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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.
In American history,______were elected as presidents after 65.
选项 A、Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton
B、William Henry Harrison and Ronald Reagan
C、John F. Kennedy and James Garfield
D、Warren Harding and Lyndon Johnson
答案B
解析 第2段第2句指出，如果2016年69岁的克林顿竞选获胜，她只比美国就职年龄最高的总统罗纳德.里根1980年当选时小几个月。第3句指出，在过去225年里，仅有另外一位总统(威廉.亨利.哈里森)也是在65岁以后入主白宫。由此可推知，罗纳德.里根和威廉.享利.哈里森当选总统时已经超过65岁，故答案为B)。A)中的希拉里如果当选总统，将会是69岁，可排除。C)中的两位总统，在文中都是作为遇刺总统提到的，未提及其就职年龄，可排除。D)中的两位总统本文也未提及其就职年龄，可排除。
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