One important aspect of retirement for most people is deciding where to live. In the past, this was not an issue because most elderly persons remained at home where they could be close to family. In contemporary times, parents and grown children go their separate ways, staying in touch through the telephone and, more recently, through e-mail. Every year, more than 400,000 adults who are 55 or older move out of their home state and relocate.

Florida leads all states in the proportion of elderly people -19 percent over 65 years of age, most of whom relocated from other places. Thus, Florida cities have become known as retirement centers. Among those prominently mentioned are Boca Raton, Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Naples, and Ocala where between 20 and 25 percent of the residents are over 65 years of age. Two other Florida cities, Saint Petersburg and Sarasota, have even higher proportions-25 percent and 32 percent respectively. Other cities that have gained reputations as retirement centers with large number of elderly are Savannah, Georgia, Prescott and Scottsdale, Arizona, Palm Springs, California, and Asheville, North Carolina. Even tourist centers like Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, where residents pay no income tax and no inheritance or estate taxes, are attracting growing numbers of seniors.

There are also many smaller private development communities that are packaged as state-of-the-art retirement communities with such amenities as golf courses, lakes for fishing and boating, cultural and recreation activities. They go by such names as Sun City Grand near Phoenix, Arizona, Sun City Palm Desert near Palm Springs California, Sun City Summerlin near Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ford’s Colony close to Williamsburg, Virginia among others.

To the extent that the proportion of retired elderly people in towns and regions continues to grow, certain consequences tend to follow. Where such communities are essentially residential, their revenue base depends largely on the individual wealth of their residents. For this reason, the economies of such communities are becoming increasingly dependent on the rise and fall of pensions, Social Security, and Medicare payments. Retirees are also likely to block future industrial development efforts since their priorities emphasize nice climate and attractive places to live and recreate. They are inclined to reject the noise and congestion that comes with new factories and the jobs they bring to the economy. (387 words)

11. Which of the following can be best used as the title of the passage?

A. Retired People

B. Retirement Centers

C. The Increase of Aging Population

D. A Demographic Trend

12. According to the passage there is a growing number of aged people relocating their homes because _______.

A. they don’t need to pay taxes

B. they could not get along with their neighbors

C. they don’t live close to their own children

D. they want to live their own way of life

13. The words in the following mean the same thing EXCEPT for ________.

A. Retirement centers

B. Retirement sites

C. Retirement state

D. Retirement communities

14. What does the word “amenities” in Par. 2 mean?

A. things that make life easy and pleasant

B. activities

C. interests

D. agreeable features of places

15. From the last paragraph it can be concluded that the continuous growth of retired people ________.

A. will contradict future industrial development

B. will stabilize the economies of such communities

C. will spoil the relationship between the elderly and the young

D. will be good for tourist industry

11. B. 通读全文，特别是第二到第四段便可看出，此篇文章谈论有关老人中心的话题，因此选B为正确答案。

12. C. 见第一段的内容，我们得知：现今的父母和他们的子女分住，是通过电话和电子邮件和子女保持联系的。因此他们不能像过去的家庭那样得到家人应有的照料，所以，选项C为正确答案。

13. C. 本文中分别提到了 “retirement centers and retirement communities”, retirement sites是其另一表达方式，因此选C为正确答案。

14. A. ‘amenities’ 指令人舒适东西。见第三段的第二行such amenities as golf courses, lakes for fishing and boating, cultural and recreation activities.(诸如高尔夫球场、供钓鱼和划船的湖、文化娱乐活动之类的令人舒适的设施)。

15. A. 见第三段的最后两个句子：退休者注重所居住环境的优美，休闲，因此对于开办工厂，提供就业，发展经济所带来的噪音持抵触情绪。所以，选项A 为正确答案。