Question

In many ways, our society doesn’t simply prepare for the kinds of lives that the elderly must lead. We have made medical advances that allow people to live longer than ever before, but we do not seem to know what to do with them after we have saved their lives. Too little allowance (津貼) is made for the person who is no longer earning a living, who can not walk long distances or drive a car, or who may have physical or mental disabilities that keep him from communicating with others. The institutional (慈善機構的) care we give our older people is a good reflection of the overall attitude of our society toward the aged.

In the past few years, nursing homes have received wide attention as boring, meaningless places where old people often have little else to do but wait for the end of their lives. Elderly wards in mental hospitals are even worse. One of the most shocking things abort nursing homes has been the unwillingness of people on the outside to show real concern for what happens in these institutions. Even people who are entrusting (委托) a parent to the care of a home rarely ask about the nurse-parent ratio (比率), about the kinds of creative facilities or physical treatment equipment available, or about the frequency of doctors’ visits.

And the government has provided federal money without enforcing high standards of care. In fact federal standards were lowered in 1974. Therefore, in some sense our concern for the aged seems to be moving backwards, not forwards. This picture is in striking contrast to the treatment of respectable patriarchs (男長者) and matriarchs (女長者) in many societies.

1. What would be the most suitable title for this passage?

A. Failure of Care for the Elderly             B. The Elderly

C. Institutional Care                             D. A National Shame

2. We can conclude from this passage that the writer feels ____.

A. nursing homes should be got rid of

B. a country that can help people live longer should also be able to care for them better

C. people have no thanks toward their parents

D. our society’s institutions need to be reformed

3. The writer believes that people who place a parent in a nursing home should ____.

A. demand higher federal standards

B. consider the example set in other countries

C. be ashamed of not keeping the parents in their own homes

D. investigate it first

4. The writer complains ____.

A. about the indifference of some people towards nursing homes

B. about the shortage of equipment in nursing home

C. that nursing homes keep the aged from communicating with others

D. both A and B

Answer 1

【小題1】A

【小題2】B

【小題3】D

【小題4】D

解析:

【小題1】本題考查理解文章主旨大意的能力。由第一段第一句“In many ways, our society doesn’t simply prepare for the kinds of lives that the elderly must lead.”及文章內容可知，全文談的是我們在對待老人方面做得很不夠。因此A項正確。

【小題2】本題考查根據短文相關內容進行推理判斷的能力。由文章第一段“In many ways, our society doesn’t simply prepare for the kinds of lives that the elderly must lead. We have made medical advances that allow people to live longer than ever before, but we do not seem to know what to do with them after we have saved their lives.” 可以判斷選項B正確的。

【小題3】本題考查理解文章細節信息的能力。文中第二段結尾“Even people who are entrusting (委托) a parent to the care of a home rarely ask about the nurse-parent ratio, about the kinds of creative facilities or physical therapy equipment available, or even about the frequency of doctor’s visits.” 這是作者對人們的批評，由此可以判斷選項D正確。

【小題4】本題考查根據短文相關內容判斷作者的觀點態度的能力。由第二段“Even people… rarely ask about the nurse-parent ratio, about the kinds of creative facilities or physical therapy equipment available, or even about the frequency of doctors’ visits. ” 可以判斷選項A和B是正確的；選項C在文章中沒有提到.