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  3. If Hillary Clinton made her widely anticipated bid for the presidency, would her age become a legitimate issue? Skeptics hav

If Hillary Clinton made her widely anticipated bid for the presidency, would her age become a legitimate issue? Skeptics hav

admin2015-03-28  11
问题     If Hillary Clinton made her widely anticipated bid for the presidency, would her age become a legitimate issue?
    Skeptics have already taken to the Internet to raise their concerns. If Clinton won election in 2016, at age 69, she would be just months younger than our oldest president, Ronald Reagan, when he was elected in 1980. Only one other candidate in 225 years (William Henry Harrison) moved into the White House past age 65, and his health proved so fragile that he contracted pneumonia (肺炎) on inauguration day in 1841 and died a month later. In fact, about half of the 43 men who have held the nation’s top office withered and died well before even reaching Hillary’s 2016 Election Day age.
    The last half-century of presidential history served to shield the American people from such brutal truths about presidential mortality. The assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, a defining event for Clinton and her fellow Baby Boomers, marked the last time a chief executive died in office. But before that bloody day in Dallas, during a sad span of 122 years, sitting presidents perished with revolting regularity.
    Harrison died four weeks into his term in 1841, and Zachary Taylor succumbed to mysterious digestive ailments nine years later. Assassins killed Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881 and William McKinley in 1901. Circulatory problems claimed Warren Harding in 1923, and a cerebral hemorrhage (脑出血)  dispatched Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. All these disasters struck presidents younger than Hillary would be on her first day in office. But a balanced response to concerns over Clinton’s age reveals recent, relevant changes in presidential life spans that should reassure the former first lady and her supporters.
    No president since Lyndon Johnson has died before age 81, and four of the six longest-lived presidents (Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter) have held the office since 1974. This reflects the increase in life expectancy for all of us. In 1963, life expectancy stood at 69 years, but now we can anticipate survival to 79 — a gift of 10 extra years.
    Another factor working in Hillary’s favor: Women live longer than men by five years (sorry, Bill). This means that a typical woman born in 1947 (as was Hillary) can expect to live an average of 20 more years after today — enough to cover not only the two terms as president that her fans desire, but an additional ten years as U.N. secretary-general, chief justice of the Supreme Court or president of Yale.
    None of this means that a person of Clinton’s age won’t face significant health risks under the unimaginable pressures of presidential service. Like any other candidate, she must release records detailing every aspect of her personal medical history. When her husband, Bill, first ran for president at age 46, he could get away with providing only selective access to his medical records. Hillary, at age 69, should set a different standard.
What’s the passage mainly about?
选项 A、Comment on whether Hillary Clinton is too old for 2016’s presidential election.
B、The presidents who died from the severe pressures of presidential service.
C、A new regulation on legal age of the presidential election in America.
D、An introduction of American presidents who had done something great in their term.
答案A
解析 本文首段开门见山提出问题： “如果希拉里如广泛预见的那样竞选美国总统，她的年龄是否过大?”第2一4分析不利因素：美国历史上只有两个人在65岁以上高龄就任美国总统，大部分总统在年纪轻轻时就身体虚弱或已经去世；很多总统遇刺或遭遇疾病。第5-6段分析有利因素：人们的寿命现在普遍延长了；女性的平均寿命要比男性长。末段总结指出，当总统的巨大压力还是会让希拉里这个年龄的人面临很大的健康隐患，她必须公布详细的病历。由此可知，本文主要是对希拉皇2016年就职总统是否年事过高进行的讨论，故正确答案为A)。本文并未提及哪些总统的死因是由于当总统的巨大压力，故B)错误。本文并未提及有法律规定了竞选总统的年龄，故C)错误。本文虽然介绍了很多历届总统，但侧重点都是其就职年龄、死因等，并没有介绍总统的作为，故D)错误。
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