Passage Four

Any country has good reason to want its citizens to be as healthy as possible, since one of its greatest resources is an active population. No country wants its people to suffer unnecessarily from ill health.

This was the kind of thinking which led to the introduction of a health service in many countries. In Britain this has developed into a “Welfare State” in which all citizens, rich and poor alike, can get most health treatment free. The money for this is partially raised by contributions from employers and employees.

As three decades have shown, such automatic arrangements are not always ideal and there are arguments for and against the Health Service. The number of patients treated every year and the cost of treatment are much greater than was estimated. This means that the people who work for the Health Service—doctors, nurses and other hospital staff—have much more routine work to do and as a result they have little time for preventive medicine. The Health Service does need more staff—a need that can only be met if more money is made available to it.

However, a powerful argument for the Health Service is that many people are able to receive expensive treatment which they could never afford themselves. Sometimes this free treatment is abused and people visit their doctors when they don’t really need to. Because they have so many patients, doctors cannot spend as long with each one as they would like, and some people prefer to pay for private treatment so that their doctors can give them more time. In fact, some wealthy people feel that they should pay, and so free more money for treatment to others.

46. In the author’s view, Britain is a Welfare State in that ______.

A. all citizens are entitled to a free medical treatment in some sense

B. poor, unlike the rich, could enjoy free medical treatment

C. health service is highly developed in Britain

D. Britain doesn’t allow its people to suffer unnecessarily from ill health

47. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. the Health Service is introduced to many other countries by Britain

B. the Health Service has been introduced and developed for 30 years in Britain

C. an active population is the greatest resource in Britain

D. all citizens in Britain have a good opinion of the Health Service

48. The best title for the passage would be ______.

A. A Welfare State

B. Importance of the Health Service

C. Disadvantages of the Health Service

D. The Health Service

49. The author mentions that some wealthy people prefer to pay for private treatment because ______.

A. their doctors can give them more time leave from work

B. those doctors have better medical instruments

C. they might save some money for the poor

D. their doctors have a stronger sense of responsibility for the patients

50. The word “abused” (Par. 4) means ______.

A. destroyed

B. used in wrong way

C. ignored

D. wasted