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Tube placement isn't a terribly risky procedure, but it costs $1,000 to $1,500 and sometimes scars the eardrum, causing a partial loss of hearing. Studies show that the benefits are most likely to outweigh the risks if a child's middle ear has produced sticky fluid for more than four months despite treatment with antibiotics. For less virulent infections, drug treatment is usually a cheaper, safer alternative (though drugs, too, can be overused). In the new JAMA study, Kleinman's team reviewed the medical charts of 6,429 kids, all under 16, whose doctors had recommended the procedure. Even making "generous assumptions" about the likely benefits, the researchers found that a quarter of the proposed operations were inappropriate, since less invasive alternatives were available, while another third were as likely to harm the recipients as help them.
Parents needn't panic about ear tubes that are already in place. Once successfully implanted, the tiny devices provide drainage for six months to a year, then come out by reducing health costs by hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
In the 1940s ______.
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Farmers in the developing world hate price fluctuations. It makes it hard to plan ahead. But most of them have little choice: they sell at the price the market sets. Farmers in Europe, the US and Japan are luckier: they receive massive government subsidies in the form. of guaranteed prices or direct handouts. Last month US President Bush signed a new farm bill that gives American farmers $190 billion over the next 10 years, or $83 billion more than they had been scheduled to get, and pushes US agricultural support close to crazy European levels. Bush said the step was necessary to "promote farmer independence and preserve the farm way of life for generations". It is also designed to help the Republican Party win control of the Senate in November's midterm elections.
Agricultural production in most poor countries accounts for up to 50% of GDP, compared to only 3% in rich countries. But most farmers in poor countries grow just enough for themselves and their families. Those who try exporting to the West find their goods whacked with huge tariffs or competing against cheaper subsidized goods. In 1999 the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concluded that for each dollar developing countries receive in aid they lose up to $14 just because of trade barriers imposed on the export of their manufactured goods. It's not as if the developing world wants any favours, says Gerald Ssendawula, Uganda's Minister of Finance. "What we want is for the rich countries to let us compete."
Agriculture is one of the few areas in which the Third World can compete. Land and labour are cheap, and as farming methods develop, new technologies should improve output. This is no pie-in-the-sky speculation. The biggest success in Kenya's economy over the past decade has been the boom in exports of cut flowers and vegetables to Europe. But that may all change in 2008, when Kenya will be slightly too rich to qualify for the "least-developed country" status that allows African producers to avoid paying stiff European import duties on selected agricultural products. With trade barriers in place, the horticulture industry in Kenya will shrivel as quickly as a discarded rose. And while agriculture exports remain the great hope for poor countries, reducing trade barriers in other sectors also works: America's African Growth and Opportunity Act, which cuts duties on exports of everything from handicrafts to shoes, has proved a boon to Africa's manufacturers. The lesson: the Third World can prosper if the rich world gives it a fair go.
This is what makes Bush's decision to increase farm subsidies last month all the more depressing. Poor countries have long suspected that the rich world urges trade liberalization only so it can wangle its way into new markets. Such suspicions caused the Seattle trade talks to break down three years ago. But last November members of the World Trade Organization, meeting in Doha, Qatar, finally agreed to a new round of talks designed to open up global trade in agriculture and textiles. Rich countries assured poor countries that their concerns were finally being addressed. Bush's handout last month makes a lie of America's commitment to those talks and his personal devotion to free trade.
By comparison, farmers receive more government subsidies than others.
SECTION B INTERVIEW
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the interview.
听力原文： (N = Nancy Johnson; W: Wang Gungwu)
N: Good evening. I'm Nancy Johnson. The guest on our radio talk this evening is Professor Wang Gungwu. Hello, Professor Wang.
W: Hello.
N: Professor Wang, you're now Professor Emeritus of Australian National University. And in your long academic career, you've worn many hats as tutor, lecturer, department head, dean, professor and vice-chancellor. However, as I know, you are still very fond of your university days as a student.
W: That's right. That was in 1949. The university I went to was a brand-new university then and the only one in the country at that time. When I look back, it was an amazingly small university and we knew everybody.
N: How did the students like you. for example, study then？
W: We did not study very hard because we did not have to. We didn't have all this fantastic competition that you have today.
N: Mm.
W: Eh, we were always made to feel that getting a first degree in the Arts Faculty was not preparation for a profession. It was a general education. We were not under any pressure to decide on our careers and we had such a good time. We were left very much on our own and were encouraged to make things happen.
N: What do you see is the most striking difference in the present day education since then？
W: University education has changed dramatically since those days. Things are very specialised today.
N: Yes, definitely so. And, in your subsequent career experience as an educator and later administrator in various institutions of higher education in Asia and elsewhere, Prof. Wang, you have repeatedly noted that one has to look at the development of education in one particular country in the broad context. What do you mean by that？
W: Well, the whole world has moved away from elite education in universities to meet the needs of mass education. And entering universities is no longer a privilege for the few. And universities today are more concerned with providing jobs for their graduates in a way that universities in our time never had to bother about. Therefore, the emphasis of university programmes today is now on the practical and the utilitarian, rather than on a general education or on personal development.
N: Do you think that is a welcome development？
W: Well, I personally regret this development, but the basic bachelor's education now has to cater to people who really need a piece of paper to find a decent job.
N: So, you're concerned about this development？
W: Yes, I am very much concerned. With technical changes, many of the things that you learn are technical skills which don't require you to become very well educated, yet if you can master those skills, you can get very good jobs. So, the technical institutions are going to be increasingly popular at the expense of traditional universities.
N: Professor Wang, let's look at a different issue. How do you comment on the current phenomenon that more and more universities admit students because of the fees they pay？
W: Well, once you accept students on financial grounds, one wonders whether you have to pass them as well, but this is the development in education that we have to contend with. Yet, if we are concerned about maintaining standards, what we can do is to concentrate on improving the quality of education.
N: Yes, you're right. A university is judged by the quality of education it offers. Professor Wang, let's turn to the future. What type of graduates, in your view, do universities of the future need to produce if they are to remain relevant？
W: I think, their graduates must be able to shift from one profes
【C12】______, in their private everyday lives, the British as individuals are probably less【C13】______to follow tradition than【C14】______the people of most other countries. There are very few ancient traditions that are followed by the majority of families on special【C15】______. The country has fewer local【C16】______with genuine folk roots than most other countries have. The English language has fewer sayings that are【C17】______common everyday use than many other languages do. The British are too individualistic for these things.【C18】______, it should be【C19】______that they are the most enthusiastic video-watching people in the world the very opposite of a traditional【C20】______!
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