英国新闻听力 对退休和养老金的思考（在线收听）

Good morning. With the start of the new financial year, pensions are in the news. In 1883 German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck found a way to head off the growing appeal of socialism. He gave everyone a pension from age 65. It was a safe offer: few people lived that long. In those days it was possible to be old, but not yet receiving a pension. These days it’s the other way round: you can receive a pension, but not yet be old. We’ve created a season between working age and old age. It’s called retirement.

It seems to me we don’t know how to talk about retirement. Some speak of a fitting reward after 45 largely thankless years of hard labour. Rather more, perhaps, are terrified of the prospect of what looks like idleness or isolation, impoverishment or a sense of impotence. Our society idolises the independent individual with consumer power and endless choices. Retirement looks like an ebbing tide withdrawing such freedom from reach.

Jesus told a parable about a master whose steward was sent to deal with his creditors. The steward marked down each creditor’s debt, so that, when he was fired, those creditors would welcome him into their homes. To the steward’s surprise, he wasn’t fired. Instead, the master praised his dishonest actions, saying ‘You’ve ensured you’ll have friends when the unknown and hazardous future comes upon you.’

None of us can plan accurately for retirement because none of us knows what the future will hold. Our health, our families, our employment are all more fragile than we care to admit. The parable encourages us not to trust in things that will guarantee us independence and security: for there are no such things. Instead we do better to invest in the associations and friendships that will abide even when our lives take an unexpected course.

As I looked out on my congregation on Easter Sunday, I wondered, ‘Where else in society do you see elderly and infant, wealthy and disadvantaged, those with dementia, disability or debilitating illness, refugee and civil servant, all talking and connecting together with no contractual or professional structures involved?’ Here are people whose retirement plans are about ensuring, when they’re fired or fall sick or get in trouble, there’ll be a myriad of friends who’ll step forward to welcome them into their homes.

Retirement names the time when work doesn’t want us but we’re not yet dependent on others for care. Of course it’s wise to make financial plans. But our best investment may be to ensure we’re part of a community where people know us and love us – and realise our age is the least interesting thing about us.

早上好，随着新财年的开始，养老金就成了新闻。1883年，德国总理奥托·冯·俾斯麦发现了能阻止社会主义日益渐涨的吸引力的办法，他给所有65岁以上的人都提供养老金，这是个稳妥的办法，因为很少人能活到那么大岁数。而在现在，活到老年是可能的，但可能得不到养老金。现在的情况恰好相反：你可以得到养老金，但你这时候还不够年老。我们在工作年龄和老年之间创造了一个阶段，就是退休。

在我看来我们并不知道如何谈论退休，有的人称它是多年辛苦工作后，在45岁后得到的适当回报。但人们可能会更加担心那看起来无聊或孤单、贫困和感到无能的未来。我们的社会将那些有着消费能力和无尽选择的独立个人视为偶像，而退休看起来像是退潮，自由变得遥不可及。

耶稣讲过一个寓言故事，一位主人派管家去处理与债主有关的事务。这位管家篡改了每位债主的债，这样，当他被解雇时，这些债主将欢迎他来到自己的家中。但令这位管家吃惊的是，他没有被解雇。相反，他的主人赞扬了他不诚实的行为，他说，“你能确保自己在未知和危险的将来来临时仍有朋友”。

没有哪个人能精确地为未来进行计划，因为我们都不知道未来将是什么样子。我们的健康、家庭和工作都比我们愿意承认的要脆弱，这个寓言告诉我们，不要相信那些能确保我们独立和安全的东西，因为根本没有这样的东西。相反，我们最好能去投资那些仍不变的关系和友谊，即使我们的生活会遭遇难以预测的未来。

周日复活节我看着教堂会众们，我在想，“在社会的其他地方你能看到那些年老和年幼者、健康的和弱势人群，那些痴呆症患者、残疾人或虚弱多病的人，难民和公务员，在没有契约或职业关系的前提下，他们都会在一起讲话并发生联系吗？”有些人的退休计划是有保障的，当他们被解雇、生病或遇到困难时，他们将会有一群朋友来欢迎他们来到自己家中。

退休意味着工作不再需要我们、而我们尚未依赖别人来照顾的时候，当然能做好财务计划是明智的。但我们最好的投资可能是确保自己是社会的一部分，能有人认识和爱我们，并意识到我们的年龄是我们身上最无趣的事情。