两篇阅读理解改编自课本
第十一篇 Is There a Way to Keep the Britain's Economy Growing
1.In today's knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best.Japanese design electronics while Germens export engineering techniques. TheFrench serve the best food and Americans make computers.
2.Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn'tmanufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and businessconsultants who earn their living from talk, talk and more talk. The WorldFoundation think tank1 says the UK's four iconic jobs today are not scientists,engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they're hairdressers, celebrities,management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the Britisheconomy going? The British government thinks it can.
3.Although the country's trade deficit was more than ￡60 billion in 2006,UK's largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing toworry about. In fact, Britain does have a world-class pharmaceutical industry,and it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services— accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believesBritain is on the cutting edge2 of the knowledge economy. After all, the countryof Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud.Rock “n” roll3 is an English language medium, and there are billions to be madeby their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty ofstrength to carry the British economy.
4.However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK'sexports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make aprofit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technologyand the Arts4. The report shows only 38 percent of British companies wereengaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average andwell below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent).
5. In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy — thereare at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population areemployed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Manygraduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Mostemployment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of theservice sector — in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing andcare homes.
译文：是否有办法使英国经济继续保持增长
现今的知识经济体系下，各国都发挥其特长以求生存。日本靠生产电子产品，而德国出口工程技术。法国有著名的美食，美国则制造计算机。
英国人以口才见长。英国制造不出什么东西，但却有一把把的律师、造型师和商业顾问。他们每天的生计除了说，还是说。世界基金组织的智囊团公布，如今英国的四大偶像职业已不再是科学家、工程师、教师和护士，而变成了发型师、名流显要、管理顾问和商业经理。但这些以说见长的工作是否能保持英国经济的增长?英国政府认为可以。
尽管2006年英国的贸易赤字已超出600亿英镑，创英国战后史上的最高，英国官方却称此不足为患。事实上，英国的确拥有世界先进水平的制药工业和可以小赚一笔的军工业。除此之外，它还出售服务业，即会计业、保险业、银行业和广告业。英政府认为英国正处在知识经济的风口浪尖上。毕竟这个诞生出了莎士比亚和华兹华斯的国度有着可以引以为荣的文学传统。摇滚乐也是传播英语的媒介，英国就有很多顶尖的摇滚乐队，可以带来数十亿的收入。换句话说，这种以创造力为本的经济有诸多优势来承载英国经济的发展。
然而，创造力产业占英国出口商品和服务的总额还不足4%。据英国国家科学、技术和艺术捐赠委员会报告，这些行业越来越发现盈利不易。报告显示只有38%的企业进行有关创新的活动，比欧盟的平均水平还要低三个百分点，更是远远落在了德国(61%)和瑞典(47%)之后。
事实上，称英国经济为“仆人经济”或许更形象些——因为至少有400万人在做服务性工作。英人口的大多数受雇富人，替他们做饭、打扫和看孩子。甚至许多大学生正从事体力劳动，根本用不着文凭。雇佣增长的大部分过去是，将来仍将是由服务业中的低端技术部分实现，即商 店、酒吧、宾馆、家政服务和养老院这样的地方。
第十四篇 The Sandwich Generation(2014新)
Today people often look forward to their middle age as a time when theywill be able to take things easier. After their children are grown, they expectto enjoy the life they have worked hard to create. However the reality is oftenvery different. In middle age, many people discover that they have two ongoingresponsibilities: one is to look after their aging parents,and the other is tohelp their young adult children deal with the pressures of life. Around theworld, there are millions of people who are “sandwiched”in between the older andthe younger generations. Sometimes there may be two or three generations livingin the same household — a situation that is common in many Asian countries andin some parts of Europe. In other cases, a couple may be taking care of parentsand children, but they do not live with them.
There are two important reasons for the rise of the sandwich generation.First, people are living longer than
they used to. In the early nineteenthcentury, the average life expectancy for adults in the United States，forexample，was about 40，whereas today people live to an average age of 75.Therefore, children are taking care of their parents over a longer period oftime. The second reason is that these days, young adults often live with theirparents for a longer time than they did in the past. This is often for financialreasons. It’s also more common for today’s young adults to return home during orafter college if they need financial or emotional support.
People who take care of elderly parents often face difficult issues. Theymay have to cover expenses that their parents cannot. They may have to managetheir parents’ financial and legal affairs. They may have to prepare for theirparents’ future needs, such as special medical care or a
move to a nursing home.This can be a traumatic experience for everyone.
Caring for adult children presents challenges as well, and caregivers haveto resolve important questions; How can financial responsibilities be sharedamong members of the household? How can household chores be shared? What is thebest way to ensure everyone’s privacy? Successfully coping with these issues canavoid a lot of stress for the whole family.
The financial and emotional pressures on the sandwich generation can beoverwhelming. However, this time in life also has its rewards. It can be a timeto rediscover the special qualities of one’s parents or children. It can alsoprovide a valuable opportunity to spend more time with them. However, in orderto survive this difficult period in their lives, the members of the sandwichgeneration must remember that they also need to pay attention to their own needsand look after the quality of their own lives. They can’t be totallyselfless.
译文：三明治一代
现在很多人都向往中年，觉得到那个时候就能放松一下了。孩子们长大了，中年人期望有时间享受努力工作创造的生活，但是现实却不允许。到了中年，许多人发现自己同时担负两项责任，一个是照顾老去的父母，二个是帮助刚成年的孩子分担生活的压力。全世界有数百万人像三明治一样夹在两代人中间。有些情况下，两代或三代人住在一起，这在许多亚洲国家和一些欧洲国家很常见。在有些家庭中，夫妇俩会照看父母和孩子，但并不与他们居住在一起。
三明治一代人数的增加有两个重要原因：一是人们的寿命比以前长了。比如在19世纪早期，美国人的平均寿命在40岁左右，而现在人们通常能活到75岁。因此，孩子们照顾父母的时间变长了。二是出于经济考虑，现在的年轻人跟父母住的时间比以前长了。现在，年轻人在上大学期间或毕业后还会回家，以寻求经济和情感支持，这种情况也很常见。
照顾年迈父母的人常常要面对一些问题。他们要解决几个重要问题：家庭成员间该怎样分担经济负担?家务活怎样分配?怎样才能更好地保护每个人的隐私?成功解决这些问题，就可以为整个家庭减轻很大负担。
三明治一代肩上的经济和精神压力可能使他们不堪重负，但中年这段时间也给他们带来回报。这段时间可能会使他们重新发现自己的父母或孩子的特殊才能，同时也给家庭成员共度欢乐时光提供了机会。然而，为了度过生命中这段艰难的时光，三明治一代也要注意，一定要注意自身的需求和健康，不能只为别人考虑而忽视了自己。