Warren Buffett, who will host Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting on May 3rd, is an icon of American capitalism. At 83, he also epitomizes a striking demographic【C1】______: for highly skilled people to go on working well into【C2】______was once thought to be old age. Across the rich world,well-educated people【C3】______work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the【C4】______, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. In the European Union the pattern is similar. This【C5】______is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated【C6】______and the unskilled poor that is slicing【C7】______all age groups. Rapid innovation has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while【C8】______those of the unskilled. Those at the top are working longer hours each year than those at the bottom.【C9】______the well-qualified are extending their working lives, compared with those of less-educated people. The【C10】______, for individuals and society,are profound. The world is on the【C11】______rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before.【C12】______the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600m to 1.1 billion. The【C13】______of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement【C14】______more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will【C15】______slower economic growth and "secular stagnation" , while the【C16】______ranks of pensioners will bust government budgets. But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the【C17】______old misses a new trend, the【C18】______gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people,【C19】______older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers are【C20】______retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：语法结构题。into为介词，后面的从句为“介宾结构”的宾语从句，四个选项中，that一般不放在介词后引导宾语从句，故[B]可以排除。而本空中填入的词不仅仅引导宾语从句，还要在从句中充当主语，显然when与where这两个词无法充当主语，故排除[C][D]，唯一符合语法要求的选项为[A]。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：副词辨析题。[A]decreasingly越来越少地；[B]incidentally偶然地；[C]desperately绝望地；[D]increasingly越来越多地。文章上句说“高技术人才在步入老年之后仍然继续工作。”该句接着说：well-educated people 3 work longer than the less-skilled．由于没有出现转折词，故判断前后两句表达的意思相近。上一句的working well明显是正向词汇，故该空也应填入正向词汇，唯有[D]符合条件，故本题选择[D]。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：词汇辨析题。[A]gap差距；[B]similarity相似；[C]concept概念；[D]phenomenon现象。上文提到In the European Union the pattern is similar．该空有可能填入similarity，但是读完整个句子可知，第二段首句讨论的是之前关于受过高等教育群体和缺乏技能群体的对比，与上一段的最后一句关系不大，故排除[B]项。本句内其实有答案提示，因为本句为主系表结构，在主系表结构中，主语等同于表语。原文说：This 5 is part of a deepening divide…该空为主语，表语为part of a deepening divide，其中divide表示“分歧，差异”，与“gap”一词同义，故[A]为正确答案。另外，该题与最后一段的the gap between也遥相呼应。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：形容词辨析题。[A]healthy健康的；[B]well-off富裕的；[C]bright聪明的；[D]elderly年老的。原文说：divide between the well-educated 6 and the unskilled poor．大意为“受过高等教育的______与缺乏技能的穷人之间的差距。”虽然该句出现了and一词，但由divide一词可知该处强调对比，而非同义。文中well-educated与unskilled对立，本空自然与poor对立，应填入poor的对立面，即其反义词。选项[B]well-off=wealthy或rich，表示“富裕的”，符合要求，故本题选择[B]。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：动词辨析题。文章不断强调受过高等教育的人和缺乏技能的人之间的差距，该句继续表达这样的观点：Rapid innovation has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while 8those of the unskilled．其中while一词表示“而”，强调比较、对比，故前后的内容应该对立相反，也就是说上下文会出现反义词。上文说“快速的创新提高了高技术群体的收入”，其中raise“提高”为关键词，该空对应填入相反的词，肯定是“降低”之类的词。选项[A]declining“下降”，该项看似正确，但是decline表示“下降”时为不及物动词，故排除该项。[C]depressing强调“压抑，使沮丧”，与收入不搭配；[D]suppressing强调“镇压”，显然也与收入不搭，故排除这两项。[B]squeezing表示“挤压，压榨”，符合语义，故本题答案为[B]。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：逻辑关系题。原文说：Those at the top are working longer hours each year than those at the bottom．9 the well-qualified are extending their working lives，compared with those of less-educated people．上句those at the top=下句the well-qualified；working longer hours=extending their working lives；上下句为明显的并列关系。选项中唯有[A]And表并列，[B]But表转折，[C]So表因果，[D]Even表递进。故[A]正确。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：词汇辨析题。[A]reasons理由；[B]substances物质，实质；[C]consequences结果；[D]causes原因，事业。原文说：The 10，for individuals and society，are profound．大意是“对于个人和社会来说，______影响深远。”将四个选项分别代入，符合语境的只有“consequences”，故本题选择[C]。consequences还有“影响”的意思。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：形容词辨析题。[A]interesting有趣的；[B]exaggerating夸张的；[C]unsurprising不令人惊讶的；[D]staggering大得惊人的，令人吃惊的。原文说：The world is on the 11 rise in the number of old people．下文又说全球老年人口几乎将会翻倍，说明世界老年人口增长速度很快，符合句意且能够与rise形成搭配的只有[D]，staggering rise表示“惊人的增长”。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：词组辨析题。[A]apart from除了；[B]rather than而不是；[C]in spite of尽管；[D]regardless of不管，不顾。原文说：greater longevity translated into more years in retirement 14 more years at work…“更长的寿命转化为更长的退休时间______更长的工作时间”：很明显，将选项代入只有rather than能够使句意通顺，故本题选择[B]。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：词汇辨析题。本题选项[A]decaying和[D]fading都有“衰退”之意，可以同时排除。答案锁定在[B]crawling“爬行”和[C]swelling“膨胀，增大，增多”。该段整段都在讲述老年人口增加，该空为重复信息，其中下文的ranks of pensioners指“领养老金的群体”，也就是老年人，故得知该空应填入“多”这样的词才符合整段话的语境，故本题选择[C]。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：形容词辨析题。[A]idle闲置的，懒散的；[B]rich富裕的；[C]tired劳累的；[D]lazy懒惰的。本句的division between the working young and the 17 old强调年轻人与老年人的对比，young与old对立，该空自然与working“工作的”对立，应填入working的反义词。选项中idle符合要求，表示“闲置的，懒散的，不工作的”；而lazy一词强调本身“懒惰的”，并没有强调“闲散、无工作”，故[A]为正确答案。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：形容词辨析题。[A]narrow狭窄的；[B]growing增长的；[C]limited有限的；[D]vital重要的。文章第二段首句就提到：This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated well-off and the unskilled poor．．．本句再次提到：the 18 gap between the skilled and the unskilled．由于gap=divide，故该空=deepening“加深的”；且上文出现的sharp division中，sharp“尖锐的”也是提示词。与这些词最接近的选项为growing，故本题选择[B]。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：逻辑关系题。Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people， 19 older skilled folk are working longer．该句大意为“缺乏技能的年轻人就业率在下降，______高技术老年人才却工作得越来越久。”根据该空前后信息得知，本句强调比较、对比的逻辑关系。选项[A]since强调时间或原因；[B]before强调时间；[C]whereas强调比较；[D]although强调让步。故只有[C]符合逻辑。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：词组辨析题。[A]giving up放弃；[B]going against反对；[C]driving away驱赶，赶走；[D]putting off推迟。上文说：older skilled folk are working longer；该句说：well-educated baby-boomers are 20 retirement。其中，skilled=well-educated；older folk=baby-boomers；故本题 20 retirement=working longer。显然，“工作得更久”等同于“推迟退休”。而“放弃退休”和“反对退休”相比之下不太符合逻辑与表达习惯，故本题选择[D]。