首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health? [A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also a
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health? [A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also a
admin
2017-01-16
79
问题
Are Bad Economic Times Good for Health?
[A] Most people are worried about the health of the economy. But does the economy also affect your health? It does, but not always in ways you might expect. The data on how an economic downturn influences an individual’s health are surprisingly mixed. It’s clear that long-term economic gains lead to improvements in a population’s overall health, in developing and industrialized societies alike.
[B] But whether the current economic downturn will take a toll on your own health depends, in part, on your health habits when times are good. And economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times—drinking too much (especially before driving), dining on fat-filled restaurant meals and skipping exercise and doctors’ appointments because of work-related time commitments.
[C] "The value of time is higher during good economic times," said Grant Miller, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford. "So people work more and do less of the things that are good for them, like cooking at home and exercising: and people experience more stress due to the severity of hard work during booms."
[D] Similar patterns have been seen in some developing nations. Dr. Miller, who is studying the effects of fluctuating coffee prices on health in Colombia, says that even though falling prices are bad for the economy, they appear to improve health and decrease death rates. When prices are low, laborers have more time to care for their children. "When coffee prices suddenly rise, people work harder on their coffee plots and spend less time doing things around the home, including things that are good for their children," he said. "Because the things that matter most for infant and child health in rural Colombia aren’t expensive, but require a substantial amount of time—such as breast-feeding, bringing clean water from far away, taking your child to a distant health clinic for free vaccinations (接种疫苗) —infant and child death rates rise."
[E] In this country, a similar effect appeared in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, according to a 2007 paper by Dr. Miller and colleagues in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The data seem to contradict research in the 1970s suggesting that in hard times there are more deaths from heart disease, cirrhosis (肝硬化), suicide and murder, as well as more admissions to mental hospitals. But those findings have not been repeated, and several economists have pointed out flaws in the research.
[F] In May 2000, the Quarterly Journal of Economics published a surprising paper called "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?" by Christopher J. Ruhm, professor of economics at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, based on an analysis measuring death rates and health behavior against economic shifts and jobless rates from 1972 to 1991. Dr. Ruhm found that death rates declined sharply in the 1974 and 1982 recessions, and increased in the economic recovery of the 1980s. An increase of one percentage point in state unemployment rates correlated with a 0.5 percentage point decline in the death rate—or about 5 fewer deaths per 100,000 people. Over all, the death rate fell by more than 8 percent in the 20-year period of mostly economic decline, led by drops in heart disease and car crashes.
[G] The economic downturn did appear to take a toll on factors having less to do with prevention and more to do with mental well-being and access to health care. For instance, cancer deaths rose 23 percent, and deaths from flu and pneumonia increased slightly. Suicides rose 2 percent, homicides 12 percent.
[H] The issue that may matter most in an economic crisis is not related to jobs or income, but whether the slump widens the gap between rich and poor, and whether there is an adequate health safety net available to those who have lost their jobs and insurance. During a decade of economic recession in Japan that began in the 1990s, people who were unemployed were twice as likely to be in poor health as those with secure jobs. During Peru’s severe economic crisis in the 1980s, infant deaths jumped 2.5 percentage points—about 17,000 more children who died as public health spending and social programs collapsed.
[I] In August, researchers from the Free University of Amsterdam looked at health studies of twins in Denmark. They found that individuals bom in a recession were at higher risk for heart problems later in life and lived, on average, 15 months less than those born under better conditions. Gerard J. van den Berg, an economics professor who was a co-author of the study, said babies in poor households suffered the most in a recession, because their families lacked access to good health care. Poor economic conditions can also cause stress that may interfere with parent bonding and childhood development, he said. He noted that other studies had found that recessions can benefit babies by giving their parents more time at home.
[J] "This scenario (情况) may be relevant for well-to-do families where one of the parents loses a job and the other still brings in enough money," he said. "But in a crisis where the family may have to face huge housing-cost losses and the household income is insufficient for adequate nutrition and health care, the disadvantageous effects of being born in a recession seem much more relevant."
[K] In the USA, there are already signs of the economy’s effect on health. In May, the market research firm Information Resources reported that 53 percent of consumers said they were cooking more than they did just six months before—in part, no doubt, because of the rising cost of prepared foods. At the same time, health insurance costs are rising. With premiums and co-payments, the average employee with insurance pays nearly one-third of medical costs—about twice as much as four years ago, according to Paul H. Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
[L] In the United States, which unlike other industrialized nations lacks a national health plan, the looming recession may take a greater toll. About 46 million Americans lack health insurance, Dr. Keckley says, and even among the 179 million who have it, an estimated 1 in 7 would be bankrupted by a single health crisis. The economic downturn "is not good news for the health care industry," he said. "There may be something positive, but I think this needs pondering."
Partly due to the rising price of prepared foods in the US, more than half of people now prefer to cook at home.
选项
答案
K
解析
根据关键词prepared food及cook at home可定位到K段。该段谈经济波动对健康的影响。其中第2句通过市场调查报告指出,与六个月前相比,53%的消费者表示在家做饭的次数增加了。53%即过半数与题目的more than half相符,题目中的prefer to cook at home则与原文的cooking more对应。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/62i7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Timeisrunningoutforgovernmentstooverhaulregulationofglobalbanksthathavebecomebiggerandmorepowerfulsincethes
ThenewUShealth-insurancerulesaredesignedtohelpthosecaughtinMedicare’s"doughnuthole",offerseniorsmorepreventati
Whenchildrenhitpuberty(青春期),theirabilitytolearnasecondlanguagedrops.Theyfindithardertolearntheirwayarounda
Housingofficialssaythatlatelytheyarenoticingsomethingdifferent:studentsseemtolackthewill,andskill,toaddresst
FourWaystoBeHappierA)IftherewereaDr.Happiness,wouldyourushtogetinlinetoseehim,especiallyifhisprescriptio
FourWaystoBeHappierA)IftherewereaDr.Happiness,wouldyourushtogetinlinetoseehim,especiallyifhisprescriptio
最近大众媒体经常披露腐败案例。一些高级官员挪用公款,还有一些领导滥用职权。一些其他的腐败现象,如玩忽职守或是收受贿赂也众人皆知。这导致经济的发展受到严重的影响,为建立一个清廉政府所做出的努力变得没有了意义。腐败影响了国家利益,同时也打击了人们的积极性。我们
武则天,中国历史上唯一的一位女皇帝,于唐朝(theTangDynasty)690年称帝。虽然她很残暴,但是她对国家的统治还是比较成功的。她任人唯贤,完全不考虑其家庭地位。通过奖励积极发展农业的官员,惩罚对农民课征重税的官员,武则天极大地促进了农业的发展
ShouldEnglishClassesBeCompulsoryforStudents?1.目前,英语课是大学生的必修课之一2.有人认为英语课不应被设为必修课,有人却不这样认为…3.我对此所持的看法及理由
A、Todoimportantwrittenwork.B、Tomakegooduseoftheirknowledge.C、Togainthenecessaryexperience.D、Todealwithother
随机试题
下列对于诊断肝气郁结证最无意义的是
A.pH
急性T淋巴细胞白血病可出现的免疫表型是
应用强心苷期间严禁()。
进行工程质量事故处理的主要依据包括( )。
根据《安全生产法》,当从业人员发现事故隐患或其他不安全因素时,应当立即向()报告。
在国际海上货物运输中,从中国出口途经美国西海岸港口后转运到墨西哥的货物不需要进行美国海关AMS申报。()
根据植物新品种保护条例及相关规定,下列说法哪些是正确的?
阅读下面一段文言文,完成下列题目。群臣皆出,独留阳平公融,谓之曰:“自古定大事者,不过一二臣而已。今众言纷纷,徒乱人意,吾当与汝决之。”对曰:“今伐晋有三难:天道不顺,一也;晋国无衅,二也;我数战兵疲,民有畏敌之心,三也。群臣言晋不可伐者,皆忠臣
Thespeakerfeelsthatmanyphotographsaremoreactualthanpaintingsbecause
最新回复
(
0
)