Travel in retirement：The rise of the older adventurer

西安外国语大学 史天彩

退休之后，人们不仅卸下了工作的重担，而且还有了许多空闲的时间。所以，越来越多的老年人开始了他们的“退休旅行”。下面文章的开始就讲述了英国的一位退休老人Bill Marr-Johnson在中国旅游时的一场有趣刺激的经历。一起来看看吧！

题材文章词数老年人与旅行2 8 4 难度 ★★体裁建议用时说明文6′

难词扫障

1.chucklen.轻笑；窃笑

2.rumblev.隆隆作响

3.demographicn.特定年龄段的人口

4.hippyn.嬉皮士

5.leapv.飞跃

“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紧张不安

2.have sth under one's belt已经获得某物

3.tinyadj.极小的；微小的

4.pensionn.退休金

5.be likely to do可能做某事

Ⅱ.Important sentences

1.我们很紧张，因为不知对方会如何处置。

We _______because we _______how they were going to treat us.

2.英国国家统计局的数据表明：2014至2016年间，65岁以上国民出境游飙升了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.