65.
The main purpose of the text is to tell
readers _______.
A.
to give others a hand B.
to be more competent
C.
not to risk looking foolish D.
to stop and evaluate the situation
C
Is the recession(经济衰退)destroying Americans’health in addition to their incomes?
“Yes,
for some”，says a recent study led
by health economists at Yale University, which found that job losses can make
the fat fatter and the drinkers drunkards.
The study focused on workers
above 50, who have been figuring prominently among the laid-off in recent
decades and make up an older group for whom heavy eating and drinking is more
likely to have serious health consequences.
For this group, results
showed the body mass of the average laid-off food-lover increasing by the
equivalent of more than seven pounds for a 5-foot, 10-inch man weighing 180
pounds during unemployment. Similarly, frequent drinkers on average doubled
their daily alcohol intake after losing their jobs and before finding another
one.
Lay-offs don’t necessarily
send people reaching for the beer bottle or digging into the potato-chip bag,
explain the authors. In some cases, they make people healthier by reducing the
income they would otherwise spend on alcohol and junk food or allowing more
time for physical exercise and outdoor activities.
In fact, research focusing on
the impact of layoffs and recessions on health has provided no evidence that
the health of the average American declines as a result of acquiring unhealthy,
stress-induced habits.
“While there is evidence from
animal, preclinical and clinical studies that stress leads to overeating and
excessive drinking, economic research on stress suggests substantial
heterogeneity(极大的差异性).”write the
authors. In other words, losing one's job can be more or less stressful for
different people and different bodies cope differently with stress-induced
behavior.
But Yale's William T. Gallo, Padmaja
Ayyagari, Jason M. Fletcher and Jody L. Sindelar, and Partha Deb, from the City
University of New York, found that layoffs among older workers tend to harm the
health of those with a pre-existing unhealthy fondness for food and drink.
Across all age groups,
widespread loss of employer-provided health coverage is another way in which
this recession is destroying the health of laid-off Americans, as many decide
to “go without treatment or tests,” the Journal reports.