【正文】 often promise by having just one child. J) And if fertility in ageing countries does not pick up? It will not be the end of the world, at least not for quite a while yet, but the world will bee a different place. Older societies may be less innovative and more strongly disinclined to take risks than younger ones. By 2025 at the latest, about half the voters in America and most of those in western European countries will be over 50—and older people turn out to vote in much greater numbers than younger ones. Academic studies have found no evidence so far that older voters have used their power at the ballot box to push for policies that specifically benefit them, though if in future there are many more of them they might start doing so. K) Nor is there any sign of the intergenerational warfare predicted in the 1990s. After all, older people themselves mostly have families. In a recent study of parents and grownup children in 11 European countries, Karsten Hank of Mannheim University found that 85% of them lived within 25km of each other and the majority of them were in touch at least once a week. L) Even so, the shift in the centre of gravity to older age groups is bound to have a profound effect on societies, not just economically and politically but in all sorts of other ways too. Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of America’s CSIS, in a thoughtful book called The Graying of the Great Powers, argue that, among other things, the ageing of the developed countries will have a number of serious security implications. M) For example, the shortage of young adults is likely to make countries more reluctant to mit the few they have to military service. In the decades to 2050, America will find itself playing an everincreasing role in the developed world’s defense effort. Because America’s population will still be growing when that of most other developed countries is shrinking, America will be the only developed country that still matters geopolitically (地緣政治上). N) There is little that can be done to stop population ageing, so the world will have to live with it. But some of the consequences can be alleviated. Many experts now believe that given the right policies, the effects, though grave, need not be catastrophic. Most countries have recognized the need to do something and beginning to act. O) But even then there is no guarantee that their efforts will work. What is happening now is historically unprecedented. The director of Economics and Demography of Ageing at the University of California, Berkeley, puts it briefly and clearly: “We don’t really know what population ageing will be like, because nobody has done it yet.” 1. Employers should realize it is important to keep older workers in the workforce.2. A recent study found that most old people in some European countries had regular weekly contact with their adult children.3. Few governments in rich countries have launched bold reforms to tackle the problem of population ageing.4. In a report published some 20 years ago, the sustainability of oldage pension systems in most countries was called into doubt.5. Countries that have a shortage of young adults will be less willing to send them to war. families are more mon in ageing societies due to the stress of urban life and the difficulties of balancing families and cancer.7. A series of books, mostly authored by Americans, warned of conflicts between the older and younger generations.8. Compared with younger ones, older societies tend to be less innovative and take fewer risks.9. The best solution to the pension crisis is to postpone the retirement age.10. Immigration as a means to boost the shrinking labour force may meet with resistance in some rich countries.您好，歡迎您閱讀我的文章，本W(wǎng)ORD文檔可編輯修改，也可以直接打印。閱讀過后，希望您提出保貴的意見或建議。閱讀和學習是一種非常好的習慣，堅持下去，讓我們共同進步。