单项选择题

Former First Lady Betty Ford has once again performed an enormous public service by focusing the nation’s attention on a major medical problem-the accidental addiction to prescribed medications and the perilous consequences of combining drugs and alcohol. Mrs. Ford’s courageous admission of her own dependence on Valium and alcohol has created a public awareness which will affect the lives of millions.
It is estimated that one in every five women may be accidentally addicted to her medications. Legally prescribed drugs, taken in dangerous combinations or with alcohol, are causing greater physical damage and death than any of the illegal drugs generally associated with drug abuse.
Prescription drugs have now become the mainstay of medical care. A staggering number of medications have been developed to treat pains and discomforts of every kind and almost without exception they all affect the brain to some degree. Depending on the user’s physical or emotional state, metabolism, hormonal balance, age and frequency of use, they may produce various side effects. All are potentially habit-forming. The trouble is the user has no sure way of knowing any of these possibilities.
Over-the-counter remedies, which people tend to think of as harmless, are often used simultaneously with prescription drugs and liquor, without regard to their combined chemical actions. Since all drugs are potentially toxic, the use of several medications, either simultaneously or in close sequence to each other, adds further risk due to the drugs’ interaction. Such combinations are known to make an increased demand on the body’s normal responses and functions. Often, it becomes impossible to determine exactly which element has caused an unexpected and dangerous reaction.
In a typical year, approximately 20% of prescriptions filled in the US are of the mood-changing variety: stimulants, including appetite suppressants and depressants-ranging from sleep-inducing sedatives to minor tranquilizers-are counted in this category. Another class of drugs in common use which may cause addiction are pain-killers.
All these drugs act on the central nervous system. They are often over-prescribed and misuse can lead to dependence. Prescriptions for mood-altering drugs are disproportionately high among women because they constitute the largest group of patients seeking medical advice. It is known that women will reach for and accept help at critical points in their lives, which may heighten their dependence on medical advice. Marriage, birth, and motherhood, separation, divorce, menopause or major surgery often result in psychosocial and physical stress. Since women, unlike men, are encouraged to admit distress, they are more frequently diagnosed as having "non-specific anxiety" and are given tranquilizers.
A recent government study for the assessment of the drug and alcohol problems of women is especially critical of the tendency of physicians to "help" women by prescribing anxiety-reducing drugs as an adjunct to other medical treatment.
This report stated: "Drugs, as a coping mechanism, offer short-term help coupled with long term danger. This is not to say that drugs have not proven helpful for serious depressions and other mental illnesses. They have indeed. But for life’s everyday problems (and they can be painful), the support of sympathetic friends and relatives, specialised organisations and spiritual solace are preferable to habitual reliance on drugs in any form.\
Which of the following factors is NOT explictly mentioned in relation to side effects produced by prescription drugs

A. Sex.
B. Age.
C. Emotional state.
D. Hormonal balance.

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A. Because the deficit for the previous June was much higher.
B. Because they had expected the figures would seem far better.
C. Because the figures have been compiled under the old system.
D. Both A and
C.

单项选择题

We may draw a conclusion from the report The Future of English that ______ . A. Dutch people may not need to study English at school B. English teachers in some countries are not qualified C. Indian English may not be understood in international communication D. None of the above

An estimated 320 million people speak English as a mother tongue-fewer than those who speak Spanish or Mandarin-and demographic trends indicate that native English speakers will decline as a proportion of. the world’s population. Probably more than 1 billion people speak English with varying degrees of proficiency as a second language.
David Graddol, a language researcher and lecturer at the Open University in Britain, said that, on the one hand, English is becoming a language of everyday usage in some countries in Northern Europe. "Something like 70 percent of the Dutch population claim now that they can hold a conversation in English quite comfortable," Mr. Graddol said. "For them, it is not a textbook-based foreign exercise. They are already exposed to English in the environment. People have learned a little bit of it before they even get to school, and they can see immediately that it has some use in their lives. In courtiers like the Netherlands, Sweden or Denmark you need English to complete your education."
"In other countries; however, English is more truly a foreign language," said Mr. Graddol, whose consulting firm, The English Company, produced a worldwide report titled "The Future of English" for the British Council a few years ago, "In some countries, there is not very much English in the environment and people may be learning it from teachers who may not speak English very well themselves."
In some countries, like India and Nigeria where English has been used a long time, distinct local varieties of the language are emerging, complete with their own dictionaries, textbooks and literature.
"English is so important in these countries that people use it in part to create their own social and even national identity," Mr. Graddol said. "When that happens, the language starts going its own way. The variety of English that proficient speakers in such countries are learning may not be terribly useful in an international context."
Bertrand Menciassi, of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages in Europe, said the use of a world language both helps and hinders linguistic diversity. People can use English for their outside contacts, while cultivating their own tongue or dialect for use at home. On the other hand, he added, English is tending to push European national languages like Dutch or Danish into a corner.
Maintaining linguistic diversity is an important aim of the European Commission, which is concerned that the increasing acceptance of English as the European lingua franca should not detract from the vitality of other languages. The commission argues that the ability to speak two or three tongues will give the Europeans economic and technical advantages over their monolingual American rivals in the world of diversity, and is about to kick off "The European Year of Languages".