单选题 In our lifetime, we should suffer from a lot of hardship, setback and misery. Perhaps no body could free from these unhappy things. Accidents and illnesses are unhappy things to talk about, but no one can expect to live a lifetime without having some kind of accident or becoming ill. Some accidents and illnesses are serious and may result in long periods of invalidism.
The newspapers contain spectacular accounts of accidents in the street and highways and public places, but nearly as many accidents occur around the home. Somebody trips on a rug. Somebody falls off a stepladder. Somebody is careless in cooking dinner, and is burned. Accidents incurred in the playing of sports and swimming also accounts for a large number of injuries, big and little. Despite constant campaigns to reduce the number of accidents, there are still approximately 100,000 accidental deaths and nearly 9,000,000 non-fatal injuries in the United States each year.
In has been estimated that around 3,000,000 people are constantly ill in the United States throughout the year and that over half the illness is caused by respiratory diseases, chiefly colds and influenza.
The pain and suffering caused by accidents and illness tell only half the story. Loss of time from school and work and medical and hospital expenses often make the pain seem worse. Money spent in this country for doctors, services, hospitalization, nursing care, drugs, medicines, X-rays, and special treatments, amounts to a huge annual sum. Added to this expense is another much larger amount that is lost to wage earners throughout the nation by reason of their loss of wages or income while sick or otherwise disabled.
Accident and health insurance is a form of insurance devised to protect against these economic losses. It protects the earnings of wage earners and finishes financial aid to the family of the breadwinner by the payment of his doctor and hospital bills. Today, business and professional men, farmers, industrial workers, clerks, and those engaged in various occupations, whose earning power is shut off for a week, a month, or sometimes years, because of accidents or illness can insure themselves against this financial loss by accident and health insurance.
Protection is available to all types of workers and the cost (called the premium) ranges from a few cents a day for small or limited policies to a month for policies paying larger amounts (called indemnities). Policy is another name for an insurance contract. Most accidents and health policies are cancelable policies--that is, they are sold for a definite term such as a week, a month, or a year, similar to contracts of fire insurance and automobile liability insurance. There are, however, policies which cannot be canceled or terminated by the insurance company until the policyholder reaches an age at which he usually has no further earning power--most often at sixty or sixty-five years. These non-cancelable policies cost more than the cancelable policies.
单选题 What is the passage mainly concerned about?
  • A. Everyone will have some sort of illness or accident.
  • B. Accident and health insurance is available to everyone.
  • C. Insurance is a good protection against accidents and illness.
  • D. Cancelable insurance policies are better than non-cancelable one.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】主旨大意题。通读全文可知,文章的主要目的在于介绍事故和健康保险,每年有大量的人由于事故或疾病而遭受巨大经济损失,而保险可以有效地保护遭遇事故和身患疾病的人。所以选项C是正确答案。
单选题 Every year in the united States there are______.
  • A. more people injured in accidents than those who are constantly ill
  • B. more people die in accidents than of illness
  • C. more people who are ill than those injured in accidents
  • D. more outdoor accidents than indoor accidents
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推理判断题。文章第二段最后一句说:每年有10万人在事故中丧生并有900万人受非致命的伤,第三段首句又提到,有大约300万人受疾病困扰。由此可推断,每年遭遇事故的人比患病的人多。故选项A是答案。
单选题 The heaviest pain and suffering caused by accidents and illness are______.
  • A. colds and influenza
  • B. loss of time
  • C. financial losses
  • D. invalidism
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。文章第四段第二句提到,在学校以及工作岗位上的时间损失以及医药费用令他们更为苦恼,接着文章又着重提到经济损失,所以可推断最令人痛苦的是经济损失。故选项C是正确答案。
单选题 Accident and health insurance will protect people by______.
  • A. paying their wages
  • B. covering their medical expenditure
  • C. restoring their earning power
  • D. providing policyholders with the money they need to survive
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】事实细节题。第五段第二句指出:事故和健康保险通过支付医药费用保护投保人,所以选项B是正确答案。
单选题 The main difference between cancelable insurance policies and non-cancelable policies is______.
  • A. the cost
  • B. limitations
  • C. valid term
  • D. policyholder's age
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。文章最后一段中提到:大多数事故及健康保险单是可取消保单,即它们是按一定的期限,如按一星期、一个月或一年出售的;又提到:也有保险公司不能取消或终止的非取消性保单,据此可推断,这两种保单的最大的区别在于有效期限不同。故选项C是答案。