单选题
New US Plan for Disease Prevention

Urging Americans to take responsibility for their health, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday launched a $15 million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes (糖尿病).
The initiative highlights the costs of chronic diseases—the leading causes of death in the United States—and outlines ways that people can prevent them, including better diet and increased exercise.
"In the United States today, 7 of 10 deaths and the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases," the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement.
The causes are often behavioral—smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.
"I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future," Thompson told a conference held to launch the initiative.
"Our current health care system is not structured to deal with the rising costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices."
Thompson said heart disease and strokes will cost the country more than $351 billion in 2003.
"These leading causes of death for men and women are largely preventable, yet we as a nation are not taking the steps necessary for us to lead healthier, longer lives," he said.
The $15 million is designed to go to communities to promote prevention, pushing for changes as simple as building sidewalks to encourage people to walk more.
Daily exercise such as walking can prevent and even reverse heart disease and diabetes, and prevent cancer and strokes.
The money will also go to community organizations, clinics and nutritionists who are being encouraged to work together to educate people at risk of diabetes about what they can do to prevent it and encourage more cancer screening.
The American Cancer Society estimates that half of all cancers can be caught by screening, including Pap tests (巴氏试验) for cervical cancer (宫颈癌), mammograms for breast cancer, colonoscopies (结肠镜检查), and prostate (前列腺的) checks.
If such cancers were all caught by early screening, the group estimates that the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.
单选题 Which of the following is NOT true of chronic diseases in the US?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 由第三段可知，A、B两项正确。由第二段和第六段可知，D项正确。由第四段“The causes are often behavioral—smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.”可知，不健康的生活方式引起了慢性病，而不是慢性病引起了不健康的生活方式，C项说法错误。
单选题 The author mentions all the following ways of disease prevention EXCEPT ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由第二段“...including better diet and increased exercise.”及第四段“...smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.”可排除A、B、C三个选项，故选D。
单选题 The passage indicates that spending more money on disease prevention will mean ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由第三段“...the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases...”及第六段“...to deal with the rising costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes...”可知，慢性病的治疗花费极高，增加资金用于疾病的预防可大大减少用于治疗的这种花费，故选B。
单选题 The purpose of the $15 million program is to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 由第一段“...a $15 million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseases...”可知，该项目主要用来加强疾病预防，故选A。
单选题 Early cancer screening can help reduce significantly ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由最后一段“If such cancers were all caught by early screening...the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.”可知，早期癌症筛查有助于提高癌症患者的存活率，也就是降低其死亡率，故选D。