英语学习点: Fines Vocabulary and Conditionals 有关罚款的词汇和条件句
The proposal aims to encourage people to be healthy.
If a new idea in America becomes a law, people who suffer from obesity could suffer financially too.
The US state of Arizona wants to charge overweight citizens $50 (325 Yuan) annually if they fail to follow their doctors' advice. People with children or who are overweight because they suffer from a medical condition would be exempt.
If the idea is approved by Congress, smokers and diabetics who fail to stick to a healthy lifestyle will also have to pay.
Medicaid, the organisation which provides healthcare to the poor in the USA, costs the government $339bn (2.2 trillion Yuan) a year. Monica Coury, assistant director at Arizona's Medicaid programme, said that this proposal would ask people to give something back.
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She said that Arizona would take a carrot and stick approach to the problem. As well as penalising people who go against their doctor's wishes, incentives would be offered for following advice, possibly a keep-fit video.
Arizona's senator Kyrsten Sinema has not backed the plans, saying that there isn't a system to decide whether someone is or isn't following medical advice. Other critics claim that people don't need the government to look after them; if they want to be fat and smoke, the 'nanny state' shouldn't try to stop them. Wes Benedict of the Libertarian Party said:
"If you want to save the state money... cut Medicaid across the board, but don't single out overweight people and smokers."
Quiz 小测验
- If the proposal gets approved, will all obese people have to pay the fine?
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No, some people will be exempt, so they won't have to pay.
- Who receives money from Medicaid?
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Poor people.
- Is this statement true, false or not given? Medicaid costs a lot, so the proposal is likely to be approved.
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Not given. There is no indication in the text of whether the proposal is likely to be approved.
- Is this statement true, false or not given? The proposed scheme is a mixture of rewards and punishments.
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True. This is the meaning of the phrase 'carrot and stick'.
- Look at the article. Can you find a noun which means 'a reason for doing something'?
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Incentive.
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- obesity 肥胖、肥胖症
- to charge someone向某人收费
- exempt被豁免的
- to stick to something坚持、遵守做某事
- proposal提议
- to give something back偿还某物
- a carrot and stick approach“胡萝卜加大棒”政策（奖赏与惩罚的政策）
- to penalise someone对某人予以惩罚
- incentive奖励
- the 'nanny state'“保姆国家”
- across the board全盘地、所有人员都包括在内地
- to single out挑选、单独选出
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