In an October 2008 report, the Center for Disease Control placed the U. S. 29th in infant mortality. tied with Slovakia and Pola

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问题     In an October 2008 report, the Center for Disease Control placed the U. S. 29th in infant mortality. tied with Slovakia and Poland, and trailing Hungary and Cuba. J That stunning outcome was quickly seized: the U. S. health-care system needs to be more like the government-run systems in those lands.
    Proponents of that view often shift into one-on-one comparisons of Canada and America. Canada, with mandatory public health insurance, experiences 5. 3 deaths per 1,000 births; the U. S. , with private insurance for most, sees 6. 9 deaths, a rate 30 percent higher. This outcome is then attributed to cross-country differences in the health-care systems. "Canadian Health Care. Even Willi Queues, Bests U.S. ," writes Pat Wechsler for Bloomberg, com, citing infant mortality as 34 percent higher in the United States.
    But infant-mortality differences can and should be explained by the American proportion of teenage mothers, which runs here at three times the Canadian rate. These pregnancies are less healthy, producing more premature, low-birth-weight babies. Within each birth-mother age category, the U. S. has generally equal or belter infant survival, as a 2007 National Bureau of Economic Research paper by economists June and David O’Neill details. The problem of infant mortality remains. It should surely be reduced in the U. S. , and serious measures should be undertaken to accomplish this. But the factors that cause it—adolescent pregnancies, drug abuse, smoking, drinking, and obesity are probably not going to be fixed by changes in health insurance, public or private.
    Focusing on the healthcare system requires nuance that, for those happily touting summary statistics, is not worth the stress. Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko revels in rankings that place Cuba ahead of America in the infant-mortality race. Indeed, in 2008 Cuba claimed an infant-mortality rate of 5. 8 deaths per 1,000 births against the U. S. rate of 6. 9. Setting aside questions as to which deaths count in the infant mortality statistic—U. S. medicine makes extraordinary attempts to save low-birth-weight babies that would otherwise be deemed miscarriages—and the far higher mortality of birthing mothers in Cuba, just one adjustment is provocative; the rate for Cubans living in the U. S. is 4. 2. Holding culture constant, the U. S. outranks Cuba.
    That may not be much of a boast, but political opportunists and newspaper headlines trumpet just the reverse story. Alas, our PowerPoint Ceneration gravitates to bullet points and two-dimensional bar charts, even as we stumble our way through this multidimensional universe. CliffsNotes science drives crises where none exist and misses those that truly loom.
The higher infant mortality in the U. S. is primarily attributed to______.

选项 A、the birth of premature babies with poor health
B、the undesirable habits teenagers easily fall into
C、the faulty design of its private insurance system
D、the higher proportion of adolescent pregnancies

答案D

解析 根据第三段前两句“But infant—mortality differences can and should be explained by theAmerican proportion of teenage mothers,….These pregnancies are less healthy,producing morepremature,low—birth—weight babies”和最后一句中的“But the factors that cause it--adolescentpregnancies,…”可知,美国婴儿死亡率高的主要原因是青少年怀孕所生婴儿体质差。所以,D应为答案。
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