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  3. With Japan’s welfare system buckling under the demands of an ageing society, the world’s oldest man apologized yesterday for his

With Japan’s welfare system buckling under the demands of an ageing society, the world’s oldest man apologized yesterday for his

admin2022-08-06  89
问题     With Japan’s welfare system buckling under the demands of an ageing society, the world’s oldest man apologized yesterday for his longevity.
    As Tomoji Tanabe, 111, received his certificate from Guinness World Records, the former engineer, who never touches alcohol, said that his feat of survival was nothing special. "I have been around too long," he joked, "I am sorry." Mr. Tanabe added his customary explanation of how he has managed to reach such a ripe old age: "Not drinking alcohol is the best formula for keeping myself healthy," he said.
    Other residents of his village attributed Mr. Tanabe’s long life to a diet that consists chiefly of vegetables and very little fried food. His explanation fuels a continuing mystery about the ideal formula for longevity—as each new holder of the title is crowned, each attributes his or her success to diets, lifestyles and habits that differ widely. Some have said that fresh air is the key, others have been heavy smokers. Some have taken vigorous exercise, others have sworn by periods of inactivity.
    The Mayor of Miyakonojo, the village where Mr. Tanabe lives with his family, presented the certificate to its famous resident after nearly five months of birthdate verification by the Guinness World Records team. Mr. Tanabe unofficially inherited the title when its previous record-holder, Emiliano Mercado del Toro, of Puerto Rico, died in January, aged 115. The crowning of Mr. Tanabe, who was born in the southern island of Kyushi in 1895, brings the desired "double trophy" back to Japan. Yone Minagawa, who lives in the same area, is 114 and holds the title of world’s oldest woman.
    Japan’s population of the centenarians is the largest in the world. Most of the 28,000 Japanese who have made it beyond 100 are women and the highest concentration of the very elderly is in the southern part The area around Hiroshima and the island of Okinawa are especially rich in former "world’s oldest" title holders. The number of centenarians has risen 160-fold since records began in the 1960s. Although Japan is proud of its record-breaking longevity, the success of Mr. Tanabe comes as the country is running short of ideas for how to solve its ageing crisis. With the fertility rate still at record lows, government and private sector efforts to stimulate the birthrate have met with little success. As the number of children decreases, the future welfare burden for working-age Japanese may become intolerably large.
The word "buckling" (Line 1, Paragraph 1) most probably means
选项 A、shrinking.
B、collapsing.
C、expanding.
D、diminishing.
答案B
解析 buckling一词之前是Japan’s welfare system。根据常识我们知道日本的社会福利体系是比较规范完善的，结合buckling后面提到的日益老龄化的社会，可以合理推断这样的社会人口结构势必会对社会福利体系造成巨大压力，可推断buckle应该有“重压下崩溃”的意思，故选B项。C项expanding“拓展，扩大”不合逻辑；A、D项语义相近，不可能为答案，也可排除。
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