In1947agroupoffamouspeoplefrom-优题课

Self-employed private physicians who charge a fee for each patient visit are the foundation of medical practice in the United States. Most physicians have a contract relationship with one or more hospitals in the community. They send their patients to this hospital, which usually charges patients according to the number of days they stay and the facilities(operating room, tests, medicines that they use). Some hospitals belong to a city, a state or, in the case of veteran's hospitals, a federal government agency. Others are operated by religious orders(教会) or other non-profit groups.
Some medical doctors are on salary. Salaried physicians may work as hospital staff members, or residents, who are often still in training. They may teach in medical schools, be hired by corporations to care for their workers or work for the federal government's Public Health Service.
Physicians are among the best paid professionals in the United States. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for medical doctors to earn incomes of more than $ 100 000 a year. Specialists, particularly surgeons, might earn several times that amount. Physicians list many reasons why they deserve to be so well rewarded for their work. One reason is the long and expensive preparation required to become a physician in the United States. Most would be physicians first attend college for four years, which can cost nearly $ 20 000 a year at one of the best private institutions. Prospective physicians then attend medical school for four years. Tuition alone can exceed $ 10 000 a year. By the time they have obtained their medical degrees, many young physicians are deeply in debt. They still face three to five years of residency(实习阶段) in a hospital, the first year as an apprentice physician. The hours are long and the pay is relatively low.
Setting up a medical practice is expensive, too. Sometimes several physicians will decide to establish a group practice, so they can share the expense of maintaining an office and buying equipment. These physicians also take care of each other's patients in emergencies.
Physicians work long hours and must accept a great deal of responsibility. Many medical procedures, even quite routine ones, involve risk. It is understandable that physicians want to be well rewarded for making decisions which can mean the difference between life and death.
1. According to the passage, it is very unlikely that an American hospital is owned by _______.
A. a church B. a corporation C. a city D. a state
2. The expenses for becoming a doctor are spent on _______.
A. schooling and retraining B. practice in a hospital
C. facilities he or she uses D. education he or she receives
3. According to the passage, how long does it take for a would-be physician to become an independent physician in the USA?
A. About seven years. B. Eight years.
C. Ten years. D. About twelve years.
4. Sometimes several physicians set up a group medical practice mainly because _______.
A. there are so many patients that it is difficult for one physician to take care all of them
B. they can take turns to work long hours
C. facilities may be too much of a burden for one physician to shoulder
D. no one wants to assume too much responsibility
5. Which of the following statements could fully express the author's view towards physicians’ payment in the USA?
A. For their expensive education and their responsibility, they deserve a handsome pay.
B. It is reasonable for physicians to have a large income because their work is very dangerous.
C. Physicians should be better paid because they work long hours under bad conditions.
D. Physicians have great responsibility, so it is understandable that they should be well rewarded.

Most Americans get what money they have from their work; that is, they earn an income from wages or salaries. The richest Americans, however, get most of their money from what they own — their stocks, bonds, real estate, and other forms of property, or wealth. Although there are few accurate statistics to go by, wealth in American society appears to be concentrated in very few hands. More than 20 percent of everything that can be privately owned is held by less than one percent of the adult population and more than 75 percent of all wealth is owned by 20 percent of American adults. The plain fact is that most Americans have no wealth at all aside from their homes, automobiles, and a small amount of savings.
Income in the United States is not as highly concentrated as wealth. In 1917 the richest 10 percent of American families received 26.1 percent of all income, while the poorest 10 percent received 17 percent, mainly from Social Security and other government payments. The most striking aspect of income distribution is that it has not changed significantly since the end of World War II. Although economic growth has roughly doubled real disposable (可自由使用的) family income (the money left after taxes and adjusted for inflation) over the last generation, the size of the shares given to the rich and the poor is about the same. By any measure economic inequality is great in the United States.
The reality behind these statistics is that a large number of Americans are poor. In 1918, 14 percent of the population was living below the federal government’s poverty line, which at that time was an annual income of $ 9 287 for a nonfarm family of two adults and two children. In other words, about one out of seven Americans over 31 million people was officially considered unable to buy the basic necessities of food, clothes, and shelter. The suggested poverty line in 1981 would have been an income of about $11 200 for a family of four. By this relative definition, about 20 percent of the population or more than 45 million Americans are poor.
1. What does the majority of the Americans have in terms of wealth?
A. Their income and savings.
B. Everything they own in their homes.
C. Actually, they have no wealth at all.
D. Their house, cars and small amounts of savings.
2. What is the percentage of wealth that is in the hands of most Americans?
A. More than 25%. B. Less than 25%.
C. More than 75%. D. Less than 20%.
3. Why is economic inequality still great in the US in spite of the economic growth?
A. Because the proportion of income received by the rich and the poor remains almost the same as in 1917.
B. Because the economic growth has widened the gap of the family income between the rich and the poor.
C. Because income in the US is still concentrated in the hands of the richest 10% of American families.
D. Because some Americans made great fortunes during the Second World War.
4. What can we learn from comparison of the two poverty lines in the last paragraph?
A. The poverty line of 1918 is more favorable to the poor than that of 1981.
B. The 1981 line didn’t leave much to the poor.
C. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1981 line.
D. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1918 line.
5. From the last two sentences we can see that 1981 government’s poverty line _______.
A. was of no good for the poor B. was not put into operation then
C. was officially approved D. was not helpful to the poor

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(当代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.
1. The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.
A. an increase in birthrates B. the industrial development
C. a decrease in death rates D. human beings’ cultural advances
2. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.
A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work
B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation
C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations
D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the United States is true?
A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.
B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.
C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.
D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.
4. The phrase “this need” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.
A. prolonging the dying old people’s lives
B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people
C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people
D. taking care of the sick or weak people
5. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward most of the nursing homes and convalescent hospitals?
A. Sympathetic. B. Approving. C. Optimistic. D. Critical.

A businessman must keep records of the money he takes in and the money he spends. The work of keeping such records is called bookkeeping. The work of deciding how the records should be set up is called accounting. An accountant also finds out, by studying the records, whether or not a business is doing well. The accountant must know many things about the business.
Suppose a man owns a small clothing store, he keeps records that show that he spent money for newspaper advertising and for suits, shirts, shoes, and neckties to sell to his customers. He had to pay a young man to help him in the store. He also paid rent and had other expenses.
At the end of the year, he must take an inventory. That is, he counts how many pieces of clothing he has on hand. Then he must find out exactly how many he sold, how much money he took in, and how much money he spent in running the business. If he took in more than he spent, he made a profit for the year. If he spent more than he took in, he suffered a loss. He depends on his store accounting records to get all this information.
The owner of a small clothing store can keep records without much trouble. But a big oil company or a big bank has many difficult accounting problems. The company must know how much money is to be paid by its debtors and how much it owes other companies for supplies. It must know how much it has lost in depreciation, or wear and tear of its equipment. All of this information must be kept in the company’s accounts. Big companies employ many accountants.
After a company’s accountants finish their yearly count, their work must be officially examined. Experts from outside company double-check the records to be sure the accounts are correct.
1. According to the passage, a clothing store owner needs to keep records of the money he spends for ______.
A. clothing only B. newspaper advertising
C. all necessary expenses D. housing
2. After taking an inventory, if the owner found that he had got more money than he had spent, he made _______.
A. a profit B. a loss C. an income D. an interest
3. A small store owner can usually keep records _______.
A. with difficulty B. easily
C. without any help D. without working
4. In big companies, after the accountants finish the yearly count, _______.
A. the work will be well done B. no one will check it
C. the records will be finished D. experts will check the records

For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact(影响) working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics(情况, 材料)on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.
1. The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______.
A. are growing in numbers
B. are also found in middle-class neighborhoods
C. watch too much television during the day
D. suffer problems from being left alone
2. Which sentence in the second paragraph is the topic sentence?
A. We had a school rule against wearing jewelry.
B. A lot of kids had chains around their necks.
C. I was constantly telling them to put inside their shirts.
D. They were house keys.
3. The main feeling these children have when they are at home by themselves is _______.
A. tiredness B. freedom C. loneliness D. fear
4. We may draw a conclusion that _______.
A. latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone
B. latchkey children try to hide their feeling
C. latchkey children often watch TV with their parents
D. it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are