Prolonging human life has decreased the dependency load. In all societies ___1___
people are disable or too young or too old to work are dependent on the ___2___
rest of society to provide them. In hunting and gathering cultures old people ___3___
who could keep up might be left behind and die. In times of famine infants ___4___
might be allowed to die because they could not survive when their parents
starved; whereas when their parents survived they could have another child.
In most contemporary societies people feel it a obligation to keep people
live whether or not they can work. There are a great many people who live ___5___
the past age in which they want to work or are able to work; there are rules ___6___
that require people to retire at a certain age. If these people are able to save ___7___
money from their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the Unite
states many people live on social security checks, which are so considerable ___8___
that they must live in near poverty.
Elder people are more liable to become ill than young or middle-aged people; ___9___
therefore they are wealthy or provided with private or government insurance, ___10___
they must often “go on welfare” if they fall seriously ill.
答案及解析:
1. decreased -> increased
根据下文提示，退休的老年人由工作的壮年人为其提供生活补助，可知此处地意思是“人类寿命的延长会增加社会负担”，所以此处应该用increased。
2. people后加who或that
分析句子结构，此句出现了两个谓语（系动词）are，故有一个必是从句。根据句子的主干可知，前部分are disable or too young or too old to work应该是定语从句，且缺少了引导词，又因为先行词是people，故加上相应的引导词that或who。
3. provide后加for
此处从句的意思是“没有工作能力的人由有工作能力的人来养活”。provide for sb是“养活某人”的意思。
4. could后加not
根据上下文理解，此处的意思应该是“老年人跟不上时代步伐，将被弃之不管或死去”。故要在could后加not。
5. live -> alive
这里是词组keep sb alive。
6. in -> at
此处的意思是“今天还有很多人超过了能够工作的年龄…..”。定语从句的先行词是age，复原后的词组是at the age。故用at which。
7. If -> Unless
意思是“除非人们能位退休后的生活存钱，否则必须由别人来养活他们”。
8. considerable -> little
根据上下文的理解，在美国，许多人靠社会救济生存，这笔钱很少，以至于人们生活在贫困的边缘。
9. Elder -> Older
elder意为“年龄较长的；资格老的，地位高的”，older意为“上年纪的”。此处指的是老年人，故用older。
10. therefore -> unless
意思是“除非他们富有或有政府或私人的保险，否则生病时只能依靠救济金”。故将therefore改为unless。