本帖最后由 ヮ成熟、羙° 于 2014-5-22 09:52 编辑
老人的尴尬 荷叶/译 现代工业社会使老年人的地位很低。事实上，这样一个社会中有个内置的淘汰系统。它没有正规渠道进行终生教育以跟上快速的知识更新。所受的教育和所具备的工作技能一旦过时，老年人就和那些没有受过教育没有技能的人一模一样，得不到重新开始的机会。 随着社会的高度发达，老年人的综合地位在降低。随着医疗技术的改善，老年人越来越多，他们要和年轻人竞争工作岗位。然而，经济技术革命降低了对工人的需求，老年人的技能已过时，不能胜任新的工作岗位，被迫退休。与此同时，年轻人正在接受新技术的教育，他们与日新月异的新知识同步。最后，城市化造成了老年人隔离区。因为老年人以固定收入为生，居住条件一定较差。退休，过时的知识和技能，较低的生活标准，所有这一切降低了老年人在社会上的地位。 一百年前，人的寿命是五十岁左右，恰好与工作和家庭周期相吻合。但如今人的寿命延长了，这些周期过后，还要再活上十五到二十年。似乎人们的寿命超出了他在社会上的价值。 附：原文 Modern industrial society grants little status to oldpeople. In fact, such a society has a system of built-in obsolescence. There is no formal system for continuing our education throughout our life in order tokeep up with rapidly changing knowledge. When our education and job skills have grown obsolete, we are treated exactly like those who have never gained an education or job skills and are not encouraged or given the opportunity tobegin anew. As a society becomes more highly developed, the overall status of older people diminishes. Improved health technology creates a large pool of old people, who competes for jobs with the young. However,economic technology lowers the demand for workers and creates new jobs forwhich the skills of the aged obsolete, forcing older people into retirement. Atthe same time, young people are being educated in the new technology and are keeping pace with rapid changes in knowledge. Finally, urbanization createsage-segregated neighborhoods. Because the old live on fixed incomes, they mustoften live in inferior housing. All these factors---retirement, obsolete knowledge and skills, inferior standards of living---lowers the status of the aged in society. A century ago, when one could expect to live to 50 orso, the life span more or less coincided with the occupation and family cycle.But today the average life span allow for fifteen to twenty years of life afterthese cycles. It appears that our life span is outpacing our usefulness in society.
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发表于 2014-5-22 09:50:51
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