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
If life expectancy were a marathon, you could say that the United States is fading from the pack. Al though everyone is living l
If life expectancy were a marathon, you could say that the United States is fading from the pack. Al though everyone is living l
admin
2013-05-11
46
问题
If life expectancy were a marathon, you could say that the United States is fading from the pack. Al though everyone is living longer, the inhabitants of other industrialized nations have made more dramatic strides in life expectancy than Americans have. Australian men gained an extra six years between 1980 and 2001; Japanese women, 6.1% years. The result: Americans, once on a par with countries such as Italy and New Zealand—in the middle of the pack--now rank below Spain and Greece, near the end.
On the face of it, this should not be happening.
Healthier nations are usually wealthier nations. The United States is the third richest of the 30 developed nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), after Luxembourg and Norway. But it now ranks 22nd in life expectancy—down from 12th for women and 18th for men in 1980.
Could the problem be inadequate healthcare spending?
No. The US spends $1 of every $7 of its gross domestic product on healthcare—far more than any other OECD nation, which typically devotes less than $1 in $10 of GDP to the sector. Per person, that works out to an extra $1,800 compared with the Swiss or $2,300 compared with the Canadians, even though both those groups live longer than Americans.
So what’s at work?
One factor could be diet, according to a new study on longevity by Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and two students, Robert Hatch and James Lee①. Americans have been getting fatter, and physicians maintain that putting on weight often shrinks a person’s life span.
On the positive side, US alcohol and tobacco consumption is more moderate than the OECD average.
Another factor holding back longevity: poverty. The quarter to a third of Americans with low incomes often have less money than the same low-income groups in several other rich countries, points out Mr. Burt less.
A third factor—inequality—worsens the problem. The most prosperous 10 percent of Americans receive 17 times as much income as those in the bottom 10 percent. In countries with high life expectancies among those at 65—such as Japan, Sweden, and Norway—the top 10 percent makes only five times as much in come as those in the bottom, Professor Munnell says.
The US also struggles with inequality in healthcare. While most rich nations have universal coverage, 45 million in the US did not have health insurance last year, according to census statistics—a rise of 5.2 million since the year of 2000②. Millions more have insurance only part of the year.
Many of those without health insurance tend to postpone medical care for chronic problems, though they may go to hospital emergency facilities in a crisis.
Thus, a better predicator of life expectancy than GDP may be the average GDP for the bottom 40 per cent of the population, notes the Boston College study. Here the US falls in the middle of the pack of rich countries, rather than at the top.
Which of the following is NOT the reason for the US less progress in longevity than other countries?
选项
A、The Americans are getting fatter than they used to be.
B、Some of the poor cannot afford their medicine cost.
C、The Americans drink more alcohol than people do in other countries.
D、Of the inequality existing in the United States.
答案
C
解析
细节推断题。第七段说美国的饮食是一个因素,最后一句话“Americans have been getting fatter, and physicians maintain that obesity often shrinks a person’s lifespan”研究表明美国人正变得越来越胖,而医生说这会降低人的预期寿命,所以排除A 。选项B 可以根据倒数第五段第一句话排除:另一个因素是贫穷。选项D 可以根据文章倒数第三、第四段的第一句话予以排除,“第三个因素是不平等现象使问题进一步恶化”,“医疗卫生
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/DWQK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Amarketiscommonlythoughtofasaplacewherecommoditiesareboughtandsold.Thusfruitandvegetablesaresoldwholesalea
Salt,shellsormetalsarestillusedasmoneyinout-of-the-waypartsoftheworldtoday.Saltmayseemratherastrange【C1】___
WhenIwasachildinBrainItaly,hardlyanymothershadajob,grandmotherslivedwiththeirchildrenandgrandchildren,and
Althoughthetownhadbeenattackedbythestormseveraltimes,______wasdone.
Mr.Brownissuccessfulandreputablelawyerwithalargenumberof______.
Please______yourselffromsmokingandspittinginpublicplaces,sincethelawforbidsthem.
Whatyoudecidenowcouldhaveaconsiderable______onyourfuture.
Inthefaceofunexpecteddifficulties,hedemonstratedatalentforquick,______action.
Much______Ilovehim,Ican’tforgivehisaction.
Therebellionhaslasted______.
随机试题
下列选项中,不属于抗ENA抗体的是
牙合支托窝过深见腭侧基托过长,不密合见
检查心脏震颤的方法是
小张2008年3月3日购买新房,当年3月20日申请住房抵押贷款,当年4月2日银行放款。2009年4月7日,小张申请将原住房抵押贷款转为个人抵押授信贷款,则该授信贷款有效期间起始日为()。
中国石雕的产地较多,各地石雕异彩纷呈,其中以()最为著名。
在教育工作中,“不陵节而施”依据的是个体身心发展的()规律。
CapitalCityandSmithsvillearetwofairlylargetownsintheMidwestnearChicago.NeitherisaswellknownasChicago.(1)___
使用VC6打开考生文件夹下的源程序文件modi1.cpp,但该程序运行时有错,请改正程序中的错误,使程序输出的结果为:150200注意:错误的语句在//********error********的下面,修改该语句即可。提示:
使用VC6打开考生文件夹下的源程序文件modi1.cpp,该程序运行时有错误,请改正其中的错误,使程序正常运行,并且输出以下结果:(4,5)7,8(4,8)注意:错误的语句在//******error******的下
A、Inthestudent’sownwords.B、Indirectquotations.C、Inshortphrases.D、Inshorthand.A细节辨认题。释义(paraphrases)是最好的方法,而释义的具体做法就
最新回复
(
0
)