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  3. Almost 60% of five-year-olds in some of Britain’s poorest areas do not reach a "good level" of behaviour and understanding—doubl

Almost 60% of five-year-olds in some of Britain’s poorest areas do not reach a "good level" of behaviour and understanding—doubl

admin2014-01-07  53
问题     Almost 60% of five-year-olds in some of Britain’s poorest areas do not reach a "good level" of behaviour and understanding—double that found in wealthier suburban parts of England, a review into Britain’s widening social and health inequalities says.
    Inequalities in children’s development between local authorities are revealed by data published by Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology(流行病学)and public health at University College London, who last year produced a landmark government review into how wealth affects health. The key determinants of health, he argues, relate to a host of issues including employment, the welfare state and child development.
    His new report shows that 44% of all five-year-olds in England are considered by their teachers to be falling behind in their development. However in commuter towns, such as Solihull and Richmond upon Thames, state schools report this figure to be about 30%. In Haringey, a deprived part of north London, it is almost double.
    Marmot, a public health specialist and author of Fair Society, Healthy Lives, said: "The evidence is very clear: investing in pre-school years pays most dividends. We already know that by the age of 10 a child from a poorer background will have lost any advantage of intelligence indicated at 22 months, whereas a child from an affluent family will have improved his or her cognitive scores purely because of his/her advantaged background."
    He pointed out that "education and child development are key for health. It is the educated who stop smoking... we know the key driver of teenage pregnancy is not getting early child development. You are not going to get pregnant as a teenager if you develop as a child."
    Only two dozen authorities of the 150 surveyed could claim to have more than half their five-year-olds passing the educational standard set by the government. Marmot said he was concerned that the government was just focusing on the "poorest" in society—the middle class of society needed help too. "I have tried to have this conversation with government without much success," he said, adding that "cuts to Sure Start and children’s centres won’t help".
    There was also an alarming health gap opening up within areas. Marmot pointed out that in Westminster the average life expectancy of male residents was 83, five years longer man the English norm, but this masked wide differences. The poorest in the London borough could expect to live 17 years less than the richest.
    Not only is life expectancy linked to social standing, so is the time spent in good health. The review reveals that Wirral, in north-west England, has the biggest difference in "disability-free life expectancy" between those at the top and those at the bottom of the economic ladder, with wealthy people likely to live 20 years longer without physical impairment.
    The data is meant to inform ministers as the government has proposed taking public health out of the National Health Service and put under the control of local authorities.
The word "authorities" in the passage has the closest meaning to
选项 A、child health specialists.
B、administrative districts.
C、authoritative reviews.
D、government officials.
答案B
解析 authorities一词可在第2段第1句、第6段第1句和最后一段找到，其中在第2段和最后一段，authorities均被local修饰，结合上下文可以推断authorities应该与第1段提到的areas，parts和第3段中的towns等意思相近，local authorities最可能是“地方当局”(即“区域、地区”)的意思，故应选B。
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