Prolonging Human Life
Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, whereas if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illness than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often "go on welfare" if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent hospitals have been built. These are often profit-making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions arc good, most of them are simply "dumping grounds" for the dying in which "care" is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under-skilled personnel.
词汇：
dependency n.依赖性
contemporary α.现代的
obligation n. 义务
insurance n. 保险
welfare n.福利
senile αdj. 衰老的
grave αdj. 严肃的
convalescent αdj.康复的
sponsor v. 发起，资助
institution n. 机构
注释:
1. Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population:延长人类生命的结果使得人口的数量有了增加。句中的 prolonging human life是动名词短语。由动名词短语作句子的主语时，句中动词必须用单数形式。如 : Collecting stamps is his hobby.
2. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago:如果今天活着的很多人生于一百年以前，他们会死于各种儿童疾病。
3. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time:因为有更多的人寿命更长，所以在任何一个特定的时间里的人也就更多。
4. the dependency load: 抚养人口数量。
5. In times of famine: 在饥荒年代
6. go on welfare : 靠福利救济
go on 有许多意思，其中的一个意思是"依靠……过活"。例:
Many people go on welfare when jobs become scarce.
(工作难找时，许多人靠政府救济金过日子。)
7. grave problems: 严重的问题
8. convalescent hospitals: 康复医院;疗养院
9. profit-making organizations: 赢利机构
10. dumping grounds: 垃圾场
练习:
1. The writer believes that the population explosion results from
A an increase in birthrates.
B the industrial development.
C a decrease in death rates.
D cultural advances.
2. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures
A it was a moral responsibility to keep old-aged people alive.
B infants could be left dead in times of starvation.
C parents had to impart the cultural wisdom of the tribe to their children.
D death was considered to be freedom from hardships.
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about retired people in the United States is true?
A Many of them have a very hard life.
B They cannot live a decent life without enough bank savings.
C They rely mainly on their children for financial support.
D Most of them live with their children and therefore are well looked after.
4. In Paragraph 3, the phrase "this need" refers to