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  3. It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life exp

It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life exp

admin2010-06-30  92
问题    It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death--and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.
   Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under ideal conditions. We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers, we treat death as a problem to be solved. Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that call possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless. The most obvious ex ample is late-stage cancer care. Physicians-frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient--too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
   In 1950, the U. S. spent $12.7 billion on health care. In 2002, the cost will be $1, 540 billion. Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains life beyond a certain age--say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm" have a duty to die and get out of the way", so that younger healthier people can realize their potential.
   I would not go that far. Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and be yond, and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. Everett Koop chairs an Internet start-up in his 80s. These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age. As a mere 68-year-old, I wish to age as productively as they have.
   Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit. As a physician, I know the most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care, have achieved longer, healthier lives than we have. As a nation, we may be over funding the quest for unlikely cures while under funding research on humbler therapies that could improve people’s lives.
The author uses the example of cancer patients to show that______.
选项 A、medical resources are often wasted
B、doctors are helpless against fatal diseases
C、some treatments are too aggressive
D、medical costs are becoming unaffordable
答案A
解析 本题为事实细节题。本文第二段主要阐述了死亡是必然的，因此没有必要花费太多的钱去治疗不可能治愈的疾病，这样做是“useless”，随后以晚期癌症病人为例来说明这一观点。选项A“浪费医疗资源”表明作者举例的用意，是本题的答案。其中“wasted”与“useless”意思接近。
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