Lesson 4 Boomers Won't Go Quietly
So we're headed for retirement. Big deal.1At 77 million strong, we're not ready to hit the rocket.2Just as in our idealistic youth, perhaps it's time for us to change the world.
By Ben Brown
Enough already with the baby boomer time bomb.3
As debate over the future of Social Security and health care heats up, so does the imagery of The Coming Generational Storm4, as the recent book by Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns screams in its title. And that's a mild metaphor compared with what other commentators see in the approaching transition of 77 million baby boomers from workplace to whatever.5
The first of the boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, turn 65 in 2011. By 2030, the 65-plus segment will account for something like 20% of the U.S. population, twice the 65-plus share in 2000. Hence the geezer glut. And hence, by inference, the certain shredding of the social safety net and the coming of the new Dark Age.6
I'm offended, I have to admit. I'm one of the geezers-in-waiting, a boomer born in 1946 and heir to a presumption enjoyed during the past half-century that the universe pretty much revolves around us.7In case you haven't heard, we are the most educated and affluent generation in world history. Our numbers have made us the moving bulge in the market, the pig in the python.8We put the me in consume.9
So now, after a career of changing everything we touched, we're expected to gum up the works with desperation in old age?10
I don't think so.
A bogus premise
First of all, the image of old folks as desperate folks is bogus in general. Thanks in part to senior-friendly11public policies during the past three decades, U.S. citizens over 65 belong to the age group least likely to live in poverty. Between 1984 and 2001, the median net worth of households headed by people 65-plus increased by 82% to $179,000. And when boomers move into that age group, the pot is expected to swell12, along with the influence that comes with assets.
Second, no other generation has changed its personality as it aged. The Depression babies have remained, in general, thrifty to a fault.13Current retirees who came of age in the 1950s look as if they will jitterbug into their 90s.14Why should boomers stop being world-changers?
Marketers are betting we won't. Today in Philadelphia, the American Society on Aging and co-sponsors are throwing the second annual Boomer Business Summit, where attendees are invited to 26 compete for a $10,000 grand prize for a business plan “that has the highest potential for success in the 50-plus market.”Expect the good times to keep on rolling, says summit promotion material15:“The boomers'future will be as creative as the past.”
OK, not every boomer is going to be on the joy ride.16That's because not everybody got on the bus to begin with. As they head through midlife, individuals within the boomer generation vary more from one another in terms of income and education than in any recent generation, says a 2004 study by two Duke University sociologists.17In retirement, “some are going to be well off, some aren't, ”study co-author Mary Elizabeth Hughes says.
So, here's the question: Are there enough boomers with the means and the inclination to, first of all, relieve the pressure on everybody else to provide for boomers in old age, and then to maybe leave a little extra in the way of a positive legacy? Why not? We still have the advantage of demography.
“The sheer number of people can fill all the niches, ”says Ron Manheimer, the executive director of the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement at the University of North Carolina at Asheville18.
A generation's passion
Here are some healthy signs:
● Since 1988, Manheimer's center has been a regional nexus of leadership development, career transitioning and lifelong learning for older citizens.19The passion for engaged lives in the current generation of retirees might just be a “rehearsal”for the bigger show when the boomers hit the same ages, Manheimer says.20
● Marc Freedman, author of Prime Time21: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America, senses a potential “reawakening of idealism”among aging boomers. “I love this idea of an unfinished revolution, ”he says. “People want to feel this state of life is about something with purpose.”
● In Boulder22, Colo., organizers of the Elder Cohousing Network23are discovering a burgeoning market for those seeking ways to take charge of designing their own communities in retirement. After launching a Web site six months ago, “we got something like 5,000 hits from individuals and groups in every state in the U.S., ”says co-founder Neshama Abraham. So, on March 18, the network is hosting the first of three workshops on designing shared neighborhoods.
● Next January, as the first boomers begin turning 60, a partnership between the Harvard School of Public Health and the MetLife Foundation launches a campaign to capture the generation for a mentoring initiative.24“Our message in January for boomers, ”says Jay Winsten, associate dean25of the Harvard School of Public Health, “is, ‘Happy birthday. Now what are you doing with the rest of your life? '”
Perfect question. We boomers can think of the coming years as a last chance to ditch the underachiever tag.26Time to grow up before we die. If we're who we've imagined ourselves to be our entire lives, we have it in us to help resolve the toughest issues before the nation, including the tough issue of how to cope with so many of us growing old.
Ben Brown writes for Southern Living and its sister magazines and is a member of USA Today's board of contributors.
From USA Today, March 10, 2005
I. New Words
affluent adj.[ˈæfluənt] rich; prosperous
asset [ˈæset] n. 资产
attendee [əˌtenˈdiː] n. 出席者，参加者
bogus adj.[ˈbəugəs] not genuine; false
boomer [ˈbuːmə] n. 婴儿潮代人
bulge [bʌldʒ] n. 鼓起；凸出
burgeon [ˈbəːdʒən] v. to grow and flourish
commentator [ˈkɔmənteitə] n. 评论员，讲解员
demography [diˈmɔgrəfi] n. 人口统计学
geezer [ˈgiːzə] n. slang a strange old man
glut [glʌt] n. a supply of sth that is more than is needed
idealistic adj.[aiˌdiəˈlistik] 理想主义的
inclination [ˌinkliˈneiʃən] n. a tendency to do sth
jitterbug [ˈdʒitəbʌg] v. 跳古特巴舞
legacy [ˈlegəsi] n. 遗赠（物），遗产（祖先传下来）
median adj.[ˈmiːdjən] 中间的；中位数的
niche [nitʃ] n. 适合的职务（或地位等）
nexus [ˈneksəs] n. 连结；会聚焦点，中心
premise [ˈpremis] n. 假设；前提
python [ˈpaiθən] n. 巨蛇；蟒蛇
shred [ˈʃred] v. to cut or tear into small thin pieces
swell [swel] v. to become bigger
underachiever [ˌʌndərəˈtʃiːvə] n. 学习落后的学生，后进生
II. Background Information
美国“婴儿潮代”
美国内战后出生的几代人分别是：“传教士代”（Missionary Generation，出生时间为1860—1882）; “迷惘代”（Lost Generation，出生时间为1883—1900）; “大兵代”（GI Generation，出生时间为1901—1924）; “沉默代”（Silent Generation，出生时间为1925—1944）; “婴儿潮代”（Babyboom Generation，出生时间为1945—1964）; “第十三代”（Thirteenth Generation，出生时间为1961—1981）; “千禧代”（Millennial Generation，出生时间为1982年之后）。
20世纪30年代经济大萧条以及随后的二战期间，许多美国妇女没有结婚，或者成婚很晚。战后数百万士兵回国，经济形势较为稳定，美国的出生率迅猛增加，1957年达到最高点，全年共出生了430万婴儿，比1945年多出150万！由于这个期间出生率高，“婴儿潮代”便成了美国最大的群体，人口总数达到7,700万。
美国报纸杂志上可以看到这一代人的各种各样别称，如“注重现在的一代”（Now Generation）、“唯我的一代”（Me Generation）、“动辄抗议的一代”（Protest Generation）、“越战的一代”（Vietnam Generation）、“摇滚的一代”（Rock Generation）等。这些称谓都从不同侧面反映了这一代的面貌。
这一代人比较幸运，尽管美国社会老年人就业常遭歧视，然而在相当长的一段时期里，由于美国经济的持续发展，人力资源相对的紧缺，美国“婴儿潮代”人又开始走红了。2000年4月，美国国会通过了《老年人工作自由法》（the Senior Citizens'Freedom to Work Act），部分废除了大萧条期间通过的一项限制老人工作的法律。原先法律规定：退休后的老人如果重新工作，必须如实填报工作所得。年收入超过一定数额者，其养老金将被部分扣除。具体而言，62—65岁老年人如果年收入超过6,840美元，超出部分每2美元要扣去1美元；65—70岁老年人如果年收入超过9,360美元，超出部分每3美元扣去1美元。2000年所通过的新法旨在调动老年人工作的积极性，对于65岁以上继续工作的老年人不再扣除养老金，对于62—65岁继续工作的老年人过去有关扣除部分养老金的规定保持不变。这对眼下面临退休或已经退休的老人来说无疑是个好消息。作为美国社会的中流砥柱，二战后出生的这一代人已经改变了美国社会的方方面面，而现在又要开始改变“数十年一贯制”的工作和退休制度。他们在用自己的行动改变了人生的观念和社会的习俗。
III. Notes to the Text
1. Big deal. —没什么大不了的！（Big deal—used to express one's contempt for something regarded as impressive or important by another person）
2. At 77 million strong, we're not ready to hit the rocket. —我们人数多达7,700万，还没做好从地球上消失的准备。（hit the rocket—used metaphorically in the sense of going to heaven）
3. Enough already with the baby boomer time bomb. —“婴儿潮代”是定时炸弹之说已经听得够多的了。（time bomb—something that threatens to have an abruptly disastrous outcome in the future）
4. As debate over the future of Social Security and health care heats up, so does the imagery of The Coming Generational Storm—对社会保障和医疗保健的未来所进行的争论不断升温,与此同时，“即将到来的婴儿潮代老龄化风暴”的比喻引起的争论也越来越激烈。（①heat up—to make or become warm or hot; ②The Coming Generational Storm—The book warns about America's grave situation in 2030 when 77 million baby boomers all reach retirement age. The Social Security and Medicare will be crushed by the heavy load. It proposes bold new policies aimed at reforming the Social Security and Medicare system.）
5. And that's a mild metaphor compared with what other commentators see in the approaching transition of 77 million baby boomers from workplace to whatever.—这种比喻与其他评论者对于7,700万“婴儿潮代”人即将退出工作岗位的说法相比还是很温和的。
6. And hence, by inference, the certain shredding of the social safety net and the coming of the new Dark Age.—因此，推断出社会安全网肯定会被撕碎，新的“黑暗时代”即将到来。（①certain—sure to happen, inevitable; ②Dark Age—the period in western Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the high Middle Ages, during which Germanic tribes swept through Europe and North Africa, often attacking and destroying towns and settlements. It was judged to have been a time of relative unenlightment. Here it is used as a hyperbolic expression.）
7. I'm one of the geezers-in-waiting, a boomer born in 1946 and heir to a presumption enjoyed during the past half-century that the universe pretty much revolves around us.—我是1946年出生的“婴儿潮代”人，即将成为这些老家伙中的一员，我承袭了半个世纪以来社会流行的看法：世界主要围着我们转。
8. Our numbers have made us the moving bulge in the market, the pig in the python.—我们人数众多，是消费市场流动的突显部分，犹如巨蟒吞入的生猪。
9. We put the me in consume.—We have produced great influence (on America).
10. ..., we're expected to gum up the works with desperation in old age? —以为我们要在耄耋之年拼命地毁坏一切？（①to gum up—AmE Slang to mess up; ②the works—informal everything）
11. senior-friendly—有利于年长者的
12. And when boomers move into that age group, the pot is expected to swell—当“婴儿潮代”人进入老年群体时，这个群体所持有的钱预计还会增加。（①pot—a large sum of money; ②swell—to increase）
13. The Depression babies have remained, in general, thrifty to a fault.—大萧条时期出生的人一般来说生活保持极度节俭。（①Depression—the period of severe economic problems that followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929; ②thrifty to a fault—extremely thrifty）
14. Current retirees who came of age in the 1950s look as if they will jitterbug into their 90s.—20世纪50年代步入成年的人现在已经退休了，看来他们吉特巴舞要跳到90多岁。（①to come of age—to become an adult; ②jitterbug—a fast active popular dance of the 1940s）
15. summit promotion material—峰会宣传资料（promotion—an activity of persuading people to support an idea）
16. OK, not every boomer is going to be on the joy ride.—不是所有“婴儿潮代”人都会尽情欢乐。（joy ride—the act of steering a car and driving it for pleasure, usually in a fast and dangerous way; Here it is used in its extended sense.）
17. As they head through midlife, individuals within the boomer generation vary more from one another in terms of income and education than in any recent generation, says a 2004 study by two Duke University sociologists.—杜克大学两位社会学家2004年的一项研究显示，随着“婴儿潮代”度过中年，他们在收入和教育方面的差异比最近几代人要大。（Duke University—杜克大学，美国一所著名私立大学，位于北卡罗来纳州，由烟草大王、慈善家James Buchanan Duke创立）
18. the executive director of the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement at the University of North Carolina at Asheville—北卡罗来纳大学阿什维尔分校北卡罗来纳创意性退休生活中心业务主管（该中心建立于1988年，倡导老年人退休后适应角色转换、培养领导素质以及开展终生学习）
19. Manheimer's center has been a regional nexus of leadership development, career transitioning and lifelong learning for older citizens.—曼海默中心是一个为老年公民培养领导素质、角色转换和终身学习服务的区域性中心。
20. The passion for engaged lives in the current generation of retirees might just be a “rehearsal”for the bigger show when the boomers hit the same ages, Manheimer says.—曼海默说，现在一代退休人员酷爱生活忙碌，这或许可以作为“婴儿潮代”人到了同样年龄时更大规模表现的“预演”。（engaged—employed, occupied, or busy）
21. prime time—the time of greatest vigour or success in a person's life
22. Boulder—博尔德市（美国科罗拉多州中南部一城市）
23. the Elder Cohousing Network—老年人公共住宅网络（cohousing—指享有共用健身房、洗衣房、咖啡厅等基础设施的私人住宅）
24. ... a partnership between the Harvard School of Public Health and the MetLife Foundation launches a campaign to capture the generation for a mentoring initiative.—哈佛大学公共健康学院与大都会人寿基金会联合发起一项运动，让“婴儿潮代”投身到指导年轻人事业中。（mentor—to advise or train someone, especially a younger colleague）
25. associate dean—学院副院长
26. We boomers can think of the coming years as a last chance to ditch the underachiever tag.—我们“婴儿潮代”人可以把未来的日子当作甩掉自己后进者标签的最后机会。（①ditch—to get rid of; ②tag—a name or phrase that is used to describe a person or thing in some way）
IV. Language Features
报刊翻译常见错误
阅读报刊译文时常常发现误译情况，造成误译的因素主要有以下四点：
1．语法概念不清
例：At the same time that commercial loans are becoming harder to get, the developing nations'own funding has been devastated by the slump in commodity prices.
原译：与此同时，商业信贷越来越难以得到了，发展中国家本身的资金由于商品价格下跌而受重创。
改译：商业信贷越来越难以得到，与此同时……
2．词义理解偏差
例：After a 10-year bender of gaudy dreams and Godless consumerism, Americans are starting to trade down.
原译：经过10年绚丽的梦和不信神的消费的大转弯，美国人开始减少消费。
改译：经过10年绚丽的梦和罪恶的高消费的一场狂热，美国人开始减少消费。
本句中bender是俚语，表示“狂热”。外刊中俚语常常出现，应引起翻译者的注意。
3．有关知识缺乏
例：The radio broadcast patriotic messages and coded orders for military personnel.
原译：电台广播了爱国发言和给军事人员的命令。
改译：电台播送激发爱国情绪的讲话和给军事人员的加密的命令。
4．语言知识缺乏
例：The Libyan strongman flashed hot and cold, warning that the waters off Tripoli would become “a red gulf of blood”if the Nimitz stayed too close—yet protesting that he had no intention of attacking his neighbor...
原译：利比亚铁腕人物大为恼怒。他警告：假如“尼米兹号”舰驶得太近，那么，的黎波里的近海流域将成为“血腥的海湾”——然而，他又抗议说，他没有袭击邻国的意图。……
改译：这个利比亚铁腕人物反复无常，……然而，他又声称，……
这里，作者活用习语blow hot and cold。习语活用在美英报刊中较为常见。
第一、二类错误是英语基本功问题，第三、四类错误是知识结构问题。上述例子说明：要想提高外刊理解和翻译水平，就得做到语法概念清晰，词义理解准确，文化知识广博，语言知识丰富。
V. Analysis of Content
1. The term “Big deal”in the subtitle means___.
A. Big business
B. Nothing important
C. Grand treatment
D. An important matter
2. The list of metaphors used in the article about aging babyboomers does NOT include___.
A. time bomb
B. the coming generational storm
C. the new Dark Age
D. reluctant grown-ups
3. To the author's mind, babyboomers have the personality of___.
A. thrifty people
B. world-changers
C. rebels
D. joy-riders
4. Which of the following statements about aging babyboomers is False?
A. Babyboomers will not go quietly.
B. Babyboomers will stop being world-changers.
C. Babyboomers vary from one another in terms of income and education.
D. Babyboomers will continue to be idealistic
5. The article is___.
A. a straight news report
B. an interpretation news report
C. a feature article
D. an argumentation
VI. Questions on the Article
1. How large is the group of babyboomers?
2. How does the author feel about those metaphors referring to aging babyboomers?
3. What does the author think of the living conditions of aging babyboomers?
4. What is the most striking feature of the Depression babies?
5. What was the stress of the second annual Boomer Business Summit? How do you know it?
6. Why does the author say that not every boomer is going to be on the joy ride?
7. Will aging boomers pose an extremely heavy burden on the society? Why or why not?
8. What does Marc Freeman find about aging babyboomers?
9. What does the author think aging babyboomers can do?
VII. Topics for Discussion
1. Will babyboomers pose a crushing burden on the U.S. Social Security?
2. Are senior citizens useless junks or valuable assets?