In some countries, old people who retire from work spend the money on themselves (e.g. holiday) rather than save money for their children. Is it a positive or negative development?

　　高分范文及解析

　　Introduction

　　Nowadays, an increasing number of retirees opt to allocate their savings to bettering the quality of life instead of putting aside money for their offspring. Personally, this trend is generally advantageous.

　　解析

　　农历新年后的第 一场考试，就迎来了新题。话题也很有意思，联系现实，会发现讨论的话题就是时代更迭带来的观念碰撞。注意：老人花钱在自己身上，题干里还进行了提示“holiday”，相当于暗示钱是花在“提高生活质量”上，未防止走题，建议顺着“holiday”这个举例的思路走，不要强调把钱花在“刚需”上，比如医疗，也不要提“减轻年轻人赡养老人的压力”。

　　☑ retiree n. 退休者

　　☑ put aside v. 省下,储存;留出

　　Body 1

　　In some parts of the world, it is a traditional convention that pensioners should set aside money for their children, which indicates that the aforementioned trend may bring certain losses. The most evident one is that such practice will to some extent exert a negative impact on the cohesion and connections between the young and the old. To illustrate, the vast majority of younger generations are struggling with the surging living pressure, and the savings of the old can alleviate such burden, tackle some family financial crisis popping up, and even guarantee the later generations a better living condition. In contrast, spending money for pensioners’ own benefit may trigger their children’s dissatisfaction and grumbles under some circumstances. However, this is not always the case.

　　解析

　　给家庭关系带来负面影响：[对比论证] 年轻人面临大压力：钱留给年轻人可以缓解压力，应对突发的家庭财政危机，甚至给后几代都提供更好的物质基础;而老人自己花钱，不对子女伸以援手，则可能引起子女不满。

　　☑ pensioner n. 领取养老金[退休金]的人

　　☑ set aside v. 留出,拨出(时间、金钱等)

　　☑ exert vt. 运用[权力]; 施加[影响力]

　　☑ cohesion and connections n. 凝聚力和人际关系

　　☑ alleviate vt. 缓解

　　☑ pop up vi. 突然发生

　　☑ trigger vt. 触发，引发

　　☑ grumble n.[C] 抱怨

　　Body 2

　　As a matter of fact, more old age pensioners spend money on themselves, such as travelling, and behind this phenomenon are more gains. The first one is about safeguarding the right of the old to make their own decisions. What usually occurs in reality is that old parents are pressurised under traditional conventions to be children-centred and to put their offspring’s benefit onto the top agenda. This is actually not fair to the old. They have worked hard in their early life to accumulate their own wealth, and naturally they ought to enjoy the right to freely spend their savings in their late life on whatever defines them. Besides, spending money on themselves can also satisfy retirees’ spiritual demands. It is a commonplace that the old were wrapped up in both their work and domestic trivialities in the early years, and it is after retirement that they are allowed to smell the flowers and engage themselves in what they truly love. Meanwhile, compared with saving money for their children, which may demotivate the young to devote themselves to work, spending money can spur the young’s diligence.

　　解析

　　老人给自己花钱的好处：1. 保障自己做决定(花自己钱)的权利;2. 满足老人自己的精神需求

　　☑ safeguard vt. 保护

　　☑ pressurise sb. to do sth. 强迫

　　☑ put sth. onto the top agenda 把…放在首位

　　☑ be wrapped up in sth. 忙于某事而无暇顾及其他事

　　☑ domestic trivialities n. 家庭琐事

　　☑ smell the flowers 休息一下，享受生活

　　☑ diligence n. 勤勉

　　Conclusion

　　In light of the above, despite some above-mentioned cases, retirees ought to have the right to spend their money freely on whatever they like.

　　解析

　　重申观点