单选题

Eleven days after her son Benjamin's birth by C-section, Linda Coale awoke in the middle of the night in pain, one leg badly swollen. Just {{U}}(67) {{/U}} her doctor returned her phone call asking what to do,she dropped dead {{U}}(68) {{/U}} a blood clot (凝块).
Pregnancy-related deaths like Coale's {{U}}(69) {{/U}} to have risen nationwide over the past decade, nearly tripling in the state with the most careful count-California. And {{U}}(70) {{/U}} they're very rare--about 550 a year out of 4 million births {{U}}(71) {{/U}} --they're nowhere near as rare as they should be. Pregnancy-related death rate is four times {{U}}(72) {{/U}} than a goal the federal government {{U}}(73) {{/U}} for this year. "It's unacceptable," says Dr. Mark Chassin of The Joint Commission, the agency which recently issued a(n) {{U}}(74) {{/U}} to hospitals to take steps to {{U}}(75) {{/U}} mothers-to-be. "Maybe as many as half of these are {{U}}(76) {{/U}}."
Two years after Coale's death near Annapolis,Maryland, her sister says {{U}}(77) {{/U}} that list should be warning women about {{U}}(78) {{/U}} of an emergency, like the clot called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that can kill {{U}}(79) {{/U}} it breaks out of the leg and moves to the lung. " {{U}}(80) {{/U}} she wanted to do was have her own family, and when she {{U}}(81) {{/U}} gets that privilege, she's no longer {{U}}(82) {{/U}} us," says Clare Johnson, who says her the sister's {{U}}(83) {{/U}} risk was being pregnant at age 35.
Pregnancy-related death {{U}}(84) {{/U}} little public attention in U.S.,{{U}} (85) {{/U}} last year's worry over the flu that killed at least 28 pregnant women. Among the {{U}}(86) {{/U}} preventable causes are massive bleeding, DVT-caused lung disease and uncontrolled blood pressure.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】考查形容词比较级的含义和用法。pregnancy-related death rate指的是与生育相关的死亡率，“率”在本质上是指一种概率，其高低应是用high或者low，根据后文的it's unacceptable可知此处填higher。表示今年实际的与生育有关的死亡率比联邦政府限定的要高出4倍。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】结合句意考查形容词的含义。hopeful“有希望的”，acceptable“可以接受的”，preventable“可阻止的；预防的”，meaningful“有意义的”。前面讲发出了一个警报，让医院采取措施保护准妈妈，接下来应是“(这样的话)或许半数的死亡事故可以被阻止”，选C。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】考查语义逻辑。Coale想拥有自己的家庭，可当她的愿望“最终”实现了的时候，她却永远离开了。从后文也可知她是高龄产妇，所以有了孩子，可以组建一个完整的家庭是来之不易的，故填finally。virtually“事实上；几乎”，casually“偶然地；随便地”，easily“简单地”。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】考查动词与名词的搭配。此句是说与生育有关的死亡事件几乎没有引起美国公众的注意。四个词中只有pay和get常与attention搭配，但pay的主语是人，sb.pays attention to sth.(某人对某事关注)，而get的主语是物，表示什么东西受到关注，所以选D。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】考查语义逻辑。前面讲的是公众对于与生育有关的死亡事件的关注度不高，后面讲去年的流行性感冒夺去了28个孕妇的生命在社会上引起了担忧，根据文意，aside from(除……以外)符合。due to“由于”，but for“要不是”，as for“关于……”。