Referring to the elderly as summarized in the passage, we can assume that they are ______.

According to the text, some health care experts believed that ______.

A．the new law had a 10-year budget of about $400 billion but little was expected for the prescription-drug coverage

B．the new law will have to wait another 10 years and cost about $400 billion before it is able to take effect

C．the framework of the new legislation would be fit for a project that was to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years

D．the projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework was planned to be the budget for the current Iraq war

Paragraph 3 reflects basically the views and comments of ______.

A．Congressional Democrats

B．many other Liberals in the Congress

C．Sen. Edward Kennedy

D．the author of the passage

Democratic Congressmen suggested that the government should ______.

A．be enthusiastic in providing a drug benefit to the people

B．Oppose the new legislation with thundering protests

C．give more money, so to speak, to medicine makers and retailers

D．provide financial assistance to people wanting to buy life insurance

t one term that does not refer to the same thing as the other terms within the group?

A．the new law, the bill, the drug bill, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation

B．prescription-drug coverage, the new law, the drug bill, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation

C．the drug bill, the bill, Medicare with prescription-drag coverage added, the prescription drug legislation, the legislation

D．the new law, the bill, the drug bill, Medicare with additions including prescription-drug coverage, the prescription-drug legislation

ess of the USA decided to ______.

A．add prescription-drugs to the Medicare program

B．allow the Medicare program to provide refunding subsidies to selected medicines to be purchased by Medicare members

C．increase payment to Medicare for refunding Americans buying prescription medicines

D．provide insurance to prescription drags purchased by Medicare participants

Based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare is ______.

A．the capital city of the United States of America

B．a textbook on American politics

C．what the author is going to write

D．a statement that the American government cannot fool its people

Also found in Paragraph 1, what does "this case study" probably refer to?

A．A case study the writer is to talk about.

B．Part of a textbook on politics.

C．What the author is going to write.

D．Washington's inability to fool anyone.

han most politicians believe. This case study highlighting Washington's inability to fool anyone is based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare about their new prescription-drug benefit.

Last fall, when Congress added prescription-drug coverage to Medicare, the new law was hailed as a political masterpiece. Congressional Democrats, who overwhelmingly opposed the bill, thundered that they, too, were eager to provide a drug benefit under Medicare, but they championed alternative legislation that offered a larger drug subsidy and smaller incentives to health insurers to participate. Liberals such as Sen. Edward Kennedy were confident that the drug bill, with plenty of holes in its benefit formulas, would inevitably be expanded around the time it took effect.

Not many in Congress seemed troubled that the federal budget was deep in deficit, the nation was saddled with future expenditures for the Iraq war and virtually no health care expert believed that the legislation would fit into its projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework. The new law was a cynical bargain that had more to do with the 2004 election than a rational approach to the prescription-drug needs of the nation's elderly.

The prescription-drag legislation seems a compromise between competing ideologies inserted into a fixed congressional budget. Put another way, it was sausage-stuffing in the guise of lawmaking. And, what no one anticipated was the reaction of the elderly, a group that votes in disproportionate numbers.

The passage you are reading is the beginning part of a report in the original. Then, what is "This", the first word, most probably referring to?

A．An offered illustration.

B．Part of a textbook on politics.

C．What the author is going to write.

D．The principle that voters are shrewder than' most politicians believe.

Which of the following titles is most appropriate for this passage?

A．The Greedy Wholesalers

B．The Wholesalers in the Public Eye

C．A Retail Market with Wholesalers

D．Can We Do without the Wholesaler?

The author quite possibly believes that the function of the wholesaler is ______.

A．good but too costly

B．necessary but harmful

C．removable but necessary

D．acceptable but unnecessary