Directions: Read the following text carefully and then translate
the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written neatly
on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Looking at how far we’ll be able to fund the Health Service in
the 21st century raises any number of thorny issues. (46)Many of the options
have already been rehearsed in the press: excluding some treatments from the
NHS, charging for certain drugs and services, and developing voluntary or
compulsory health insurance schemes. Compared to its
European Union counterparts Britain operates a low-cost health system: we spend
about 7 per cent of GDP on health, compared with 9 per cent in the Netherlands
and 10 per cent in France and Germany. In terms of health outcomes versus spend,
we compare pretty favourably. I don’t see private health care
providing much of the solution to current problems. (47) More likely is a
shift from universal health coverage to top-up schemes which give people basic
health entitlements but require them to finance other treatment through private
financing, or opt-out schemes which use tax relief to encourage
individuals to make private provision. Neither is close to being
implemented, but the future could see a deliberate shift of attention to
voluntary health .insurance and an emphasis on social insurance.
(48) I expect individuals to take greater responsibility for their
personal health using technology that allows self-diagnosis followed by
self-treatment or home care. Even so, higher taxes will plainly be needed to
fund health care. (49) I think we’ll eventually see larger NHS charges, more
rationing of medical services and restrictions on certain procedures without
proven outcomes. Stricter eligibility criteria for certain treatments are
another possibility. All such options would mean a sharp break
with tradition and political fall-out that could be extremely damaging. (50)
None of them is going to win votes for the political party desperate
enough to introduce them but then nobody is going to vote for ill-health
or an early death either.