考试时间 2014年3月22日星期六 下午2:00-5:00 原创作者qq 347952582 ._&lG3'
Passage 72(9/22) /kA19E4
SinceWould War II considerable advances have been made in the area of health-careservices. These include better access to health care (particularly for the poorand minorities), improvements in physical plants, and increased numbers ofphysicians and other health personnel. All have played a part in the recentimprovement in life expectancy. But there is mounting criticism of the largeremaining gaps in access, unbridled cost inflation, the further fragmentationof service, excessive indulgence in wasteful high-technology “gadgeteering,”and a breakdown in doctor-patient relationships. In recent years, proposed panaceas and new programs,small and large, have proliferated at a feverish pace and disappointmentsmultiply at almost the same rate. This has led to an increasedpessimism—“everything has been tried and nothing works”—which sometimes borderson cynicism or even nihilism. N39nJqo>"
Itis true that the automatic “pass through” of rapidly spiraling costs togovernment and insurance carriers, which was set in a publicized environment of“the richest nation in the world,” produced for a time a sense of unlimitedresources and allowed to develop a mood whereby every practitioner andinstitution could “do his own thing” without undue concern for the “MedicalCommons.” The practice of full-cost reimbursement encouraged capital investmentand now the industry is overcapitalized. Many cities have hundreds of excesshospital beds; hospitals have proliferated a superabundance of high-technologyequipment; and structural ostentation and luxury were the order of the day. Inany given day, one-fourth of all community beds are vacant; expensive equipmentis underused or, worse, used unnecessarily. Capital investment brings rapidlyrising operating costs. XeSbA
Yet,in part, this pessimism derives from expecting too much of health care. It mustbe realized that care is, for most people, a painful experience, oftenaccompanied by fear and unwelcome results. Although there is vast room forimprovement, health care will always retain some unpleasantness andfrustration. Moreover, the capacities of medical science are limited. HumptyDumpty cannot always be put back together again. Too many physicians arereluctant to admit their limitations to patients; too many patients andfamilies are unwilling to accept such realities. Nor is it true that everythinghas been tried and nothing works, as shown by the prepaid group practice plansof the Kaiser Foundation and at Puget Sound. In the main, however, suchundertakings have been drowned by a veritable flood of public and privatemoneys which have supported and encouraged the continuation of conventionalpractices and subsidized their shortcomings on a massive, almost unrestricted scale.Except for the most idealistic and dedicated, there were no incentives to seekchange or to practice self-restraint or frugality. In this atmosphere, it isnot fair to condemn as failures all attempted experiments; it may be moreaccurate to say many never had a fair trial. Wh Zaq
1. The author implies that the KaiserFoundation and Puget Sound plans (lines 47-48) differed from other plans by a-E-hX2
(A)encouraging capital investment ]`sIs= _[
(B)requiring physicians to treat the poor 7ILa H|eN
(C)providing incentives for cost control `zp2;]W
(D)employing only dedicated and idealistic doctors <s>/< kW:
(E)relying primarily on public funding )h0E$*
2. The author mentions all of the following asconsequences of full-cost reimbursement EXCEPT 0Ad~!Y+1
(A)rising operating costs (<3lo
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(B)underused hospital facilities V*zz-
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(C)overcapitalization ~snF20
(D)overreliance on expensive equipment :dguQ|e
(E)lack of services for minorities /HuYduGdP
3. The tone of the passage can best bedescribed as bez'[Y{
(A)light-hearted and amused )c*k_/4
(B)objective but concerned vif8
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(C)detached and unconcerned aoDD&JE
(D)cautious but sincere 8RAeJ~e
(E)enthusiastic and enlightened f4k5R
4. According to the author, the “pessimism”mentioned at line 35 is partly attributable to the fact that dA}
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(A)there has been little real improvement in health-care services K@P`_yx
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(B)expectations about health-care services are sometimes unrealistic %Lp7@
(C)large segments of the population find it impossible to get access tohealth-care services |R;l5ZKvV
(D)advances in technology have made health care service unaffordable F[kW:-ne@Z
(E)doctors are now less concerned with patient care ],F}}pv
5. The author cites the prepaid plans in lines46-48 as So=nB} b[?
(A)counterexamples to the claim that nothing has worked :Jeo_}e 0
(B)examples of health-care plans that were over-funded %A62xnX
(C)evidence that health-care services are fragmented S&3X~jD(1
(D)proof of the theory that no plan has been successful }@14E-N
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(E)experiments that yielded disappointing results rMHQzQ0%
6. It can be inferred that the sentence“Humpty Dumpty cannot always be put back together again” means that v1nQs='
(A)the cost of health-care services will not decline /> 3
(B)some people should not become doctors vK6ibl0
(C)medical care is not really essential to good health )[^y
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(D)illness is often unpleasant and even painful ~`2&'8
(E)medical science cannot cure every ill [v0ri<