Healthy, Wealthy – and Still at Work

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 422.

Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets and perform the role play given below.

Grammar in Speech

For older family members the last 50 years (1) _____________ (to see) dramatic changes. All ages (2) _____________ (to affect). For young people childhood (3) _____________ (to shrink), but dependence (4) _________ (to lengthen) in a world in which 44% now go on to higher education. For parents, particularly for women, the changes (5) _________________ (to be) even more dramatic, with an ever-rising need to work and bear the major responsibility for childcare. But for a large number of newly retired grandparents, this is a golden age. Ask Adair Tuner, head of the pension commission, who warned further generations in his recent report that they (6) ____________ (not to be) so well off as the recently retired of today.

Life expectancy (7) _______________ (to lengthen) dramatically in the past 100 years. But we just (8) ________________ (not to live) longer, we (9) _______________ (to enjoy) healthier and more active lives too. Ask the travel industry. Older people (10) ________________ (to sign) up in their thousands for active holidays.

In terms of wealth, the older generation with their mortgages paid off always (11) _______________ (to be) the wealthiest. Some 80% of the nation's wealth (12) _________________ (to hold) by the over-50s. But in terms of income it is not such a rosy picture. The top 20% of pensioner couples are prosperous, with an income of £45,000 or more a year. But below that top group, the others all fall below average income. And at the bottom, there are two million pensioners who (13) _______________ (to live) below the poverty line since they (14) ________________ (to retire).

Isolation is another problem which many older people face. This is not because of a new generation of ungrateful children, but because a more mobile society (15) ________________ (to widen) the distance between family members. The two generation family under one roof is now a rarity.

(From ‘The Guardian', abridged)