2019年P(guān)ETS-3沖刺模擬試題第一套閱讀A

Labor force is defined as being the total number of people who are available to work and earn income.This definition includes everyone who is employed or seeking paid employment,so it includes employees and the self-employed.Labor is one of the country's resources which can be combined with other resources to produce the goods and services required by the community.

Though the size of the workforce relies greatly on the size of the total population,there are several other aspects which also affect it.The age distribution of the total population has a very marked effect on the available workforce.If the population has a high proportion of very young people or of those too old to work,then the available workforce would be lower than if there were an evenly spread age distribution.If the population grows rapidly from natural increase,i.e.the number of births greatly exceeds the number of deaths,then as a total population increases,the proportion in the workforce declines.

Sometimes a population is described as aging,which means that the birth rate is either falling or growing very slowly,and as people retire from the workforce,there are inadequate numbers of young people entering it to take place of those who are leaving it.The population is top-heavy with older people.So the percentage of the population in the workforce declines when there is either a rapid increase in births or a falling birth rate.

The age distribution of the population has several important influences on the economy.If the population is aging and there is an increase in the number of people retiring without a corresponding increase in the number entering the workforce,this raises the problem of the ability of the economy to provide a reasonable level of social services to the retired group.If the aged are to be cared for in special homes or hotels,finance must be available for that purpose.If the size of the workforce is small relative to the total population,then the government tax receipts are relatively low and either the govemment has less money available to it or the workforce members have to be taxed more heavily.

1、The population which is top-heavy with older people poses a problem to _____.

A.the government

B.the economy

C.the workforce

D.all of the above

參考答案：D

參考解析：由末段可知old people過分增加，會給三方面造成影響：the govemment，the economy以及the workforce.

2、Labor force is composed of _____.

A.people who are available to work and earn income

B.self-employed people only

C.only those who are looking for an employment

D.only the employees

參考答案：A

參考解析：由文中首句對labor force的定義可知選A.

3、The conclusion which can be drawn safely from the second paragraph is that _____

A.a population growth from natural increase leads to a greater proportion of the work-force

B.a large population does not necessarily mean a higher proportion of workforce

C.the larger the number of the aged in a population,the higher the proportion of the workforce

D.if the population has an evenly spreaded age distribution,the workforce will be lower

參考答案：B

參考解析：第二段主要論述age disrribution對于勞動力規(guī)模的影響。

4、When a population is said to be aging,_____.

A.more people are retiring than people entering the workforce

B.the birth rate is growing

C.there is an oversupply of workforce

D.young people outnumber old people

參考答案：A

參考解析：見第三段的第一句話。

5、The factor which does NOT influence the size of the worldorce is _____.

A.the size of population

B.age distribution of the population

C.national economy

D.natural increase

參考答案：C

參考解析：由第二、三段可知影響勞動力規(guī)模的因素有the size of population，age distribution of the population以及natural increase.

參考譯文：

勞動力指的是能夠進行工作并獲取報酬的人的總數(shù)。這一定義包括所有已經(jīng)有工作和尋找有償職業(yè)的人，所以它包括雇員和個體經(jīng)營者。勞動力是一個的資源之一，和其他資源結(jié)合后就可以提供社會所需要的商品和服務(wù)了。

盡管勞動力的數(shù)量很大程度上取決于的總?cè)丝跀?shù)，但其他方面的因素也會對它造成影響?？?cè)丝诘哪挲g分布對現(xiàn)有勞動力有顯著影響。如果人口中有很大一部分是由于太年輕或太老而無法工作的人，可用勞動力的數(shù)量就要少于年齡分布均勻的人口。如果人口的自然增長速度過快，也就是說出生人數(shù)遠遠超過死亡人數(shù)，那么總?cè)丝跀?shù)量增加而勞動力的比率則下降。

有時，一個的人口會被描述成老齡化的人口，這就是說出生率下降或者上升的速度都很緩慢，沒有足夠多的年輕人來填補退休勞動力的空缺。人口年齡分布因為老年人數(shù)量多而變得不均衡。所以，出生人口增長得過快或過緩，勞動力占總?cè)丝诘谋嚷识紩陆怠?/p>

人口年齡分布狀況對經(jīng)濟有幾個重要影響。如果人口正在老化，退休的人數(shù)增加的同時就業(yè)的人數(shù)卻沒有相應(yīng)的增加，就會衍生出沒有經(jīng)濟能力為退休人口提供適當社會服務(wù)的問題。如果老年人得在特定的福利院或是療養(yǎng)院接受照顧，社會就必須為此提供經(jīng)濟支持。如果勞動力人數(shù)相對于總?cè)丝跀?shù)較小，政府的稅收也會相應(yīng)較少，結(jié)果就是或者政府沒有足夠的錢為老年人提供福利，或者勞動者的稅收負擔加重。