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
2018-09-15
11
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."
Gerard J. van den Berg noted that recessions can benefit babies born in well-to-do families.
选项
答案
I
解析
根据题目中的Gerard J.van den Berg和babies等词定位到I段。该段第3句提到人物Gerard J.van den Berg,并在其后几句表达他的看法和观点。其中最后一句提到,经济衰退使父母有更多时间留在家中,从而使一些婴儿受益,结合后一段J段首句的"This scenario…for well-to-do families"可知,这里提到的受益的婴儿来自富裕家庭。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/8347777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Tospendhersummerthere.B、Toattendaweddingofherfriend.C、Toenjoytheclimateandfoodthere.D、Tovisitsomebeautif
A、Forfourmonths.B、Forsixmonths.C、Untilhefindsthegirl.D、Untilthegirlacceptsthering.C短文开头就说:“一位南非商人要在找到一位他在一个拥挤的酒
A、Drinks.B、Food.C、Abathingsuit.D、ATent.C女士说:“所以你得自己带泳衣和睡袋。”C正确。表示具体物件的名词选项表明,此题问某个细节(而非全文主旨)。此类题的做题办法是:首先,看四个选项在原文是否提及。若原
A、Thethreatofpoisonousdesertanimalsandplants.B、Theexhaustionofenergyresources.C、Thedestructionofoilwells.D、The
Officialhealthadvicethatsaidhouseholdchoreshelpkeepyouactivehasbeenprovedwrongbytheresearch,whichshowsthatt
A、Ittakesupmuchroom.B、Itwasdeliveredthedaybeforeyesterday.C、Itwassoldat15%discount.D、Itisofthesamesizeas
Schoolsoutsidecities[A]Withitssandybeaches,charmingruinsandoccasionallybluewaters,theIsleofWightisaperfects
A、TheypredominatetheEnglishworld.B、Theyareunabletoadapttothecompetitiveworld.C、Theyinvestmoretimeinlearninga
DefinitionsofObesityA)Howdoesonedefinewhenapersonisconsideredtobeobeseandnotjustsomewhatoverweight?Height-we
DefinitionsofObesityA)Howdoesonedefinewhenapersonisconsideredtobeobeseandnotjustsomewhatoverweight?Height-we
随机试题
齿衄之阴虚火旺证的选方是
在规定的释放介质中缓慢地恒速释放药物的胶囊剂是()。
责任原理包含()。伦迪公司在哪些方面做得不周到()。
按照《建筑地基基础设计规范》(GB50007—2002),当基础宽度大于3m或埋置深度大于0.5m时,下列情况中需对地基承载力特征值进行修正的是()。
A厂委托B厂加工一批应税消费品(化妆品),A厂提供的原材料成本为54000元,B厂收取(不舍税)加工费9000元,该应税消费品适用税率为30%,受托的B厂没有同类消费品的销售价格。A厂将委托加工的已税消费品收回后,领用一半用于继续生产最终应税消费品(高档化
某项目现有三个互斥的投资方案A、B、C,欲从中选择最有利的方案,三个投资方案的投资额及一年后的净收益如下表所示。各方案的寿命期都是一年,一年后的净残值为零。假设基准收益率为6%。根据题意,回答下列问题:【2008年真题】C方案的净现值为(
音乐的各种样式和类别叫作_________。
下面关于变形链球菌的叙述正确的有()。
VLAN在现代组网技术中占有重要地位。在由多个VLAN组成的一个局域网中,以下哪种说法不正确?()
A、Avisittoseveralcoffee-growingplantations.B、Coffeepricesandhisadvertisingcampaign.C、Avacationonsomebeautifultr
最新回复
(
0
)