If Thelma Richards continues to pay $917 a month, every month, for the foreseeable future, she’ll pay off her student loans by the end of 2042. The problem is, by then she’ll be 87 years old. “I don’t think I’m going to live that long,” she says, laughing. “I’m not joking!” Richards, 65, who lives in Little Falls, N.Y., represents a growing number of older Americans, who are now more likely than ever to hold student debt well into retirement age. According to a January report from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the number of Americans aged 60 and older carrying student debt doubled in the past five years.
The rapid rise in older Americans taking on student loans has two main causes. The first is that parents and grandparents are co-signing loans to support the younger generation. The second is that older Americans are increasingly taking student loans for themselves. With blue-collar jobs decreasing, people in their 40s and 50s are going back to school to acquire new skills.
Richards, for example, who worked as a waitress while raising three children as a single mom, went back to college in her 40s to earn a degree in occupational treatment. While her new profession produces a higher income and health care benefits, it has also left her with a lifetime of debt. Trends leave older borrowers in a bind. They have less time in the workforce and are more likely to become ill, often in a weaker position to pay back loans. Making monthly payments on a fixed income is also more difficult than it is for younger borrowers, whose incomes are more likely to grow.
According to the CFPB report, more than a third of those aged 60 and older with student debt had given up medical care to afford their loan payments. And there’s no way out. Robert Farrington, the founder of the website the College Investor, says one main piece of advice for older borrowers is simply to avoid any loan that isn’t repayable in 10 years. “Remember,” he says, “if you don’t pay, they’ll come after you.”
1.How much should Thelma Richards pay from 1st April 2030 to 31st December 2050 for the student loan according to the passage?
A.Approximately $129,300 B.Approximately $140,300
C.Approximately $217,300 D.Approximately $228,300
2.For whom do Americans take student loans according to the passage?
A.Children. B.Grandparents.
C.The government. D.Themselves or kids.
3.Which of the following is NOT a reason why it is difficult for Americans to pay off student loans?
A.The banks are too greedy. B.They easily become ill.
C.Some have to attend school. D.Their work time is reduced.
4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A.Student Loan Cannot Be Paid in America
B.The Government Should Reduce Student Loan
C.Retirees Shoulder a Bigger Share of Student Debt
D.Student Debt is the Biggest Trouble in America
Gets Into the Spirit Ryan Reynolds’ résumé just got longer. Spirits just got longer. Spirits importer Davos Brands announced February 21 that the actor has decided to invest in their Aviation Gin. After taking just one sip, the 41-year-old says, “I knew I wanted to get involved with the company.” The dad of two adds his name to the growing list of celebrities who’ve taken risks into the liquor business, including Justin Timberlake, Matthew McConaughey and George Clooney. Adds the Deadpool star, “I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of the company.” |
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Expanding Her Empire First came the 8-carat sparkler from Migos rapper Offset, 26. Soon after, Cardi B got a second huge shock. “She’s definitely pregnant,” reveals one insider. Adds another source of the “Bodak Yellow” rapper, said to be more than three months along, “She was really surprised.” Though the two-time Grammy nominee (a person who has been formally suggested) has denied she’s expecting (she told one fan she’s “just getting fat”), sources says she’s already making adjustments to her packed schedule. “She was supposed to go on a small tour with Bruno Mars,” says the insider, but now that trip is in question. But the 25-year-old is unbothered, says the source: “She’s head over heels for Offset and can’t wait to have their baby.” |
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Paradise Found Introducing Bachelor Nation’s newest member! On February 15, Bachelor in Paradise alumni Carly Waddell and Evan Bass began a new chapter of their amazing journey. After what 35-year-old Bass — father of boys Ensley, Nathan and Liam from a previous marriage — called a “supersmooth pregnancy,” his wife of nearly nine months welcomed their first child, Isabella Evelyn. “Everyone is healthy and happy,” he said. And prepared for their new roles: Even before the 32-year-old’s pregnancy, Bass was convinced she’d be an outstanding mom. She’s “on the sidelines at every soccer game,” he added. “The boys really love her.” |
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1.What has Cardi B denied?
A.She has denied a coming tour. B.She has denied being pregnant.
C.She has denied her getting fat. D.She has denied getting divorced.
2.How many sons does Bass probably have NOW?
A.One. B.Two. C.Three. D.Four.
Nothing stays the same for long. Things and people change, often for the ___________, it seems, but once in a ___________, very much for the better. I grew up on a small farm, living a life that I took for granted. I had a dog and mountains in whichever_______ I looked, and I awoke to the call of birds in the alfalfa (苜蓿) fields. My father worked in the city as a worker. He was quiet and _________. He was not _________educated, but he was smart, with an engineer’s way of looking at problems. He was a man made of leather and chewing tobacco who tried to teach my brother and me useful things, including respect. He also had a _______. I did not like him very much.
One day I came home from school and his car was already there. Once inside, I was told by my mother that he didn’t feel well. His back hurt. My father never missed work; in fact, when he came home, he went to work even more. I remember looking secretly around the corner at him as he _________ on his bed in the middle of the day. I was in _______ school. Multiple myeloma, I learned, is a type of blood cancer. It starts in the_______ that normally make antibodies for the body to use in its immune response against __________. When those cells become ill, they make abnormal antibodies like crazy, ____________ out the useful ones. As the cancer grows, the person who has it__________. The disease weakens the body’s energy, and the abnormal antibodies cause problems for other cells and__________. Over time, bones __________ look like Swiss cheese, and when they break, they may never__________.
For the last year of my father’s life, his entire day consisted of rising from his hospital bed in the living room and walking to his chair to sit and think. He was __________ in that chair when I came home one day during the fifth grade. I do not remember where my mother and brother were, but the two of us were__________. He asked me to sit down. What followed still moves me these ____________ later. He told me about his life, his family growing up, what it was like in the Pacific during World War II, his loves, his heartbreaks. It was as if a pipe had__________, his inner self rushing out to me in a great flood. He had been speaking for maybe an hour or more when I realized that he was doing more than telling. He was asking to be forgiven. All it took was understanding that that was what he needed, and I__________ everything, immediately.
1.A.wealthier B.worse C.healthier D.familiar
2.A.while B.hour C.day D.week
3.A.time B.village C.valley D.direction
4.A.warm B.noisy C.distant D.considerate
5.A.lowly B.less C.more D.highly
6.A.smile B.weakness C.temper D.friend
7.A.launched B.lay C.laid D.landed
8.A.elementary B.middle C.high D.university
9.A.carriers B.chests C.currents D.cells
10.A.invitations B.investigation C.infections D.inference
11.A.compromising B.crowding C.circulating D.clarifying
12.A.substitutes B.sneezes C.sacrifices D.shrinks
13.A.talents B.tensions C.tissues D.tunnels
14.A.fortunately B.eventually C.ambiguously D.considerately
15.A.heal B.hurt C.hesitate D.handle
16.A.predictably B.psychologically C.primitively D.potentially
17.A.alone B.abnormal C.absent D.absurd
18.A.distances B.decades C.disciplines D.dilemmas
19.A.bounced B.boarded C.burst D.bound
20.A.forget B.finance C.function D.forgave
—You know how much I am missing the days before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
—School, movies, gatherings, ________. We’ll soon be back on track.
A.no kidding B.come on C.you name it D.go for it
Doctors are fighting a________battle to save the little girl’s life.
A.modest B.flexible C.compulsory D.desperate
He would have been willing to accompany me________him how important it was to me.
A.if I have told B.had I told C.should I tell D.if I could tell
