Travel in retirement：The rise of the older adventurer

西安外國語大學 史天彩

退休之后，人們不僅卸下了工作的重擔，而且還有了許多空閑的時間。所以，越來越多的老年人開始了他們的“退休旅行”。下面文章的開始就講述了英國的一位退休老人Bill Marr-Johnson在中國旅游時的一場有趣刺激的經歷。一起來看看吧！

題材文章詞數老年人與旅行2 8 4 難度 ★★體裁建議用時說明文6′

難詞掃障

1.chucklen.輕笑；竊笑

2.rumblev.隆隆作響

3.demographicn.特定年齡段的人口

4.hippyn.嬉皮士

5.leapv.飛躍

“Being stopped by the Chinese army was fairly hair-raising，”says Bill Marr-Johnson with achuckle.“We had come across a military exercise—tanksrumblingup and down， field guns dug in.They kept us for three hours.Wewere on edgebecause we had no idea how they were going to treat us.”That was on a threeweek trip through Tibet，staying at a mix of hotels and truckers'stops with metal beds in concrete-floored dormitories.His other recent expeditions have included visits to Vietnam，Azerbaijan， Abkhazia， China's Taklamakan Desert， and many of the “Stans”.

They are the sort of destinations and travellers'tales any returning gap year student would be delighted tohave under their belt，but Mr Marr-Johnson is not on his way up to university.He is 72.“If you go to the travel shows，you will see the samedemographic.The baby boomers have seen their kids come back from gap years and adventures and they are thinking，‘hang on， we never had a chance to do that’.Unless you were on thehippytrail—and that was atinyminority—life in the 1970s was quite serious；you had to get on and get a career going.Now with the kids leaving home，they have got well-paidpensions，and they want to spend it on experiences.”

Figures from the UK Office for National Statistics show the number of British over-65s travelling overseasleaptby 13.7 percent from 2014 to 2016.A separate survey from the Association of British Travel Agents suggests that，after a significant increase in the 12 months to August 2017，over-65sarenow morelikely totake foreign holidays than any other age group.

Reading Check

Ⅰ.Match the words with the English definition.

1.hair-raising （Para.1）

2.the baby boomer（Para.2）

3.leap （Para.3）

A.a group of people born between 1946 and 1964

B.frightening

C.increase

Language Study

Ⅰ.Important vocabulary in the text

1.be on edge緊張不安

2.have sth under one's belt已經獲得某物

3.tinyadj.極小的；微小的

4.pensionn.退休金

5.be likely to do可能做某事

Ⅱ.Important sentences

1.我們很緊張，因為不知對方會如何處置。

We _______because we _______how they were going to treat us.

2.英國國家統計局的數據表明：2014至2016年間，65歲以上國民出境游飆升了13.7%。

_______the UK Office for National Statistics _______the number of British over-65s travelling overseas leapt by 13.7 percent from 2014 to 2016.