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编者按：
为了使广大考生熟悉研究生英语考试的命题特点和规律，我们特别摘录由中国人民大学出版社出版的《2004年研究生入学考生英语历年真题解析及复习思路》（以后简称《英语复习思路》）一书的部分内容。该书的作者是参与研究生考试命题的专家。该书力图通过对命题专家多年命题经验和对试题的研究的总结而向广大考生系统地介绍英语命题的特点和规律，是命题专家集中清理命题思路和思维过程的成果。
该书2003年版由高等教育出版社出版，2004年版由中国人民大学独家出版。为保证该书的出版质量和本着对广大考生负责的态度，自2002年8月开始该书作者们对该书进行了较大幅度的修改，先后数次召开该书修订和审稿会议。由于该书对英语命题思路的权威性阐释和对历年试题的精准注解，因而成为许多辅导教师备课的主要参考资料，甚至直接以该书的内容作为讲义。目前该书已经被多所高校和社会办学的大型辅导班列为指定教材。
高教考研网（www.kaoyanren.com）经授权摘录该书的部分内容，并按照网站的需要对内容的标题进行了修改，提请考生注意。如果需要转载，必先获得授权，未经授权，不得转载。该文的内容出自《英语思路》第140-144页，
2003年 Passage 4
It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. Small wonder. Americans’life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death—and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under ideal conditions. We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers we treat death as a problem to be solved. Shielded by
third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless. The most obvious example is latestage cancer care. Physicians—frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient—too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
In 1950, the US spent $12.7 billion on health care. In 2002, the cost will be $1 540 billion. Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains life beyond a certain age—say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm “have a duty to die and get out of the way”, so that younger, healthier people can realize their potential.
I would not go that far. Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and beyond, and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78,Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. Everett Koop chairs an Internet start up in his 80s.These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age. As a mere 68-year-old, I wish to age as productively as they have.
Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit. As a physician, I know the most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care, have achieved longer, healthier lives than we have. As a nation, we may be overfunding the quest for unlikely cures while underfunding research on humbler therapies that could improve people’s lives.
1.What is implied in the first sentence?
A. Americans are better prepared for death than other people.
B. Americans enjoy a higher life quality than ever before.
C. Americans are overconfident of their medical technology.
D. Americans take a vain pride in their long life expectancy.
2.The author uses the example of caner patients to show that_____.
A. medical resources are often wasted
B. doctors are helpless against fatal diseases
C. some treatments are too aggressive
D. medical costs are becoming unaffordable
3.The author’s attitude to ward Richard Lamm’s remark is one of_____.
A. strong disapproval
B. reserved consent
C. slight contempt
D.enthusiastic support
4.In contras to the US, Japan and Sweden are funding their medical care_____.
A. more flexibly
B. more extravagantly
C. more cautiously
D. more reasonably
5.The text intends to express the idea that_____.
A. medicine will further prolong people’s lives
B. life beyond a certain limit is not worth living
C. death should be accepted as a fact of life
D.excessive demands increase the cost of health care
一、文章结构分析
这是一篇探讨医疗上花费大量财力去延缓自然死亡是否值得的文章。作者首先从死亡的不可避免性入手，指出耗费大量财力去延缓自然死亡是不可取的，但同时作者亦指出歧视和放弃对老人的照顾也是不对的。最后他通过与其他国家的比较得出了一个解决办法：更多地研究提高人们生活质量的普通方法。
文章首段：提出即使有再伟大的医疗卫生体系，死亡也是无法战胜的。但是我们现在却不能面对这个现实。
第二段：指出不能面对现实的表现就是人们把正常的死亡当作问题来解决，在医疗方面不择手段。
第三、四段：指出由于政府用于医疗卫生的资金与日俱增，有人呼吁停止某一年龄以上人群的医疗费用。
最后，作者先通过举例说明老年人仍然可以保持创造力，对上面的观点进行反驳；接着呼吁社会应该把资金更多地投入到研究提高人们生活质量的平常方法上。
二、试题解析
1.[答案] C
[解析] 本题考核的知识点是：推理引申题。
题干要求考生推断文章第一句话的暗示。文章第一句说，据说在英格兰死亡是紧迫的，在加拿大死亡是不可避免的，而在加利福尼亚死亡是可以选择的。言下之意，美国人相信死亡是选择的结果。如果他不想死，他就不会死，因为他们的医院可以治好一切病症。因此 这句话暗含的意思就是C选项“美国人对他们的医疗技术过于自信”。B选项“美国人享受的生活质量比从前更高”本身意思是正确的，但是不能从第一句推论出来。A选项“美国人在死亡面前比其他人更有准备”和D选项“美国人对他们较长的寿命感到洋洋得意”都未在文章中提到。
2.[答案] A
[解析] 本题考核的知识点是：作者意图题。
题干要求考生判断作者使用“癌症病人”这个例子的目的。 文章第二段说，“由于有第三方支付我们的医疗费用，我们常常要求用尽一切可能的医疗手段，即使它们不会有任何作用”。然后文章举了癌症病人的例子去证明这一点。显然作者这里要说明的是如果治疗没有作用仍然坚持进行，那么它就是一种浪费。因此A选项“医疗资源经常被浪费”是作者举癌症病人这个例子所要说明的内容。B选项“医生对致命疾病束手无策”、C 选项“有些治疗方案过于大胆”和D选项“医疗费正变得支付不起”在文章中虽然有提及，但是它们都不是这个例子要证实的。
3.[答案] B
[解析]本题考核的知识点是：作者态度题。
题干要求考生判断作者对理查德·拉姆的言论持何种态度。文章第三段谈到，为解决美国医疗开支大幅上升的问题，学者们提出对83岁以上的老人停止支付医疗费。理查德·拉姆甚至提出老年人有责任死去，以便给年轻人让位。接着在第四段作者立即补充道，“我不会说得这么绝对”，并且在后面开始举例说明老人仍然有创造力。因此可以看出作者在一定程度上赞同拉姆的观点，但是却不愿意像拉姆一样走极端。因此B选项“有保留地赞同”是最佳答案。A选项“强烈反对”、C 选项“稍有蔑视”和D选项“热烈支持”都不准确。
4.[答案] D
[解析] 本题考核的知识点是：推理引申题。
题干要求考生判断与美国相比，日本和瑞典对医疗卫生事业的资助更加如何。文章最后一段说，日本和瑞典在医疗方面的投资要少得多，但是它们的人民寿命长得多，健康也好得多。并且暗示这两个国家没有投入巨额资金去开发昂贵和无数的医疗手法，而是更重视研究能够提高人民生活质量的更平常的医疗方法。因此可知这两个国家对医疗资金的使用是D选项 “更加合理”，而不是A选项“更灵活”、B选项“更奢侈”或C选项“更谨慎”。
5.[答案] C
[解析] 本题考核的知识点是：文章主旨题。
题干要求考生判断文章所要表达的意图是什么，即文章的中心思想。文章第一段说，即使有一个伟大的医疗卫生体系，死亡也无法战胜。第二段又说，死亡是正常的，我们的基因决定我们即使在最理想的条件里也会解体和灭亡。第三段又讲，有人认为对83岁以上的老人应该停止支付医疗费，老人有责任为年轻人让位。所有这些都是为了劝导人们在必要时接受死亡，不要用无效而昂贵的手段去延长生命。要像日本人和瑞典人那样注重生活的质量，而不是寿命的长短。因此文章的中心思想应该是C选项“死亡应该作为生活的一个现象加以接受”。
A选项“医学将进一步延长人民的生命”、B 选项“超过了一定限度，生命就不值得延续”和D选项“过多的要求增加了医疗卫生的开支”在文章中均有所提及，但是它们并非文章的中心所在。
三、文章长难句解析
(1) Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure.
该句由三个并列分句构成，其中第二个和第三个分句是省略句，省去can be，补全后为：clinical depression can be controlled, cataracts can be removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure.。
全句可以译为：髋骨不行了可以更换，临床的忧郁症得到了控制，白内障仅用30分钟手术便可以切除。
(2) But not even a great health-care system can cure death—and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.
破折号后的主语是our failure to confront that reality，其中that reality指的就是破折号前的内容；谓语是threatens，宾语是this greatness of ours。
全句可以译为：但是即使有一个伟大的医疗卫生体系，死亡也是无法战胜的——而我们不能面对这个现实，正危及我们自身的伟大。
(3) We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers we treat death as a problem to be solved.
该句是由yet引导的两个分句构成。其中第一个分句中的that指代前一句的内容；后一个分句中，主句是we treat death as a problem to be solved。
全句可以译为：我们所有人在某种程度上都懂得这一点,但是作为医疗消费者,我们常常将死亡视为一个问题去解决。
(4) Physicians—frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient—too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
句子主干是Physicians...offer aggressive treatment...破折号之间是过去分词做定语，对主语的解释。
全句可以译为：医生由于不能够治愈疾病,同时又担心病人失去希望,因而常常采用极端大胆的治疗方法,这些方法远远超出了科学能够认同的界限。
(5) These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age.
句子主干是These leaders are living proof that...and that...。其中在第二个that引导的同位语从句中,又含有that引导的定语从句修饰宾语health problems。
全句可以译为：这些领导人就是活生生的证据,证明疾病防治能够起作用,证明我们能够对付年龄带来的健康问题。
(6) I also know that people in Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care, have achieved longer, healthier lives than we have.
句子主干是I also know that...其中 that引导的宾语从句中，主干是people have achieved longer, healthier lives than we have，而in Japan and Sweden是介词短语做状语，其后两个逗号之间是插入成分，对这两个国家进行解释说明。
全句可以译为：我也深知在医疗开销少得多的日本和瑞典,人们获得了比我们更长的、更健康的寿命。
四、佳句赏析
It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California optional.
该句结构工整、对称，是排比句。重复单词予以省略，干净利落，用词简略到位。
五、词汇注释
(1) life expectancy= expectation of life预期寿命
(2) failing（ a. ）失败的;( n. )失败, 缺点,弱点,过时
(3) surgical（ a.）外科的，外科医生的，手术上的（ n.）外科病房，外科手术
(4) disintegrate（ v.）（使）分裂；（使）碎裂
(5) shield（ v. ）保护，防护 （ n.）保护物，护罩；盾，盾状物
(6) infirm（ a.）弱的，不坚固的，柔弱的
(7) sustain（ v. ）支撑，撑住；维持，持续，经受，忍耐
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