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, whereas if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary 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 illness 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 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 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 arc good, most of them are simply "dumping grounds" for the dying in which "care" is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under-skilled personnel.
詞匯：
dependency n.依賴性
contemporary α.現(xiàn)代的
obligation n. 義務(wù)
insurance n. 保險(xiǎn)
welfare n.福利
senile αdj. 衰老的
grave αdj. 嚴(yán)肅的
convalescent αdj.康復(fù)的
sponsor v. 發(fā)起，資助
institution n. 機(jī)構(gòu)
注釋:
1. Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population:延長(zhǎng)人類生命的結(jié)果使得人口的數(shù)量有了增加。句中的 prolonging human life是動(dòng)名詞短語。由動(dòng)名詞短語作句子的主語時(shí)，句中動(dòng)詞必須用單數(shù)形式。如： Collecting stamps is his hobby.
2. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago:如果今天活著的很多人生于一百年以前，他們會(huì)死于各種兒童疾病。
3. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time:因?yàn)橛懈嗟娜藟勖L(zhǎng)，所以在任何一個(gè)特定的時(shí)間里的人也就更多。
4. the dependency load: 撫養(yǎng)人口數(shù)量。
5. In times of famine: 在饑荒年代
6. go on welfare： 靠福利救濟(jì)
go on 有許多意思，其中的一個(gè)意思是"依靠……過活"。例:
Many people go on welfare when jobs become scarce.
(工作難找時(shí)，許多人靠政府救濟(jì)金過日子。)
7. grave problems: 嚴(yán)重的問題
8. convalescent hospitals: 康復(fù)醫(yī)院;療養(yǎng)院
9. profit-making organizations: 贏利機(jī)構(gòu)
10. dumping grounds: 垃圾場(chǎng)
練習(xí):
1. The writer believes that the population explosion results from
A an increase in birthrates.
B the industrial development.
C a decrease in death rates.
D cultural advances.
2. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures
A it was a moral responsibility to keep old-aged people alive.
B infants could be left dead in times of starvation.
C parents had to impart the cultural wisdom of the tribe to their children.
D death was considered to be freedom from hardships.
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about retired people in the United States is true?
A Many of them have a very hard life.
B They cannot live a decent life without enough bank savings.
C They rely mainly on their children for financial support.
D Most of them live with their children and therefore are well looked after.
4. In Paragraph 3, the phrase "this need" refers to
A the need to prolong the lives of old people.
B the need to enrich the life of the retired people. 中華考試網(wǎng)(www．Examw。com)
C the need to build profit-making nursing homes.
D the need to take care of a sick and weak person.
5. Which of the following best describes the writer's attitude toward most of the nursing homes, and convalescent hospitals?
A Sympathetic.
B Unfriendly.
C Optimistic.
D Critical.