EU urges governments to raise retirement age

　　(BRUSSELS) - European governments need to raise the retirement age because workers are living longer and their pension systems could implode, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

　　The European Union's executive arm formally launched a debate already raging in several EU countries that are planning unpopular measures to bring down huge public deficits and keep their pension systems afloat.

　　"The number of retired people in Europe compared to those financing their pensions is forecast to double by 2060 -- the current situation is simply not sustainable," said EU social affairs commissioner Laszlo Andor.

　　"The choice we face is poorer pensioners, higher pension contributions or more people working more and longer," Andor said at the official presentation of a "green paper" on pensions.

　　Weak growth, ballooning national debt and higher unemployment "have made it harder" to make good on pension promises and "more urgent" to reform them, the commission paper says.

　　In the past 50 years, life expectancy in the European Union has risen by about five years and could increase by another seven years by 2060, the commission says.

　　At the moment there are four working-age people for every person over 65 in the 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 in Japan. 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 age to 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 higher age of retirement would be matched by employers developing workplaces which encourage 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 relieve growing public concerns over the government's reported consideration to lift the retirement age in response to a financial shortage facing the country's pension fund.

　　"China has no immediate plan to adjust the retirement age," an unidentified official of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) was quoted 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 French government took an increasingly radical turn with masked youths setting fires in cities across France yesterday.

　　UK retirement age challenge fails

　　In the UK, a worker can see their employment end at the age of 65 without any redundancy payment - even if they do not want to retire.

　　However the judge in the case said there was a compelling case for the compulsory retirement age to rise.

　　【热点话题】今天想就老龄化导致的退休年龄问题和大家聊聊写作。

　　前面这则新闻来源于ebusiness，报道源于欧盟出台的一份报告，敦促欧洲各国提高退休年龄，以缓解退休金支付压力。根据欧盟委员会预计，为了保持现有的退休金支付水平，至2060年，欧盟27个成员国必须将退休年龄提高至70岁。后面的几则新闻则摘取了来自于中国﹑法国和英国政府及民众对于提高退休年龄这一问题的不同态度和行动。一向关注“弱势群体”和“热点问题”的雅思出题者，也在曾经的题目中谈及这方面的内容，我们来看一下以下两道题目：

　　1. In many countries, the proportion of older people is steadily increasing. Does this trend have more positive or negative effects on the society?

　　2. In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Meanwhile, we see some politicians enjoying power well into their eighties. Clearly, there is little agreement on an appropriate retirement age. Until what age do you think people should be encouraged to remain in paid employment?

　　一道题目是讨论老龄化带来的影响，众所周知，这一现象给社会造成了沉重的经济压力，在出生率低寿命较长的西方国家，这一问题导致的直接后果就是“是否要提高退休年龄”，因为这是解决养老金缺口最立竿见影的办法。

　　另一道题目是关于退休年龄的讨论，实际上，各国对于退休年龄的不同态度取决于自身利益，发达国家民众反对延迟退休，是因为担心福利;而在中国，特别是体力劳动者及低收入群体反对延迟退休，是因为担心生计。

　　建议考生可以从这样的一些现实问题中去看待甚至分析题目，并给出相对全面的观点。

　　【精彩片段】下面我们回到刚才的那则新闻摘要中，关注其中对雅思写作此类话题构思及语言有帮助的精彩片段：

　　The choice we face is poorer pensioners, higher pension contributions or more people working more and longer.

　　这句话很好地回答了在老龄化的背景下人们将会面临的问题：靠养老金生活的人生活更为窘迫，养老金缴款更高，人们需要工作更多更长。

　　We know the life expectation is rising but see no evidence that a higher age of retirement would be matched by employers developing workplaces which encourage older workers to remain at work.

　　人们都知道人均寿命在增长，但没有证据证明延迟退休年龄将适合那些准备鼓励上了年纪的劳动者继续留在工作岗位上的雇主。”