Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage．
Labor force is denned as being the total number of people who are available to work and earn income．This definition includes everyone who is employed or seeking paid employment，so it includes employers and the self—employed． Labor is one of the country's resources which can be combined with other resources to produce the goods and services wanted by the community.
Although the size of the workforce depends a great deal on the size of the total population，there are several other influences which a1so affect it．The age distribution of the total population has a very marked effect on the available workforce．if the population has a high proportion of very young people or of those too o1d to work，then the available workforce would be lower than if there were an evenly spread age distribution. If the population naturally grows rapidly,i.e. the number of births greatly exceeds the number of deaths，then as a total population increases the proportion in the workforce declines．
Sometimes a population is described as aging，which means that the birth rate is either falling or growing very slowly, and as people retire from the workforce there are insufficient numbers of young people entering it to replace those who are leaving it．The population is top-heavy(头重脚轻) with older people．So the percentage of the population in the workforce declines when there is either a rapid increase in births or a falling birth rate．
The age distribution of the population has several important effects on the economy．If the population is aging and there is an increase in the number of people retiring without a corresponding increase in the number entering the workforce，this raises the problem of the ability of the economy to provide a reasonable 1evel of social services to the retired group．If the aged are to be cared for in special homes，finance must be avai1able for that purpose. If the size of the workforce is small relative to the total population, then the government tax revenue is relatively low and either the government has less money available to it or the workforce members have to be taxed more heavily.
31.Labor force is referred to as _________________
[A] people who are available to work and earn income
[B] self-employed people only
[C] only those who are looking for an employment
[D] only the employers
32.According to the passage, which of the following factors is NOT mentioned as an influence on the size of the workforce?
[A] The size of the population.
[B] The age distribution of the population.
[C] The national economy.
[D] The number of births and deaths.
33.The conclusion which can be drawn safely from the second paragraph is that ________.
[A] a population growth from natural increase leads to a greater proportion of the workforce
[B] a large population does not necessarily mean a higher proportion of workforce
[C] the larger the number of the aged in a population, the higher the proportion of the workforce
[D]if the population has an evenly spread age distribution, the workforce will be lower
34.When a population is said to aging,________________.
[A] there are more people retiring than those entering the workforce.
[B] the birth rate must be growing
[C] there should be an oversupply of workforce
[D] young people outnumber old people
35.The population which is top-heavy with older people exerts pressure on _____________.
[A] the employers
[B] the self-employed
[C] the young people
[D] the economy of the country
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