问答题
Exactly where we will stand in the long war against
disease by the year 2050 is impossible to say. {{U}}(46)But if developments in
research maintain their current pace, it seems likely that a combination of
improved attention to dietary and environmental factors, along with advances in
gene therapy and protein targeted drugs, will have virtually eliminated most
major classes of disease.{{/U}} From an economic standpoint, the
best news may be that these accomplishments could be accompanied by a drop in
health-care costs. (47){{U}}Costs may even fall as diseases are brought under
control using pinpointed, short term therapies now being developed.{{/U}} By 2050
there will be fewer hospitals, and surgical procedures will be largely
restricted to the treatment of accidents and other forms of trauma. Spending on
nonacute care, both in nursing facilities and in homes, will also fall sharply
as more elderly people lead healthy lives until close to death.
One result of medicine's success in controlling disease will be a dramatic
increase in life expectancy. (48){{U}} The extent of that increase is a highly
speculative matter, but it is worth that medical science has already helped to
make the very old (currently defined as those over 85 years of age) the fastest
growing segment of the population .{{/U}} Between 1960 and 1995, the U. S.
population as a whole increased by about 45%, while the segment over 85 years of
age grew by almost 300% . (49){{U}}There has been a similar explosion in the
population of centenarians, with the result that survival to the age of 100 is
no longer the newsworthy feat that it was only a few decades ago.{{/U}} U. S.
Census Bureau projections already forecast dramatic increase in the number of
centenarians in the next 50 years: 4 million in 2050, compared with 37,000 in
1990. (50){{U}}Although Census Bureau calculations project an
increase in average life span of only eight yeas by the year 2050, some exerts
believe that the human life span should not begin to encounter any theoretical
natural limits before 120 years.{{/U}} With continuing advances in molecular
medicine and a growing understanding of the aging process, that limit could rise
to 130 years or more.
【答案解析】[解析] 句子框架是costs mat even fall as…。as引导状语从句，被动结构be brought under control意为“使…得到控制”，译成主动语态。现在分词短语using…在句子中作方式状语；现在分词短语being developed作后置定语，修饰therapies。pinpointed意为“定位准确的”。
【答案解析】[解析] 句子框架是The extent…is a highly speculative matter, but it is worth noting that…。but为转折词，but后的句子中的it为形式主讲，that引导的从句为真正的主语。speculative意为“思索的；推测的”。
【答案解析】[解析] 句子框架是There has been a similar explosion…。in the population of centenarians和with the result并列作主句的状语。that引导的从句作result的同位语，此同位语从句中又嵌套一个that引导的定语从句修饰feat。explosion此处不应译成“爆炸”，而应译成“激增”；centenarian此处意为“百岁(或百岁以上的)老人”；newsworthy意为“有新闻价值的，值得报道的”。