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  3. Nearly 5,000 people below the age of 21 die because of excessive alcohol consumption each year. Oddly, this has triggered a new

Nearly 5,000 people below the age of 21 die because of excessive alcohol consumption each year. Oddly, this has triggered a new

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问题     Nearly 5,000 people below the age of 21 die because of excessive alcohol consumption each year. Oddly, this has triggered a new movement to lower the drinking age. In America, young people can vote, drive, marry, divorce, hunt and go to war before alcohol is legally allowed to touch their lips. Many states once set their minimum drinking-age at 18. But in 1984 Ronald Reagan oversaw the passage of the "21 law", which requires states to set 21 as the minimum drinking-age or risk losing 10% of their highway funds. Now campaigners want to move it back.
    In the past, states have been too financially timid(胆怯的)to challenge the 21 law. But calls for change are growing louder. Two local judges in South Carolina recently ruled that banning 18- to 20-year-olds from drinking or possessing alcohol is unconstitutional. Public officials, including the former attorney general of South Dakota, have called the 21 law a failure. The about-face of Morris Chafetz, a doctor who served on the commission that recommended increasing the drinking age to 21, has also raised eyebrows. This week he called it the most regrettable decision of his career.
    Supporters of existing status, including the organisation Mothers Against Drunk Driving, say that the law has helped avoid thousands of deaths. But doubters point out that other countries, like Canada, have seen similar declines, even though their drinking-age is 18. They also argue that barring young people from drinking does not stop them from consuming alcohol: it just makes them drink more quickly.
    John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, is part of the Amethyst Initiative, a group of educators who are pushing for 18-year-olds to be allowed to drink. "Those who have graduated from high school, have a clean record and completed an alcohol-education programme should qualify for a drinking licence," he says, "in the same way that people who go to driving school receive a licence to operate a vehicle."
    This is not the first time that Americans have desired a change in alcohol policy during a period of economic distress. Franklin Roosevelt lifted prohibition in 1933 amid the trouble of a depression.
According to the passage, why did the U.S. states follow the "21 law" in the past?
选项 A、Fewer people consumed alcohol before.
B、Citizens believed it helped eliminate drunk driving.
C、Its passage was supervised by honorable Reagan.
D、They couldn’t afford to take the financial risk.
答案D
解析 根据题干中的21 law和in the past将本题出处定位于首段倒数第2句和第2段首句。首段倒数第2句提到，该法要求各州把最低饮酒年龄设成21岁，否则将面临失去10％的公路拨款的风险。第2段首句提到这一要求产生的影响：过去各州因为财政囊中羞涩，不敢挑战《21岁饮酒法》，由此可知，各州遵守这一法律的原因是无法负担失去拨款的风险，故答案为D)。A)在文中未提及；B)是现在许多人的看法；C)是针对Ronald Reagan oversaw the passage of the“21 law”设的干扰项。
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