【正文】 e to more exotic ones, perhaps to New Delhi or Bangkok later this year, but thought our 11 and 13yearolds needed a first step away from manicured boulevards and pristine monuments. What we didn39。t foresee was the reaction of friends, who warned that we were putting our children in danger, referring vaguely, and most incorrectly, to disease, terrorism or just the unknown. To help us get acquainted with the peculiarities of Istanbul and to give our children a chance to choose what they were particularly interested in seeing, we bought an excellent guidebook and read it thoroughly before leaving. Friendly warnings didn39。t change our planning, although we might have more prudently checked with the . State Department39。s list of troublespots. We didn39。t see a lot of children among the foreign visitors during our sixday stay in Istanbul, but we found the tourist areas quite safe, very interesting and varied enough even to suit our son, whose oftrepeated request is that we not see every single church and museum in a given city. Vaccinations weren39。t needed for the city, but we were concemed about adapting to the water for a short stay. So we used bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, a precaution that may seem excessive, but we all stayed healthy. Taking the advice of a friend, we booked a hotel a 20minute walk from most of Istanbul39。s major tourist sites. This not only got us some morning exercise, strolling over the Karakoy Bridge, but took us past a colorful assortment of fishermen, vendors and shoe shiners. From a teenager and preteen39。s view, Istanbul street life is fascinating since almost everything can be bought outdoors. They were at a good age to spend time wandering the labyrinth of the Spice Bazaar, where shops display mounds of pungent herbs in sacks. Doing this with younger children would be harder simply because the streets are so packed with people。 it would be easy to get lost. For our two, whose buying experience consisted of department stores and shopping mall boutiques, it was amazing to discover that you could bargain over price and perhaps end up with two of something for the price of one. They also learned to figure out the relative value of the Turkish lira, not a small matter with its many zeros. Being exposed to Islam was an important part of our trip. Visiting the mosques, especially the enormous Blue Mosque, was our first glimpse into how this major religion is practiced. Our children39。s curiosity already had been piqued by the five daily calls to prayer over loudspeakers in every corner of the city, and the scarves covering the heads of many women. Navigating meals can be troublesome with children, but a kebab, bought on the street or in restaurants, was unfailingly popular. Since we had decided this trip was not for gourmets, kebabs spared us the agony of trying to find a restaurant each day that would suit the adults39。 desire to try something new amid children39。s insistence that the food be served immediately. Gradually, we branched out to try some other Turkish specialties. Although our son had studied Islam briefly, it is impossible to be prepared for every awkward question that might e up, such as during our visits to the Topkapi Sarayi, the Ottoman Sultans39。 palace. No guides were available so it was doityourself, using our guidebook, which cheated us of a lot of interesting history and anecdotes that a professional guide could provide. Next time, we resolved to make such arrangements in advance. On this trip, we wandered through the magnificent plex, with its imperial treasures, its courtyards and its harem. The last required a bit of explanation that we would have happily lef~to a learned third party. 11. The couple chose Istanbul as their holiday destination mainly because A. the city is not too far away from where they lived. B. the city is not on the list of the . State Department. C. the city is between the familiar and the exotic. D. the city is more familiar than exotic. 12. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT? A. The family found the city was exactly what they had expected. B. Their friends were opposed to their holiday plan. C. They could have been more cautious about bringing kids along. D. They were a bit cautious about the quality of water in the city. 13. We learn from the couple39。s shopping experience back home that A. they were used to bargaining over price. B. they preferred to buy things outdoors. C. street markets were their favourite. D. they preferred fashion and brand names. 14. The last two paragraphs suggest that to visit places of interest in Istanbul A. guidebooks are very useful. B. a professional guide is a must. C. one has to be prepared for questions. D. one has to make arrangements in advance. 15. The family have seen or visited all the following in Istanbul EXCEPT A. religious prayers. B. historical buildings. C. localstyle markets. D. shopping mall boutiques. TEXT B Last month the first babyboomers turned 60. The bulky generation born between 1946 and 1964 is heading towards retirement. The looming demographic cliff will see vast numbers of skilled workers dispatched from the labour force. The workforce is ageing across the rich world. Within the EU the number of workers aged between 50 and 64 will increase by 25% over the next two decades, while those aged 2029 will decrease by 20%. In Japan almost 20% of the population is already over 65, the highest share in the world. And in the United States the number of workers aged 5564 will have increased by more than half in this decade, at the same time as the 35 to 44yearolds decline by 10%. Given that most societies are geared to retirement at around 65, panies have a looming problem of knowledge management, of