B
[解析] 16-18
One of the most important questions a worker can ask is:“Will I have enough money for retirement?”
For more than 30 years,Americans have used individual retirement accounts,or IRAs,to increase retirement savings.Today,there are several plans that let workers invest.The plans also offer tax savings.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 provided for the first IRAs.It set rules for retirement plans run by big businesses.Other measures provided for individuals who did not qualify for such plans,called pensions.
The first kind of IRA is now called a traditional IRA.A worker can put up to 4,000 dollars of his or her yearly earnings into a special account.Workers over the age of 50 can invest 4,500 dollars.Unlike a pension,the saver controls the account and decides how it is invested.
Money put in a traditional IRA is not taxed until it is withdrawn.But,savings cannot be withdrawn before the account holder is fifty-nine and one-half years old.If the money is withdrawn before that time,it is taxed like income and there is a 10 percent fine.The account holder must start withdrawals by age seventy and one-half or there also are fmes.
At first,INNs were only for people not covered by pensions at work.But in 1981,everyone could open an IRA.6 years later,congress banned highly paid individuals from claiming tax reductions.
A Roth IRA is a similar plan.Workers can invest up to 4,000 dollars of earnings yearly.But there is no tax savings on the year's eamings.Instead,withdrawals from a Roth IRA are generally not taxed.
16.What are pensions according to the passage?
[解析] 选B,综合推断题。文章提到,对于不符合这些计划的人,给出了称为养老金的措施,其中“这些计划”(suchplans)是指前面提到的“退休计划”(retirement plans),即“个人退休账户”(IRAs),故选B。