Cloze 4


Health care system has become a hot topic around the world recently, especially in America. Most people would be 　1　 by the high quality of medicine 　2　 to most Americans. There is a lot of specialization, a great deal of 　3　 to the individual, a 　4　 amount of advanced technical equipment, and 　5　 effort not to make mistakes because of the financial risk which doctors and hospitals must 　6　 in the courts if they 　7　 things badly.

But the Americans are in a mess. The problem is the way in 　8　 health care is organized and 　9　. Contrary to pubic belief it is not just a free competition system. The private system has been joined by a large 　10　 system, because private care was simply not 　11　 the less fortunate and the elderly.

But 　12　 with this huge public part of the system, which this year will eat up 84.5 billion dollar—more than 10 percent of the U.S. Budget—large numbers of Americans are left out. These 　13　 about half the 11 million unemployed and those who fail to meet the strict limits on income 　14　 by the government trying to make savings where it can.

The basic problem, however, is that there is no central control 　15　 the health system. There is no limit to what doctors and hospitals charge for their services, 　16　, what the public is able to pay. The number of doctors has shot up and prices have climbed. When faced with toothache, a sick child, or a heart attack, all the unfortunate persons 　17　 can do is paying up. Two thirds of the population are 　18　 by medical insurance. Doctors charge as much as they want 　19　 that the insurance company will pay the bill.

The rising cost of medicine in the U.S.is among the most worrying problems 　20　 the country.In 1981 the country's health bill climbed 15.9 percent—about twice as fast as prices in general.

1. A. compressed

B. impressed

C. obsessed

D. repressed

2. A. available

B. attainable

C. achievable

D. amenable

3. A. extension

B. retention

C. attention

D. exertion

4. A. countless

B. titanic

C. broad

D. vast

5. A. intensive

B. absorbed

C. intense

D. concentrated

6. A. grant

B. encounter

C. face

D. defy

7. A. treat

B. deal

C. maneuver

D. handle

8. A. which

B. that

C. what

D. when

9. A. financed

B. provided

C. set

D. offered

10. A. commercial

B. personal

C. special

D. public

11. A. looking for

B. looking into

C. looking after

D. looking over

12. A. even

B. since

C. when

D. how

13. A. contain

B. include

C. involve

D. exclude

14. A. neglected

B. selected

C. encouraged

D. fixed

15. A. at

B. over

C. under

D. behind

16. A. rather than

B. other than

C. more than

D. instead of

17. A. concerned

B. involved

C. included

D. scared

18. A. rejected

B. covered

C. incorporated

D. disproved

19. A. knowing

B. fighting

C. striking

D. struggling

20. A. hitting

B. confronting

C. emerging

D. witnessing

[文章大意]美国高质量的医疗保障服务体系给人们留下了深刻印象。然而，现在美国人却陷入了困境，问题在于医疗保障体系的组织方式以及资金来源。即使有庞大的公共医疗保障体系，相当多的美国人仍无法享受到医疗保障。不过，根本的问题在于缺乏集中的控制。医生数量在上升，医疗服务的价格也在上涨。美国日益上涨的医疗费用已经成为这个国家所面临的最令人担忧的问题之一。


试题透析


1. B. impressed

此题属于语意搭配题。impress表示“给……留下印象”。如：I impressed on him the importance of punctuality. 又如：I'm very impressed by/with what's happening. 原句是指许多人都会对大多数美国人所能用上的药物的优良品质印象深刻，故选项B. impressed正确。选项A. compressed表示“压缩，浓缩”，常用搭配为compress...into；选项C. obsessed表示“受困扰；迷住”。如：She is obsessed with the desire to become a movie star. 选项D. repressed表示“抑制；镇压”。如：repress one's anger.

2. A. available

此题属于语意搭配题。available表示“可以享受到的，可利用的”。如：Free education is available to all tax-payers.此处指可享受到的医疗服务，故选项A. available符合题意。选项B. attainable表示“可达到的，可得到的”，用于一般人能力不易达到的情况，与句意不符；选项C. achievable表示“做得到的，可完成的”，强调在达到目的过程中需付出大量努力；选项D. amenable表示“愿意服从的”。如：She might be more amenable to the idea if you explained how much money it would save.

3. C. attention

此题属于语意搭配题。attention表示“注意力，关注”。此处指的是关注病人，因此选项C. attention正确。其他选项：A. extension表示“延长，扩充；电话分机”；B. retention表示“保持，保留”。如：The retention of old technology has slowed the company's growth. D. exertion表示“尽力，努力；运用”。如：Exertion of authority does not come easily to everyone. 又如：We were all exhausted after our exertions.

4. D. vast

此题属于语意搭配题。a vast amount of表示“大量的”，故选项D. vast正确。选项A. countless表示“不计其数的”；选项B. titanic表示“巨大的，庞大的”；选项C. broad表示“宽阔的”，这三个词均不与amount连用。

5. C. intense

此题属于语意搭配题。intense表示“集中的；紧张的”，通常指在短时间内付出很多努力。根据句中effort一词可知此处表达的是“做出不懈努力，以规避医生或医院犯错”的意思，故选项C. intense正确。选项A. intensive表示“集中的，密集的”；选项B. absorbed与选项D. concentrated意思相近，意为“专注的，精力集中的”。

6. C. face

此题属于词义辨析题。face表示“面对，遭遇”。如：The difficulty that faces us today is one of supplying food to those in need. 根据原句意思：医生或医院如果在医疗过程中出了差错的话，就可能面临经济风险，因此，这种financial risk是他们可能面对的，故选项B. face符合题意。选项A. grant表示“承认；准予”；选项B. encounter是较为正式的用语，表示“遭遇，突然遇到”；选项D. defy表示“公然反抗，蔑视”，均无法与句中的risk连用。

7. D. handle

此题属于语意辨析题。handle=deal with表示“处理”。此处表示医生和医院处理不当，故选项D. handle正确。选项A. treat表示“治疗”，常与sb. 连用；选项B. deal常与with搭配；选项C. maneuver表示“有策略、有手腕地对待或处理；调遣”。

8. A. which

此题属于语法题。in which引导定语从句，修饰the way，in which往往可以省略。如：the way he treated his wife=the way in which he treated his wife。

9. A. financed

此题属于语意辨析题。financed表示“取得资金，筹措资金”，与句中的organized并列。文中谈到问题存在于医疗保障体系组织和融资的方式，故选项A. financed正确。选项B. provided表示“提供”。如：I'll be glad to provide a copy of this. 选项C. set表示“放置，摆放”；选项D. offered表示“提供；出价”。

10. D. public

此题属于语篇衔接题。根据上下文意思，前面提及医疗保障体系并不是一个自由竞争体系，此处考查私人医疗保障体系与什么体系结合在一起。需要结合下文，下文提到了“庞大的公共体系”，即private应该与public对应。故选项D. public表示“公共的，公立的”符合语境。选项A. commercial表示“商业的”；选项B. personal表示“个人的”，显然与private语意重复；选项C. special表示“特殊的，特别的”。

11. C. looking after

此题属于语意搭配题。look after表示“照料，照顾”。原文指出私人医疗保障体系是如何对待那些不是那么幸运的人以及老年人的，可见此处应选“照顾，照管”，故选项C. looking after正确。选项A. looking for表示“寻找”；选项B. looking into表示“调查”；选项D. looking over表示“检查；浏览”。

12. A. even

此题属于逻辑关系题。该空所在的句子很长。但是分析句子结构可知，第二个破折号后的部分是句子的主干部分，之前的都是修饰成分。句意为：但是，即使拥有如此庞大的公共体系———该系统今年将消耗掉845亿美元，超过美国财政预算的百分之十———还是有很多美国人享受不到医保。因此空处需要一个表示“即使”的副词，选项A合适。其他副词均无此义。

13. B. include

此题属于语意搭配题。此处指的是那些享受不到医保的美国人包括哪些，选项B. include表示“包含，包括”，多指抽象的包含和归属，为正确答案。选项A. contain表示“包含，含有；容纳”，强调的是容量；选项C. involve表示“参与；牵涉”；选项D. exclude表示“排除”。

14. D. fixed

此题属于语意理解题。空格所在处为长句子的定语从句部分。分析整个句子，大意为：这些享受不到医保的人包括失业人员和达不到政府制定的收入控制线的家庭。此空的动词与后面的by the government一起构成limits的后置定语，应该是政府制定的收入控制线。所以选项D. fixed正确。

15. B. over

此题属于惯用搭配题。control over sth.表示“控制某事物”，故选项B. over正确。介词at和behind都不能与control搭配；under可与control连用，但应为：under control，表示“处于控制之下，情况正常”。

16. B. other than

此题属于语意搭配与语境把握题。结合上下文，前文提到对医生和医院的收费没有限制，空格后面是说公众能够支付得起的，因此前后文关系应该是：除了大众有能力支付的以外，对于医生和医院的收费没有限制。选项B. other than表示“除了，不同于”，符合语境。选项A. rather than表示“而不是……”；选项C. more than表示“多于……”；选项D. instead of表示“代替，而不是”，都不符合语境。

17. A. concerned

此题属于语意搭配与句式结构分析题。结合上下文，医院医生数量在增加，相应的医疗费用也在上涨，最后是那些______的病人付清欠款。unfortunate persons是主语，can do是谓语，句子结构是完整的，那么persons后面的词只能是修饰成分，最可能的是动词过去分词作后置定语。根据句意，这些病人应该是与需要支付飞涨的医疗费用相关的人。选项A. concerned表示“有关的”，符合语意。选项B. involved也表示“涉及的，相关的，卷入的”，其语意侧重于卷入某事件，不符合语境。选项C. included表示“包含的”，要与into或in连用，此处也不是包含关系。选项D. scared表示“害怕的”，不符合语境。

18. B. covered

此题属于语意搭配题。covered意为“包含，覆盖”。如：The range of the military protection covers 5 main cities. 原文意为：三分之二的美国人口被医保范围覆盖。因此选项B. covered正确。选项A. rejected意为“拒绝”；选项C. incorporated意为“合并”。如：His store was incorporated in the company. 选项D. disproved意为“驳斥”。如：to disprove one's argument。

19. A. knowing

此题属于语意搭配题。knowing意为“知道”，knowing that为现在分词作状语，说明医生索要高价的原因，故选项A. knowing为正确答案。选项B. fighting意为“打架，作战”；选项C. striking意为“打击；打动”；选项D. struggling（to do sth.）意为“努力（去做某事）”。如：He has been struggling to succeed in his business.

20. B. confronting

此题属于语意衔接题。纵观全文，讲述了美国医疗体系的现状问题。最后一段指出一直上涨的医疗费用成为美国______最令人担忧的问题之一。空格前the rising cost of medicine是主语，系动词是is，表语是...worrying problems。那么空格处和空格后的内容应该是修饰problems的，根据逻辑推理，应该是说这个国家面临的问题，故选项B. confronting“面临，面对”符合语境。选项A. hitting表示“冲击，冲撞”；C. emerging表示“出现”；D. witnessing表示“目击；证明”。

译文

近来，医疗保险体系已成为世界各国所热衷讨论的话题，尤其是在美国。很多人都会对美国大多数民众可以用到的优质药物印象深刻。这其中存在很多特殊性——对个人的广泛关注，大量先进技术设备的投入使用，同时努力避免出现误诊，因为如果出现误诊，医生和医院将必须面对法院对其进行经济处罚的风险。

但是美国民众却处于混乱状态。问题出在美国医疗体系的组织和融资方式上，它违背了民众的意愿，并不是一个自由竞争的系统。由于不能照顾不那么幸运的人和老年人，这个私人保障体系已经融入到了大型的公共体制中。

但是，即使拥有如此庞大的公共体系——该系统今年将消耗掉845亿美元，超过美国财政预算的百分之十——还是有很大一部分美国人享受不到医保。这些人包括11万失业者中的约一半，以及那些达不到政府为了能够控制支出而制定的收入控制线的人。

然而根本问题是没有对医疗体系进行集中控制，只要不是远远超出公众的支付能力，对医生和医院的服务收费并不存在限制。医生的人数猛涨和医疗费用迅速攀升，当牙痛时，孩子生病时，或心脏病发作时，这些不幸的人能做的就只是付款。三分之二的人口拥有医疗保险。医生可以随意要价，因为他们知道保险公司会为病人支付账单。

不断上升的医疗成本成为美国面临的最令人担忧的问题之一。1981年，该国的医疗费用上涨了15.9%，大约是总体物价上涨速度的两倍。





Cloze 5


When people grow old, they become quite different from the young on thoughts. It is often observed that the aged spend much time thinking and talking about their past lives, 　1　 about the future. These reminiscences are not simply random or trivial memories, 　2　 is their purpose merely to make conversation. The old person's recollections of the past help to 　3　 an identity that is becoming increasingly fragile:　4　 any role that brings respect or any goal that might provide 　5　 to the future, the individual mentions their past as a reminder to listeners, that here was a life 　6　 everyone to have a good living.　7　, the memories form part of a continuing life 　8　, in which the old person 　9　 the events and experiences of the years gone by and 　10　 on the overall meaning of his or her own almost completed life.

As the life cycle 　11　 to its close, the aged must also learn to accept the reality of their own impending（即将发生的）death. Yet this task is made 　12　 by the fact that death is almost a 　13　 subject in the United States. The mere discussion of death is often regarded as 　14　. As adults many of us find the topic frightening and are 　15　 to think about it—and certainly not to talk about it in the 　16　 of someone who is dying. Death has achieved this taboo 　17　 only in the modern industrial societies. There seems to be an important reason for our reluctance to 　18　 the idea of death. It is the very fact that death remains 　19　 our control;it is almost the only one ofthe natural 　20　 that is so.

1. A. better than

B. rather than

C. less than

D. other than

2. A. so

B. even

C. nor

D. hardly

3. A. preserve

B. conserve

C. resume

D. assume

4. A. performing

B. playing

C. undertaking

D. lacking

5. A. orientation

B. implication

C. succession

D. presentation

6. A. worthy

B. worth

C. deserving

D. worthwhile

7. A. In a word

B. In brief

C. In addition

D. In particular

8. A. prospect

B. impetus

C. impression

D. review

9. A. integrates

B. incorporates

C. includes

D. interacts

10. A. reckons

B. counts

C. reflects

D. conceives

11. A. keeps

B. draws

C. inclines

D. tends

12. A. natural

B. beneficial

C. unavoidable

D. difficult

13. A. taboo

B. dispute

C. contempt

D. neglect

14. A. notorious

B. indecent

C. obscure

D. desperate

15. A. ready

B. willing

C. liable

D. reluctant

16. A. surface

B. spot

C. ground

D. presence

17. A. status

B. circumstance

C. environment

D. priority

18. A. encounter

B. confront

C. tolerate

D. expose

19. A. under

B. above

C. beyond

D. within

20. A. measures

B. punishments

C. behaviors

D. processes

[文章大意]老年人总爱思考和谈论他们过去的生活，这有助于老年人提醒别人：他们的一生没有虚度。除此之外，这些回忆形成了持续不断的人生回顾的一部分。老年人必须学会接受他们自己即将面临死亡的现实。然而，我们不愿意正视死亡似乎有一个重要原因：那就是我们仍然无法控制死亡，它几乎是唯一不受人们控制的自然过程。


试题透析


1. B. rather than

此题属于词组辨析题。rather than为并列连词，可以连接形容词、动词、名词、副词、不定式等，其意为“而不是”。如：China's industrialization needs a lot of scientists rather than a few. 又如：I prefer to work rather than remain idle. 文中此句意思为：老年人花很多时间谈论过去，而不是将来，故选项B. rather than正确。选项A. better than表示“比……好”；选项C. less than表示“比……少”，选项D. other than表示“不同于……；除了……”，都不符合句意。

2. C. nor

此题属于语法题。本句中前半部分为否定句，选项C. nor引导否定句且句子倒装，符合此处语境。选项A. so引导肯定句。如：“I've got an enormous amount of work to do.”“So have I”；选项B. even为副词，表示“即使；甚至”。如：He looked content, even happy. 选项D. hardly表示“几乎不”。如：He could hardly（Hardly could he）wait to hear the news.

3. A. preserve

此题属于语意搭配题。preserve表示“保留，收藏”，强调使之完好无损或质量不变。如：We want to preserve the character of the town while improving the facilities. 选项B. conserve表示“保存，保藏；保重”，强调珍惜、节约使用，一般与energy, resources等连用。如：He is conserving his energy for the last twenty-meter dash. 选项C. resume表示“停顿后又重新开始”。如：He stopped to take a sip of water and then resumed speaking. 选项D. assume表示“假设；夺取”。如：We can't assume the suspects to be guilty simply because they've decided to remain silent. 又如：The terrorists assumed control of the plane and forced it to land in the desert.

4. D. lacking

此题属于语意搭配题。lack表示“缺乏”。从上下文逻辑推理来看，此处应选lacking与role搭配，意为“缺乏这种角色”。选项A. performing和选项B. playing与a role连用都表示“起作用；承担角色”；选项C. undertaking表示“承担；担任”。如：undertake responsibility/a task。