This is offered as a textbook illustration of the principle that voters are far shrewder than most politicians believe. This case study highlighting Washington''s inability to fool anyone is based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare about their new prescription-drug benefit.
Last fall, when Congress added prescription-drug coverage to Medicare, the new law was hailed as a political masterpiece. Congressional Democrats, who overwhelmingly opposed the bill, thundered that they, too, were eager to provide a drug benefit under Medicare, but they championed alternative legislation that offered a larger drug subsidy and smaller incentives to health insurers to participate. Liberals such as Sen. Edward Kennedy were confident that the drug bill, with plenty of holes in its benefit formulas, would inevitably be expanded around the time it took effect.
Not many in Congress seemed troubled that the federal budget was deep in deficit, the nation was saddled with future expenditures for the Iraq war and virtually no health care expert believed that the legislation would fit into its projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework. The new law was a cynical bargain that had more to do with the 2004 election than a rational approach to the prescription-drug needs of the nation''s elderly.
The prescription-drug legislation seems a compromise between competing ideologies inserted into a fixed congressional budget. Put another way, it was sausage-stuffing in the guise of lawmaking. And, what no one anticipated was the reaction of the elderly, a group that votes in disproportionate numbers.
1.[单选题]According to the text, some health care experts believed that .- A. the new law had a 10-year budget of about $400 billion but little was expected for the prescription-drug coverage
- B. the new law will have to wait another 10 years and cost about $400 billion before it is able to take effect
- C.the framework of the new legislation would be fit for a project that was to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years
- D. the projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework was planned to be the budget for the current Iraq war
2.[单选题]From the end of the passage we would expect the author to start his next paragraph most probably on ________.- A. how the senior citizens of the United States responded to the new legislation
- B. the opinions of the few who anticipated what the reaction of the elderly was to be
- C. what the legislators would consider doing to avoid further legislative digressions
- D. major competing ideologies that differ on the coming congressional budget
3.[单选题]Democratic Congressmen suggested that the government should________.- A. be enthusiastic in providing a drug benefit to the people
- B.oppose the new legislation with thundering protests
- C.give more money, so to speak, to medicine makers and retailers
- D. provide financial assistance to people wanting to buy life insurance
4.[单选题]Paragraph 3 reflects basically the views and comments of________.- A.Congressional Democrats
- B. many other Liberals in the Congress
- C.Sen. Edward Kennedy
- D. the author of the passage
5.[单选题]The passage you are reading is the beginning part of a report in the original. Then, what is "This", the first word, most probably referring to?- A.An offered illustration.
- B.Part of a textbook on politics.
- C.What the author is going to write.
- D.The principle that voters are shrewder than most politicians believe.
6.[单选题]Based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare is________.- A. the capital city of the United States of America
- B.a textbook on American politics
- C.what the author is going to write
- D. a statement that the American government cannot fool its people
7.[单选题]Also found in Paragraph 1, what does "this case study" probably refer to?- A. A case study the writer is to talk about.
- B.Part of a textbook on politics.
- C.What the author is going to write.
- D. Washington's inability to fool anyone.
8.[单选题]Referring to the elderly as summarized in the passage, we can assume that they are________.- A.great in number and most will vote
- B. great in number but few tend to vote
- C.few in number and few tend to vote
- D. few in number but most will vote
9.[单选题]Congress added prescription-drug coverage to Medicare most probably means that the Congress of the USA decided to ________.- A.add prescription-drugs to the Medicare program
- B. allow the Medicare program to provide refunding subsidies to selected medicines to be purchased by Medicare members
- C. increase payment to Medicare for refunding Americans buying prescription medicines
- D. provide insurance to prescription drugs purchased by Medicare participants
10.[单选题]Below are four groups of terms that are found in the passage. Which group contains at least one term that does not refer to the same thing as the other terms within the group?- A. the new law, the bill, the drug bill, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation
- B. prescription-drug coverage, the new law, the drug bill, the prescription- drug legislation, the legislation
- C.the drug bill, the bill, Medicare with prescription-drug coverage added, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation
- D.the new law, the bill, the drug bill, Medicare with additions including prescription-drug coverage, the prescription-drug legislation
参考答案： A,A,C,D,C,C,C,B,B,B