2016届高考英语高分冲刺特训听力素材1（word版）34_高考复习指南

2016届高考英语高分冲刺特训听力素材1（word版）34

　　Taylor: Our research was mainly carried out in Britain. In many countries it is still regarded as quite natural that a widowed mother should go to live with one of her married children, but in Britain, certainly during the last thirty or forty years, there has been considerable resistance to this idea.

　　Blunt: Now why do you think this is? Surely having a Granny about the place to take care of the younger children, and give a hand with the housework, can take a lot of pressure off a young wife, can’t it?

　　Taylor: Yes, I think this is true. But remember the old people themselves are often totally opposed to the idea of going to live with the young family. And modern houses and flats are very small; much smaller than the sort of homes people used to live in.

　　Blunt: And when Granny gets very old, then the situation becomes ever worse, doesn’t it?

　　Taylor: Yes, as long as old people are able to look after themselves, the system works quite well. But as soon as they need anything in the way of care and attention, the situation becomes very difficult indeed.

　　Blunt: Well, presumably a point comes when old people have to go into a nursing home or something similar.

　　Taylor: Yes, but it’s not as simple as that. Because of improvements in medical science, life expectancy is increasing all the time. The birth rate has fallen. This means that an ever smaller working population is having to provide for an ever larger number of old people, in need of care and attention. The number of places in old people’s homes provided by the State is strictly limited. There are private nursing homes, but the cost is way out of reach of the average family.