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  3. A Gated Community far Organ Donors Americans love a square deal. The idea of the something for something, lies at the heart

A Gated Community far Organ Donors Americans love a square deal. The idea of the something for something, lies at the heart

admin2013-07-11  40
问题                  A Gated Community far Organ Donors
    Americans love a square deal. The idea of the something for something, lies at the heart of our very sense of fairness. But there’s one area in which something for nothing is much closer to the rule, and it’s a transaction on which people’s very lives turn: organ donation.
    About 90% of Americans say they support organ donation, but only 30% have actually signed up to part with their parts after they die. The cost of such an all-take, no-give setup is high. Nearly 100, 000 patients in the U. S. are idling on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) matching list, waiting for a donor—and 18 a day will die waiting. Dave Undis thinks he has a good solution.
    Undis is the founder of the Nashville-based nonprofit Lifesharers. Lifesharers is a no-fee network of about 9, 000 members nationwide who have pledged to donate their organs when they die—but only to other members on the list. To avoid "freeloaders" as Undis calls them you must have signed up at least 180 days before you’re ill. Undis believes that as a proof of principle, Lifesharers shows how to fix the donor mess. If UNOS demanded what Lifesharers does and patients were required to register before they fell ill, he believes, the nation could essentially eliminate its organ shortage within three years.
    The idea of this ultimate in gated communities gives a lot of people pause. For one thing, Undis admits, for the system to do what he promises, he would need 85% of Americans to sign on, not likely in a country that rarely reaches that kind of near unanimity on anything. What’s more, Dr. Donald Landry, a nephrologist at Columbia University, points out there are people who consciously don’t register for organ donation for religious and other reasons, and it would be unfair to press them on their beliefs. Most folks, however, hesitate simply because they don’t want to face their own mortality, preferring to leave the post-mortem choice to their loved ones. Reciprocity would force the issue earlier, and despite his misgivings, Landry believes that’s a good thing. "You may never need a new kidney," he says, "but a lot of people aren’t going to risk not having that extra insurance just in case."
    One thing that might trip up the entire Lifesharers concept is that the idea behind it—fairness—can also argue against it. Elisa Gordon, a bioethics professor, notes that socioeconomics and health are linked, and some poor people may never be healthy enough to qualify as donors. Undis disagrees, arguing that there is now no criterion for becoming a donor beyond signing up at your local Department of Motor Vehicles. He concedes that some exceptions would have to be made, but he maintains that giving an organ to a non-donor is "like giving the lottery jackpot to someone who didn’t buy a ticket." Sadly, the odds of winning an organ under the current rules seem only slightly better.
What does the phrase "trip up" (Line 1, Para. 5) most probably mean?
选项 A、Define.
B、Clarify.
C、Support.
D、Contradict.
答案D
解析 本题考查根据上下文推测词义。正确理解trip up的意思需要先对其所在句进行分析。该句(第五段首句)主干为one thing．．．is．．．。。that．．．concept为修饰one thing的定语从句。that the idea．．．against it为整个句子的表语从句，即one thing具体所指。两个it都指代Lifesharers concept；behind意为giving support to．．．。该表语从句指出：作为生命共享者理念基础的“公平”意识也成为人们反对这一理念的理由。接下来第二句予以证明：生物伦理学教授Gordon认为穷人由于健康原因不能成为合格的捐献者。因此，生命共享者无法实现它所提倡的公平。由此可见，该句要表达的意思为：生命共享者无法实现“公平性”(one thing)可能会与生命共享者的理念(the entire lifesharers concept)相抵触(trip up)。[D]为正确选项。
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