m?nt/ n. 退休

2. bulge /b?ld?/ n. 暴漲

The year 2020 will mark the beginning of the decade of the yold, or the “young old”, as the Japanese call people aged between 65 and 75. The traditional retirement age is 65. One might therefore expect peak retirement. By continuing to work, and staying socially engaged,the yold will change the world, as they have done several times before at different stages of their lives.

The yold are more numerous, healthier and wealthier than previous generations of seniors.The yold are busier, too. In short, the yold are not just any group of old people. They are challenging the traditional expectations of the retired as people who wear slippers and look after the grandchildren. That will disturb consumer, service and financial markets.

The over-60s are one of the fastest-growing groups of customers of the airline business. The yold are vital to the tourism industry because they spend much more, when taking a foreign holiday, than younger adults.

But for all this to happen, three big things will have to change, under pressure from the yold themselves. The most important is public attitudes towards older people, and in particular the expectation that the old ought to be putting their feet up and quietly retiring into the background. Then, government policies will have to change, too. The retirement age in many rich countries is still below the age to which many people want to work. The effective retirement age (the age at which people actually leave the workforce) is usually even lower. Third, higher numbers of healthy yold people will require drastic changes in health spending. Most diseases of ageing are best controlled with prevention and lifestyle changes. But only about 2%～3% of most countries' health-care spending goes on prevention. That will have to rise, because although the yold will constitute a bulge of comparative health and activity over the next decade, by 2030 they will hit 75—and enter a long period of decline for which few rich countries are ready.

Reading Check

1. What kind of people are the yold exactly?

A. They are workaholics.

B. They are full of energy.

C. They enjoy being focused on.

D. They like staying socially engaged.

2.Why do the yold contribute to tourist industry?

A. They like traveling more.

B. They have more money.

C. They consume more on travel.

D. They have much free time.

3. What's the author's attitude toward healthcare spending on prevention?

A. Unsatisfied.

B. Subjective.

C. Neutral.

D. Active.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

By continuing to work, and staying socially engaged, the yold will change the world, as they have done several times before at different stages of their lives.

【翻譯】_______________________________

【點石成金】本句為一個主從復合句，by+V-ing是介詞短語作狀語，主句主語是the yold，as引導一個方式狀語從句。