40 What does the author think of the elderly?
(A) They are an inevitable burden on society.
(B) The government has to do more to ensure their welfare.
(C) They have to rely on their children for necessities.
(D) Many of them are living with great enthusiasm.

There’s no question that taking care of the elderly and frail脆弱 will incur招致 huge costs, stretching伸展, 伸出 already overburdened pension養老金；退休金 and health-care systems.

But with people living longer and continuing to contribute productively to society, we need to recalibrate重新刻度; 再校準 just what we mean by old.

In Japan, for instance, more than a quarter of the population is currently at the age of 60 or older, a figure that’s set to reach 42% by 2050.

However, many of these folks are hardly sitting idly無目的地, 無行動地 at home. One in three Japanese aged 60 or over is still part of the labor force. Keeping older folks employed is particularly important because by mid-century, says the UN, the world will have more elderly people than children. By 2050, nearly a third of the developed world’s labor force will be aged 50 or older. Many elderly are spending more, too. While a good chunk厚塊, 一部分；（尤指）大部分 of their savings will be needed to fund longer retirements and higher health payments, older people have considerable purchasing power. Britons over 50 years of age, for instance, control 75% of the country’s wealth. Businesses catering to a so-called所謂的，號稱 silver economy are booming, offering everything from elderly-friendly housing to trips for retiree globetrotters周遊列國者.  

With the older generation controlling so much of the world’s money, it’s hardly fair to dismiss忘記, 對…不予理會，摒棄 senior citizens as an inevitable不可避免 burden on society. “Many Japanese are living so long, it’s like they’ve been given second lives,” says Toshiko Katayose, editor of a Tokyo magazine. “They’re doing everything with energy: working, turning kimonos into cool patchwork拼布工藝（品）, 拼綴物 designs; even doing math drills to keep mentally fit. ”