No other country spends what we do per capita for medical care. The care available is among the best technically, even if used t

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问题    No other country spends what we do per capita for medical care. The care available is among the best technically, even if used too lavishly and thus dangerously, but none of the countries that stand above us in healthy status have such a high proportion of medically disenfranchised persons. Given the evidence that medical care is not that valuable and access to care not that bad, it seems most unlikely that our bad showing is caused by the significant proportion who are poorly served. Other hypotheses have greater explanatory power: excessive poverty, both actual and relative, and excessive affluence.
   Excessive poverty is probably more prevalent in the U. S. than in any of the countries that have a better infant mortality rate and female life expectancy at birth. This is probably true also for all but four or five of the countries with a longer male life expectancy. In the notably poor countries, that exceed us in male survival, difficult living conditions are a more accepted way of life and in several of them, a good basic diet, basic medical care and basic education, and lifelong employment opportunities are an everyday fact of life. In the U.S. a national unemployment level of 10 percent may be 40 percent in the ghetto while less than 4 percent elsewhere. The countries that have surpassed us in health do not have such severe or entrenched problems. Nor are such a high proportion of their people involve in them.
   Excessive affluence is not so obvious a cause of ill health, but, at least until recently, few other nations could afford such unhealthful ways of living. Excessive intake of animal protein and fats, dangerous intake of alcohol and use of tobacco and drugs (prescribed and proscribed), and dangerous recreational sports and driving habits are all possible only because of affluence. Our heritage, desires, opportunities, and our machismo, combined with the relatively low cost of bad foods and speedy vehicles, make us particularly vulnerable to our affluence. And those who are not affluent try harder. Our unacceptable health status, then, will not be improved appreciably by expanded medical resources nor by their redistribution so much as by a general at tempt to improve the quality of life for all. (373 words)
The author is primarily concerned with______

选项 A、condemning the U. S. for its failure to provide better medical care to the poor
B、evaluating the relative significance of factors contributing to the poor health status in the U.S.
C、comparing the general health of the U.S. population with world averages
D、advocating specific measures designed to improve the health of U.S. population

答案B

解析 第一段作者指出美国人口健康状况差的因素:医疗服务的可利用性低、贫富两 极分化;第二段作者通过与其他国家相对比得出:健康水平超过了美国的国家则没有那么多 的极度贫困人口,来说明极度贫困可能是导致医疗可利用性不高的原因;第三段阐述极度富 裕也不是导致健康状况差的明显因素。同时还指出了遗传和个人行为也是其原因。通过以上 看出作者在评估导致健康状况差的一些相对因素。据此判断,答案是B。
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