第10章 福利国家

I. Explain each of the following in English:

1. The welfare state

Key: (1)Britain is a welfare state in the sense that it should ensure, as far as it can, that nobody should be without the means for the minimum necessities of life as the result of unemployment, old age, sickness or over—large families.

(2)The system of national insurance pays out benefits to people who are unemployed, or unable to earn because they are old or sick.

(3)Free or nearly free medical and dental care is provided for everyone under the National Health Service.

(4)Supplementary benefits are provided for people who live below the minimum standard.

2. The retirement pension

Key: (1)It may be received by any man from the age of 65 (provided he has made his weekly contributions to the fund if he ceases to work, and by any woman from the age of 60.

(2)A man who continues to work after the age of 65 gets no pension at first, but when he is over 70 he gets a bigger pension.

(3)People may receive additional pensions by paying higher contributions while they are working.

(4)There are in addition non-state methods of providing for retirement pensions.

3. A life-insurance policy

Key: (1)It is a kind of policy any person can take with an insurance company.

(2)It can be devised so as to suit the policy-taker's needs.

(3)It usually gives the policy-taker a fixed sum of money at the age of sixty.

(4)It is a non-state method of providing for retirement pensions.

4. Family allowances

Key: (1)They are paid directly out of public money contributed by taxpayers.

(2)For the first child of a family, nothing is paid, but an allowance is made for all children after the first.

(3)The payments continue until a child leaves school and are subject to income tax.

(4)There are special payments for widows who have children.

5. Unemployment payments

Key: (1)Unemployment payments are received by people who become unemployed or unable to work because of sickness.

(2)People receive unemployment payments at the same rate as the retirement pensioners.

(3)The amount of time for which a person is entitled to receive these benefits depends on the length of time for which he has already been paying contributions into the insurance fund.

(4)If a person becomes unable to work because of accidental injury at work or the conditions of his work, he will receive more payments.

6. Supplementary benefits

Key: It is used for paying out benefits to people who are unemployed, or unable to earn because they are old or sick. Secondly, free or nearly free medical and dental care is provided for everyone under the National Health Service, which is financed partly by weekly contributions paid by people who are working, but mainly by payments by the state out of general taxation.

7. ‘Meals on wheels’

Key: (1)It is a kind of unpaid service voluntarily performed by public-spirited people.

(2)Meals are distributed to infirm old people in old peoples' homes by women who belong to voluntary organizations, using their own cars.

8. The National Health Service

Key: (1)It is a nationwide organization based on Acts of Parliament.

(2)It provides all kinds of free or nearly free medical treatment both in hospital and outside.

(3)It is financed partly by weekly contributions paid by people who are working, but mainly by payments by the state out of general taxation.

(4)People are not obliged to use the service provided.

(5)The service is achieving its main objectives with outstanding success.

II. Fill in the blanks:

1. In Britain, if a person becomes unemployed or unable to work because of sickness, he receives payments from _____.

Key: the insurance fund

2. An allowance is made for all children after _____.

Key: the first

3. Many people who have enough money prefer to be private patients, either because _____, or because they _____, or because _____.

Key: they do not like to join the common herd; think that they can in that way establish a more personal relationship with the doctor; if they are seriously ill or need an operation, they want to choose for themselves which specialist or surgeon will treat them.

4. In England, the organization of the National Health Service is divided into _____, each with _____, and _____, and_____.

Key: 14 Regions; a University medical school; 72 Areas

5. The retirement pension may be received by any man from 65 or a woman form 60 provided he or she _____

Key: ceases to work.

6. A man may be entitled to unemployment benefit for a period between _____ and _____.

Key: five; nineteen months

III. Tick the correct answer in each of the following:

1. A person may receive sickness benefits for as long as his sickness lasts when _____.

A. he has paid five months' contributions.

B. he has paid nineteen months' contributions.

C. he has paid 156 weekly contributions.

D. he has paid 240 each month of his working time.

【答案】C

2. Family allowances are paid _____.

A. out of public money contributed by taxpayers.

B. out of the insurance fund because it is part of the ordinary working of the welfare state.

C. out of the contributions made by the family members.

D. out of the fund raised by private organizations.

【答案】A

3. In Britain many old people do not receive the benefits to which they are entitled because of one of the following reasons. Which is the exception?

A. Some of them are too proud to receive the benefits.

B. They are self-confident that they can support themselves.

C. They do not understand the system of the welfare state.

D. They do not know how to apply.

【答案】C

4. Some of the residential homes for old people are rather unattractive because _____.

A. they are in the buildings of old nineteenth-century ‘work-houses'.

B. their organization is poor.

C. their physical conditions have never been improved.

D. the services in those home are poor.

【答案】B

IV. Answer the questions:

1. What are the four main parts of the welfare operations in Britain?

Key: First, there is the system of national insurance. Everybody who is working, either for himself or for an employer, is obliged to contribute a fixed amount each week to the national insurance fund, and the fund, which receives supplementary contributions from the proceeds of general taxation, is used for paying out benefits to people who are unemployed, or unable to earn because they are old or sick. Secondly, free or nearly free medical and dental care is provided for everyone under the National Health Service, which is financed partly by weekly contributions paid by people who are working, but mainly by payments by the state out of general taxation. Thirdly, supplementary benefits are provided for people whose incomes are too low for them to be able to live at a minimum standard; the system of non-contributory payments was extended and refined in 1973-4. Finally, there are many services or the benefit of children, apart from the provision of education. These benefits include family allowances, paid to parents in respect of each child after the first, but some subsidies for children's food have now been restricted to families who need them.

2. Where does the national insurance fund come from?

Key: It receives supplementary contributions from the proceeds of general taxation

3. How many forms of insurance are there in Britain? Name those forms mentioned in the text and explain them.

Key: The retirement pension:

(1)It may be received by any man from the age of 65 (provided he has made his weekly contributions to the fund if he ceases to work, and by any woman from the age of 60.

(2)A man who continues to work after the age of 65 gets no pension at first, but when he is over 70 he gets a bigger pension.

(3)People may receive additional pensions by paying higher contributions while they are working.

(4)There are in addition non-state methods of providing for retirement pensions.

4. Why do some people who are entitled to the benefits still live in poverty?

Key: because they did not receive the benefits to which they were entitled. This was because they did not understand the system, or did not know how to apply, or were too proud or too lacking in self-confidence to do anything about it. Great efforts are being made to ensure that such people are helped

5. Are British people obliged to use the National Health Service? What choices do they have?

Key: No, they may still go to doctors as private patients if they wish to do so, and in big towns there are some private and financially independent hospitals (called ‘nursing homes') which people may use rather than the hospitals which are within the health service.

6. What are some major arguments for and against the National Health Service?

Key: Against: It produces a good deal of form-filling and paper-work for all concerned in its operation. On the other side there are some who regret that the main objective of the service has been thwarted--though very slightly-by the fact that individual patients must pay a little towards the cost of medicine from the chemist, of glasses and some appliances, and of dental treatment.

For: On the whole most British people would agree that the service is achieving its main objectives with outstanding success, though it may be a little damaged by excessive governmental economy. The cost is really not very high; expenditure on the treatment of sickness is much less per head of population, even as a percentage of national income, than in the United States. And whatever some people may say about the cost of the welfare state, it remains true that real expenditure on welfare services in general is not remarkably high in comparison with other European countries.