Although the stigma (耻辱) once associated with mental illness has gradually gone away in recent years, most of the Americans who have clinical depression still don't get treated for it, partly because many are too embarrassed to go to a psychologist. In fact, the majority of depressed people who seek professional help turn first not to a psychologist but to their primary-care physician. But do regular doctors really know how to identify depression? A large new scientific review suggests they don't. In a review of 41 previous studies, the authors found that general practitioners make frequent mistakes, missing true cases of depression about half the time and incorrectly diagnosing it in 19% of healthy people. Alex Mitchell, Amol Vaze and Sanjay Rao of Leicester General Hospital in the U.K. estimate that about 1 in 5 people in developed nations will experience depression in their lifetime. That means that among a general patient population of 100, about 20 will develop the condition, but the typical doctor will find it in only 10 of those who have it. And among the 80 healthy people, the doctor will incorrectly identify depression in 15. This is significant because depression can make the patient and his or her family weak. Depression also carries an enormous social burden, leading to missed work days, loss of productivity and increases in health-care spending. Further, those misdiagnosed with depression may end up being prescribed medicine that not only costs a lot but can have serious side effects. The various studies that Mitchell, Vaze and Rao reviewed used different methods to verify whether doctors had missed depression in their patients. Virtually all the studies pointed to the same conclusion: general physicians aren't very good at recognizing the most common mental illness in the world. Why? One reason is that the typical doctor visit is quite short, usually no longer than 15 minutes. It's hard for patients to open up about their symptoms during that brief period. Doctors should spend more time or schedule follow-up appointments with patients they suspect have depression, which can dramatically increase the rate of accurate diagnoses.
单选题 Most depressed people refuse to see a psychologist partly because _______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:第1段第1句partly because后的内容解释了人们不会去看心理医生的原因是他们觉得很尴尬(tooembarrassed to...),D是对该句的同义改写,relate...to...“把……和……联系在一起”,注意embarrassment是embarrass的名词形式。
单选题 In a new scientific review, the researchers found that_______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:第2段第3句found that后的内容即为该项新研究的结论,文中说到普通的家庭医生(general practitioner)经常犯错,结合上下文可知,这里具体是指他们在判定抑郁症(identify depression)上犯错,故B与原文相符,为正确答案。
单选题 Those who "will develop the condition" (Line 3, Para. 3) refer to _______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:第3段第1句提到在发达国家,约五分之一的人在一生中会有抑郁症状(experience depression)。第2句句首的That means that表示此处是具体说明,说到在100人当中就有20人will develop the condition,该比例为20%,正好与上文的1 in 5一致,故这20人应该是experience depression,C与此相符,故为答案。
单选题 According to the passage, depression can result in _______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:第4段讲述了抑郁症对个人、家庭及社会的危害,从第2句的increases in health-care spending以及第3句的costs a lot可以判断出抑郁症医疗费用很高,故C“昂贵的医药花费”正确。
单选题 Why do general physicians often fail to recognize depression?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:由最后一段的关键词Why及One reason is that...可知答案就是that后的内容。该句指出原因在于看病时间较短,故A“太仓促地作出诊断”正确。