The Disturbing State of American’s Health If Americans have been slow to realize the disturbing state of our collective heal

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问题                     The Disturbing State of American’s Health
    If Americans have been slow to realize the disturbing state of our collective health, we have—as individuals and as a nation—at last begun to wake up. Take our long and almost always unhappy battle with weight. In recent years, the scale has been telling not just a distressing tale, but also a truly shocking one. Between 1980 and 2004, the prevalence of obesity in the US doubled among adults, surging to 72 million, or one-third of people ages 20 and older. Worse, the percentage of overweight or obese kids rose to 17%. If all those numbers could be cut by even a third, the ripple effect would in turn slash rates of hypertension (高血压), heart disease, diabetes, cancer, joint damage and more, not to mention the myriad costs associated with fighting these illnesses.
    And indeed, there may be flickers (M8R) of hope. From 2005 to 2006, the percentage of women and children who are overweight appeared to stabilize, while the rate for men increased only slightly. "That’s good, but it’s not as if it’s flattening at a good level," notes Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Health statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, the improvement is no accident, and for women and particularly children, it can be traced to aggressive nutrition and exercise messages promoted in schools, hospitals, community groups and churches—precisely the kind of low cost, high-impact measures health experts love.
    Similar preventive methods may help cap soaring cholesterol levels. Since the late 1960s,the average serum cholesterol level of adults has continued to drop, from a high of 220 mg/dL down to 199 mg/dL in 2006. That cut the percentage of Americans with high cholesterol (胆固醇) to 17% , precisely the goal set by the Healthy People 2010 targets—and it was reached four years ahead of schedule. Routine blood tests for low-and high-density lipoproteins (脂肪蛋白) , or bad and good cholesterol—as well as the use of cholesterol—lowering medications when needed—have played a major role in powering those improvements.
    The same principles of education, prevention and early treatment can apply to mental health as well.One in 20 Americans over age 12 reported feeling depressed in 2006, with non-Hispanic blacks making up the largest percentage. Although 80% of Americans admitted that their symptoms interfered with their ability to work, only 29% had contacted a mental health professional. Recent improvements in screening at primary-care facilities, one of the goals set by Healthy People 2010, may help address this problem: while 62% of primary care facilities provided treatment for mental disorders in 2000. 74% do so now.
This passage is mainly to______.

选项 A、acknowledge the good changes and point out how to further the improvements
B、emphasize the aspects that need more attention and investment
C、criticize people that they were hesitant to ask for help from the doctors
D、show the relation between health education and health situation

答案A

解析 主旨大意题。综观全文,虽然文章对美国健康领域的问题有一定程度的揭示,但从文章第一段第一句中的“终于开始觉醒”,及文章中多处出现的关于一些进步现象的说明,可以看出作者的态度是肯定已出现的改善,及期待如何能使好的趋势进一步发展下去。故A正确。B认为作者的目的是强调健康领域的问题,但从文中可以看到,作者所举事例都是以问题作为比较的对象,重点说明的是出现的好的变化,因此与文意不符,故排除B;作者说明较少的人寻求心理帮助,但无意批评他们,故排除C;D不全面,作者的确提倡加强健康教育,但其文章主旨并不局限在这一点,故排除D。
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