The Infinitive

11. a) Read and find the Infinitives and Infinitive constructions. $

shortfall – дефицит, нехватка, недостача

As medical science progresses, we are becoming an increasingly elderly society and, although living to a ripe old age can only be a good thing, it brings with it a large number of problems that we have yet to deal with properly. One such problem is that the burden of financing care for the elderly seems to be falling on a reduced percentage of the working population. The gradual but steady trend towards smaller families is likely to result in a smaller number of people to pay for the requirements of an increasingly elderly population. The services needed by the elderly appear to have stretched to breaking point. Nursing homes, homecare, meals on wheels and so on all need more investment if we wish our elderly to live as fulfilled and independent a life as possible.

Young people today are encouraged to start saving with personal pension schemes as early as possible to ensure an adequately financed retirement, since it is predicted that state pension levels in the future will not be enough to guarantee a continuation of the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. But we still have to cope with an expanding older population who are discovering too late that the steps they had taken to guarantee an income for their later years were not sufficient. Obviously, the pressure on public funds to subsidize this shortfall is enormous.

(After Virginia Evans, Linda Edwards, Upstream Advanced)

b) Answer the teacher’s questions.

Read the following sentences and translate them into Russian. Comment on the forms of the Infinitive.