6月13日英语真题课堂讲义.docxVIP

Text 4 第一段 ①It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. ②Small wonder. ③Americans’ life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. ④Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure. ⑤Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. ⑥But not even a great health-care system can cure death—and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours. 第二段 ①Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under ideal conditions. ②We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers we treat death as a problem to be solved. ③Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless. ④The most obvious example is late-stage cancer care. ⑤Physicians—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. 第三段 ①In 1950, the U.S. spent ＄12.7 billion on health care. ②In 2002, the cost will be ＄1,540 billion. ③Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. ④Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. ⑤Some 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. ⑥Former 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. 第四段 ①I would not go that far. ②Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and beyond, and remain dazzlingly productive. ③At 78, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. ④Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. Everett Koo