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TEXT B The most damning thing that can be said about the world’s best-endowed and richest country is that it is not only not the leader in health status, but that it is so low in the ranks of the nations. The United States ranks 18th among nations of the world in male life expectancy at birth, 9th in female life expectancy at birth, and 12th in infant mortality. More importantly, huge variations are evident in health status in the United States from one place to the next and from one group to the next. The forces that affect health can be divided into four groupings that led themselves to analysis of all health problems. Clearly the largest group of forces resides in the person’s environment. Behavior, in part derived from experiences with the environment, is the next greatest force affecting health. Medical care services, treated as separate from other environmental factors because of the special interest we have in them, make a modest contribution to health status. Finally, the contributions of heredity to health are difficult to judge. No other country spends what we do per capita for medical care. The care available is among the best technically, even if used too freely and thus dangerously. Given the evidence that medical care is not that valuable and access to care not that bad, it seems most unlikely that our bad showing is caused by the significant proportion who are poorly served. Other hypotheses have greater explanatory power: excessive poverty, both actual and relative, and excessive wealth. Excessive poverty is probably more prevalent in the U.S. than in any of the countries that have a better infant mortality rate and female life expectancy at birth. This is probably true also for all but four or five of the countries with a longer male life Expectancy. In the notably poor countries that exceed us in male survival, difficult living conditions are a more accepted way of life and in several of them, a good basic diet, basic medical care and basic education, and lifelong employment opportunities are an everyday fact of life. In the U.S. a national unemployment level of 10 percent may be 40 percent in the ghetto while less than 4 percent elsewhere. The countries that have surpassed us in health do not have such severe problems. Nor are such a high proportion of their people involved in them. Excessive wealth is not so obvious a cause of iii health, but, at least until recently, few other nations could afford such unhealthful ways of living. Excessive intake of animal protein and fats, and use of tobacco and drugs, and dangerous recreational sports and driving habits are all possible only when one is wealthy. Our heritage, desires, and opportunities, combined with the relatively low cost of bad foods and speedy vehicles, make us particularly vulnerable. Our unacceptable health status, then, will not he improved appreciably by expanded medical resources nor by their redistribution so much as by a general attempt to improve the quality of life for all. (506 words) The author refers to the excessive intake of alcohol, tobacco, and drug in order to illustrate that ______.
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What is the feasible solution to Michael’s financial problem
It is clear that to many people in the US the idea of a group of foreign musicians undertaking a concert tour of their country just now is the height of folly. Since we happened to be singing in New York City on the day American forces first entered Baghdad, it was assumed by many in the audience that we had done a very courageous thing, and we were applauded all the more for our perceived bravery. I wondered if everyone hadn’t gone stark raving honkers (发疯); but, however mindless the gut reactions seem to us to he, part of what people have been telling us is true: musicians have been canceling tours, tensions have been running high against nationals of some European countries, and Americans from rural places hesitate to travel to cities like NYC for fear of terrorist attack. I am not exaggerating. It comes as no surprise to learn that Americans will hot travel abroad at times like this; ever since Reagan bombed Libya in 1983, every arts organization that I have known has feared times of US aggression overseas, knowing that half their subscribers would not attend. But for Americans to extend that principle willy-nilly (无可奈何地) to foreigners coming to the US, and even to traveling around their own country, betrays a lack of grip which seems extreme almost to the point of caricature. A woman I was due to meet in New York cancelled the interview because although she hadn’t "been in Manhattan since the war broke out, I’ve heard it’s tense there" For her, Philadelphia was a more satisfactory place to meet because "I was just there last Monday, and the city seemed relatively peaceful." The nastiest side of the story, as usual, is the xenophobic(恐惧外国人的) side. After giving a concert which consisted entirely of Flemish music, one of the organizers thanked me for not having chosen any German or French compositions. I asked why, and was told that it would have been much harder to sell tickets. "And Flemish is all right" I asked. "Oh yes," he said, "no one has anything against the Flemish." "Even though," I pursued, fascinated, "Flanders is part of Belgium and the Belgians, along with the Germans and French, refused to back NATO protection for Turkey" He did not know that Flanders was part of Belgium. More serious was the incident of the French cello. Apparently, Yo-Yo Ma recently left his priceless cello in the back of a New York taxi and got it back as a result of a televised appeal: the taxi-driver saw the programme and turned it in. The other day a French string quartet was taking part in a festival of French music here (called "Sounds French"—the timing couldn’t have been worse but the promoters went ahead anyway) and the cellist duly left his instrument in the back of a New York taxi. The same procedure was followed as for Yo-Yo Ma, which involved giving out the mobile number of the owner. Ever since he has been inundated with hate calls. And history does not relate whether he got his cello back. One of the reasons why we are basking in false glory at the moment is that our European colleagues have indeed taken flight and refused to tour. The highest-profile example in my world is Hesperion XXI with Jordi Savall. On the website of their agent is this announcement, under the banner "Hesperion XXI Cancels Tour because of War": True terrorism has its hold when professionals change plans due to fear. The re-percussions [sic-remember he is a music agent] then affect all the presenters whose organizations suffer financially and the hundreds of audience members who had looked forward to the concerts. This is what has happened with Hesperion XXI when a number of its key members refused to take part in an extensive North American tour partly due to uncertainties of the war and not wanting to be apart from loved ones and the perceived terror threats in traveling around the US. Quite apart from what the Americans deserve, these people do not deserve the title of professional musicians. I am ashamed of them. They, along with the entire American nation, should learn the following by heart: "La musique adoucit les moeurs et ils en ont grand besoin." (Music can relieve people’s tension.) Civilised people, the French. (722 words) The author’s opinion about the pervasive fear seems to be that ______.
I discussed with Joan on the phone and then we decided to go by plane. After ______ Joan on the phone, we decided to go by plane.
Christopher Columbus was the son of a weaver. He was very interested in the discovery of new lands. His brother Bartholomew was a chart maker in Lisbon, Portugal. Columbus studied chart making with his brother. He believed that the world was round, and he wanted to travel the seas to prove it. At that time, spice merchants were looking for a new route to Asia. Asia was a large trading area, but it was very difficult to reach by land. Columbus requested support from many people to help him travel the seas. Finally, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain granted his request, and gave him three ships for his voyage. On August 3, 1492, Columbus and ninety men set sail on the Santa Maria along with two other ships, the Nina and the Pinta. The voyage was hard and many men were sick and tired. On October 11, at ten o’clock at night, Columbus saw a light. The Pinta sailed ahead and reported that they had reached land. Since Columbus thought they had reached India, they expected to see people that were Indians. Even when they found out that they were not in Asia, they were happy to have found a new place that they could trade with. Columbus named the area where they landed "San Salvador", and claimed the area for Spain. Today Columbus Day is celebrated in the United States on the second Monday in October. Banks and government offices are closed to honor the man who was the first European to have discovered the New World of the Americas. Columbus Day is celebrated in the United States on ______.
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