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Everyone, it seems, has a health problem. After pouring billions into the National Health Service, British people moan about dir

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问题     Everyone, it seems, has a health problem. After pouring billions into the National Health Service, British people moan about dirty hospitals, long waits and wasted money. In Germany, the chancellor, Angela Merkel, is under fire for suggesting changing the financing of its health system. Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a big fuss during the election about reducing the country’s lengthy medical queues. Across the rich world, affluence, ageing and advancing technology are driving up health spending faster than income.
    But nowhere has a bigger health problem than America. Soaring medical bills are squeezing wages, swelling the ranks of the uninsured and pushing huge firms and perhaps even the government towards bankruptcy. Ford’s announcement that it would cut up to 30,000 jobs was as much a sign of its "legacy" health-care costs as of the ills of the car industry. Pushed by polls that show health care is one of his main domestic problems and by forecasts showing that the baby boomers will crush the government’s finances, President of the United Stares is to unveil a reform plan in next week’s state-of-the-union address.
    America’s health system is unlike any other. The United States spends 16％ of its GDP on health, around twice the rich-country average, equivalent to $6,280 for every American each year. Yet it is the only rich country that does not guarantee universal health coverage. Thanks to an accident of history, most Americans receive health insurance through their employer, with the government picking up the bill for the poor and the elderly.
    This curious hybrid certainly has its strengths. Americans have more choice than anybody else, and their health-care system is much more innovative. Europeans’ bills could be much higher if American medicine were not doing much of their Research and Development (R&D) for them. But there are also huge weaknesses. The one most often cited—especially by foreigners—is the army of uninsured. Some 46 million Americans do not have cover. In many cases that is out of choice and, if they fall seriously ill, hospitals have to treat them. But it is still deeply unequal. And there are also shocking inefficiencies: by some measures, 30％ of American health spending is wasted.
    Then there is the question of state support. Many Americans disapprove of the "socialized medicine" of Canada and Europe. In fact, even if much of the administration is done privately, around 60％ of America’s health-care bill ends up being met by the government. Proportionately, the American state already spends as much on health as the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) average and that share is set to grow as the baby boomers run up their Medicare bills and ever more employers avoid providing health-care coverage. America is, in effect, heading towards a version of socialized medicine by default.
From the last paragraph we may learn that the "socialized medicine" is________.
选项 A、a practice of Canada and Europe
B、a policy adopted by the U.S. government
C、intended for the baby boomers
D、administered by private enterprises
答案A
解析 本题关键词是socialized medicine，问题是：“公费医疗”是怎么回事?可以定位到最后一段(第五段)。根据第五段第二句，许多美国人都不赞成加拿大和欧洲的公费医疗制度(“socialized medicine”of Canada and Europe)，这可以说明加拿大和欧洲采用了公费医疗(socialized medicine)的做法，因此选项A与原文是相同含义，是正确选项。根据第五句话，实际上，美国正自动朝着一种公费医疗体制前进(heading towards)，即美国正在朝着这种模式前进，但并不是已经采取了这种模式，因此选项B正反混淆。根据第四句，美国在医疗上的花费很大，而且随着婴儿潮一代人(baby boomers)不断积欠(run up)医疗账单以及越来越多的雇主不提供(avoid providing)医疗保险，美国在医疗上花费的份额注定会增长(is set to grow)。这句话说明由于婴儿潮一代人拖欠账单。以及雇主逃避提供医疗保险，政府在医疗上的花费会越来越多。可见婴儿潮只是其中一个原因，公费医疗并不是针对婴儿潮一代人的，所以选项C以偏概全。选项D来自第五段第三句，美国60％的医疗费最终都是由政府来支付的(met by the government)，即现实是大多数由政府管理，因此选项D正反混淆，而且公费医疗本来就是由政府统一管理和支付医疗费用的全民医疗制度，“私人管理”在常识上也说不通，因此选项D也违背常识。第五段：追于各种压力，美国正不自觉地走向公费医疗的模式。
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