Read the passage below then answer the questions that follow.

      

Read the passage below then answer the questions that follow.
Problem drinkers and alcoholics pay severe penalties for their drinking. It has been estimated that alcoholics are
likely to die ten to twelve years sooner than non-alcoholics half die before the age of fifty, which is one reason
there are so few elderly alcoholics. The mortality rate (that is, the number of persons per 100,000 who die each
year) among alcoholics is more than two and a half times higher than that of the general population.
Alcoholics often die violent circumstances; serious accidents, homicide, and suicide are not uncommon. This,
together with the physical deterioration accompanying alcoholism, helps explain the limits on life expectancy. No
one really knows how many deaths are directly attributed to drinking, and all such statistics are estimates. One
reason for our limited knowledge is that many physicians do not report alcoholism as the main cause of death out
of concern for the feelings of the family of the deceased.
Research on the physiological effects of alcoholism has increased in the last few years. Heavy drinking is known
to be associated with various types of cancer, particularly among persons who also use tobacco. Alcohol abuse
also increases the probability of hypertension, stroke and coronary heart disease. Alcoholics frequently suffer
illness and death from cirrhosis of the liver, a disease in which the liver becomes fatty, scarred, and incapable of
functioning normally. In large urban areas, cirrhosis is the fourth most common cause of death among men aged
twenty-five to forty-five.
Alcohol affects the brain, often permanently damaging the mental functioning of alcoholics. Drinking may reduce
the number of living cells in the brain. Since brain cells do not grow back, alcoholics may suffer from organic
psychosis (a mental illness traceable to brain damages), loss of memory, and poor physical and mental coordination. One out of four persons who are admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed as alcoholics and 40
percent of all admissions are alcohol related. Many of the alcoholic inmates are unlikely to recover.
The unborn children of female alcoholics are subject to harm from drinking in what is called foetal alcohol
syndrome.
Because alcohol tends to be a substitute for a balanced diet, alcoholics are often malnourished. Consequently, the
infants of alcoholic women are likely to be less healthy and less well developed than other babies. Moreover,
when a pregnant woman drinks, so, in effect, does her foetus. The new born children of alcoholic women may die
shortly after birth unless they are medically treated from the shock to their systems for suddenly being cut off
from alcohol. Furthermore, the impact of alcohol on the woman and her foetus is a major cause of birth defects
and originally based mental deficiency among the newborn. The effects of foetal alcohol syndrome on the
children of female alcoholics are usually chronic and may be permanently disabling.
Clearly, it is not too much of an exaggeration to say that alcohol kills and mains people. When abused, alcohol is
a highly dangerous drug.
Questions
(i) What are the major causes of death among alcoholics?
(ii) Which reason does the writer give as to why physicians do not report alcoholic related deaths?
(iii) One out of four persons who are admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed as alcoholics. (Rewrite using a
few………………)
(iv) Alcoholics often die under violent circumstances…. (add a question tag)
(v) What is the attitude of the writer towards people who abuse alcohol
(vi) Explain what the following sentence means. Alcohol tends to be a substrate for a balanced diet
(vii) Make notes on the effects of alcohol to expectant mothers and their children
(viii) Supply a suitable title for the passage
(ix) Explain the meanings of the following words and phrases as used in the passage
a) Attributable
b) Scarred
c) Statistics

  

Answers


Martin
(i) Major causes of death among alcoholics include violent circumstances, serious accidents, homicide and
suicide.

(ii) It would hurt the family of the deceased to learn that the death of the loved one was caused by excessive
drinking/ He is concerned about the feeling of the family of the deceased.

(iii) A few of the people admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed as alcoholics

(iv) Don’t they?

(v) Critical – He says that to advance that alcohol kills and maims people is not an exaggeration
When abused alcohol is highly dangerous drug

(vi) Alcoholics do not eat well, they would rather drink than eat

(vii) a) Their infants are likely to be less healthy and less development than other babies

b) The infants may die shortly a few birth

c) The children suffer from mental deficiency

d) The mothers are likely to be malnourished

(viii) Personal health / alcohol abuse / alcoholism / effects of alcohol

(ix) Attributed – linked / connected

Scarred – hasting adverse effect / worsening

Statistics – those thought to have died/figures/numbers

marto answered the question on May 23, 2019 at 11:31


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