Thomas Jefferson was unequivocal：“Without health，there is no happiness．An attention to health， then，should take the place of every other object．”During the past two decades，the association of health and quality of life has been underscored by developments that not only have meant better health for individuals but also have positioned the United States on the doorstep of transformational change in notions of good health and how it is determined．①It has become clear that health is not just a matter of biology and medical care，but of behavior，of environment，and of social conditions．Along with these insights have come important new opportunities and priorities．
     The most basic measure of progress--vital statistics records of death rates for the nation’s prominent health threats--provides a first-order indication of the trends．Between l980 and 2000，age- adjusted death rates for heart disease declined by 37 percent，cancer by 4 percent，stroke by 40 percent， and inj uries by 26 percent．This is good news，and it is substantially attributable to progress in prevention．
     Overall，life expectancy increased by 4 years for men and 2．5 years for women，reachin9 74．1 years for men and 79．5 years for women in 2000．
     As lire expectancy increases and population ages，issues of quality of life have become ever more compellin9．There is good news on this front as well．In 2000，the proportion of people over age 6 5 9rew t0 12．6 percent，up from ll．3 percent in l980，and is expected to reach 20 percent by 2030．Yet，as the population ages，disability among older people is declinin9．Mortality dropped by about l percent per year among older people during the past two decades，and disability rates declined even more，by about 2 percent per year．The proportion of older people living in institutions declined t0 4．2 percent in l 999 from 6．8 percent in l982．
     In part，these improvements have come about because of greater appreciation of controllable risks and more efforts to reduce those risks．o Research，some of which began a half century a90，has gradually deepened our understanding of the etiologic factors underlying the most common sources of disease and disability．④Studies of the relative contributions of various factors to the leading health threats suggest that actualleading causes of death in l 990 were not heart disease and cancer。but tobacco and the combination of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets．More recent assessments indicate that tobacco has now been overtaken by diet and inactivity as the leading threat to health．[419 words]
     1．The quotation from Thomas Jefferson is used to prove that______．
     A．health is of utmost importance to the quality of life
     B．nobody neglects the issue of health
     C．Thomas Jefferson had marvelous insight
     D．American people have realized the importance of health since long ago
     2．It is a good news that age-adjusted death rates______between l980 and 2000．
     A．for heart disease declined the most
     B．for cancer declined the least
     C．from some diseases were on the rise
     D．for leading health threats dropped
     3．Which of the following doesn’t support the opinion that the quality of life for older people has been improved?
     A．Disability among older people is declinin9．
     B．Mortality among older people has obviously decreased．
     C．Older people are more reluctant to live in institutions than ever before．
     D．Older people can expect to live much longer than ever before．
     4．We pay much attention to the issues of quality of life because of all of the following EXCEPT ______
     A．both men and women are expected to live longer than before
     B．women are expected to live longer than men
     C．population ages
     D．1ife expectancy increases
     5．It has been realized that the leading threat to death is______．
     A．uncontronable risks to health
     B．various etiologic factors
     C．sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets
     D．tobacco and the combination of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets