第十五篇 $lesson$

Life Expectancy in the Last Hundred Years

　　A hundred years ago，life expectancy in developed countries was about 47;in the early 21st century，men in the United States and the United Kingdom can expect to live to about 74，women to about 80，and these 1 are rising all the time.What has brought 2 these changes? When we look at the life 3 of people 1 00 years ago，we need to look at the greatest 4 of the time.In the early 20th century，these were the acute and often5 infectious diseases such as smallpox.Many children died very young from these diseases and others，and the weak and elderly were always at risk.

　　In the 6 world these diseases are far 7 today，and in some cases have almost disappeared.A number of 8 have led to this：improvements in sanitation and hygiene.the discovery and use of antibiotics，which 9 bacterial diseases much less dangerous，and vaccinations 10 common diseases. 11 ，people’s general health has improved with improvements in our general environment：cleaner air, better means of preserving food，better and warmer housing，and better understanding of nutrition.

　　Genetically, we should all be able to live to about 85 but 12 people do live longer today，there are still some big killers around that are preventing US from consistently reaching that age.The problems that affect people today are the more chronic illnesses，such as heart disease and strokes，and those 13 by viruses，such as influenza and AIDS1.Of course，cancer is a huge killer as well.In most cases these diseases affect 14 people，but there are worrying trends in the developed world with problems such as obesity 15 more heart disease and illnesses such as diabetes at younger ages.

　　The killers today can be classed as“lifestyle diseases", which means that it may be possible to halt their progress.

　　詞匯：

　　expectancy n.預期 preserve vt.保藏，防止(食物) 腐爛

　　acute adj.(疾病)急性的

　　infectious adj.傳染性的 nutrition n.營養

　　smallpox n.天花 chronic adj.(疾病)慢性的

　　sanitation n.環境衛生 stroke n.中風

　　hygiene n.個人衛生 virus n.病毒

　　antibiotic n.抗生素 influenza n.流行性感冒

　　bacterial adj細菌性的 trend n.趨勢，傾向

　　vaccination n.種痘，接種 obesity n肥胖

　　diabetes n.糖尿病 halt vt.使…停止

　　注釋：

　　Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS)：艾滋病，后天性免疫缺乏綜合癥

　　練習：

　　1. A)ages B)years C)lives D)countries

　　2. A)in B)about C)to D)with

　　3. A)length B)time C)duration D)span

　　4. A)people B)killers C)invention D)nation

　　5. A)more B)less C)high D)highly

　　6. A)developed B)less developed C)undeveloped D)developing

　　7. A)more deadly B)deadly C)less deadly D)fatal

　　8. A)improvements B)factors C)jobs D)measures

　　9. A)makes B)causes C)make D)cause

　　10.A)against B)for C)to D)from

　　11.A)And B)Therefore C)In addition D)Nevertheless

　　12.A)when B)yet C)however D)while

　　13.A)spread B)affected C)produced D)created

　　14.A)poor B)weak C)older D)young

　　15.A)and B)leading to C)from D)with

　　答案與題解：

　　1. A 通過上下文可知此處應為“年齡"。

　　2. B bring about意思是“帶來”，bring in意為賺取，實現(一定利潤)，沒有bring to這個短語，如果用with，此句話必須變成what has it brought with these changes才符合語法，但意思就不符合文章了。

　　3. D life span是一個固定搭配，意為壽命。

　　4. B 從下一句可以看出此處應指那些不治之癥。

　　5. D 本句舉了天花的例子，下一句指出很多孩子死于這些病，所以此處應為一個表嚴重的詞。high是形容詞，不能修飾后面的形容詞。acute不是比較級，所以and后面也不應用比較級。

　　6. A 本句后部分說在一些國家這些病已經消失，通過常識得知應該是發達國家。

　　7. C 本句后部分說在一些國家這些病已經消失，整段都在說明情況好轉，故選C。

　　8. B 冒號后面列舉的內容不能統一用其他幾個詞概括，只能用factor。

　　9. C注意這里的which不是非限制定語從句中指代前面一句話的作用，而是指代前面兩項內容：衛生的改善和抗生素的發明使用，所以which后的動詞不用三單形式。cause沒有這樣的語法搭配。

　　10. A 該選項為固定搭配，意為對某種疾病的預防接種。

　　11. C 前面說的是對疾病的防范和控制加強，后面說的是整體環境的改善，兩者為并列關系，但是And在書面語中不能這樣使用，所以只能選in addition。

　　12. D整句話的意思是：從基因角度看，人都能活到85歲，但是雖然現在人們壽命

　　確實比以前長了，仍然有一些疾病使得我們不能都活到那個歲數。所以此處應該填一個轉折副詞。

　　13. A those指代流感和艾滋病等靠病毒傳播的疾病，those后面的動詞是過去分詞作定語。spread的過去分詞與原形相同。

　　14. C 本句最后指出一些病越來越年輕化，所以此處應選擇younger的反義詞。

　　15. B obesity是心臟病和糖尿病年輕化的重要原因，它和心臟病、糖尿病不是并列關系，而是因果關系，所以選擇leading to，現在分詞作結果狀語