養老金之重

Directions：Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Many workers depend on plans offered by their employers to help pay for their retirement. There are two major kinds of retirement plans. One is defined by what is paid out， the other by what is paid in.

The first is called a defined benefit plan，or pension. It provides set payments based on the number of years an employee has worked. These plans often pay for health care and other costs. They might also provide money to family members when the pensioner dies.

Pensions，however，can be a big cost to employers. In the United States，the change from a manufacturing economy to a service economy has resulted in fewer and fewer traditional plans.

In 1974，the Employment Retirement Income Act set rules to protect pensions. That law also created a federal agency called the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

As a result，it is now responsible for the current and future pensions of more than one million workers. At the end of last September，it reported a deficit of almost twenty？鄄three thousand million dollars in its single？鄄employer insurance program.

The agency takes control of pensions that do not have enough money to pay claims. It currently guarantees thirty thousand plans. Forty？鄄four million Americans are in these plans. But there are limits to how much they can receive if their pension fails.

The other major kind of retirement plan is called a defined contribution plan. Two things define how much a worker will get at retirement. The first is how much both the worker and the employer paid into the plan. The other is the performance of its investments.

Defined contribution plans can reduce the taxes of workers and employers. But some plans are very complex. An easier way for small employers to offer retirement savings is through a Savings Incentive Match Plan. It permits contributions of up to ten thousand dollars a year toward retirement.

【參考答案】

1. Types / Kinds 2. Defined benefit plan / Pension

3. Defined contribution plan 4. Money paid out

5. Money paid in 6. Defining factors

7. Employee’s working year 8. Investment performance

9. Advantages or disadvantages 10. complex

編輯/梁宇清