Exercise 10. Write a summary of the text (about 200 words).

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Exercise 10. Write a summary of the text (about 200 words).

Exercise 11. Read the text which examines current trends in life expectancy in the United States. Complete the sentences with the appropriate word from the box below.

Two-thirds trend causes of death average continued decline

to level off further climbed to third place on average steepest rise

life expectancy

Declining life expectancy

Not great, again

Why life expectancy is down for the second year in a row

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its annual report on mortality - which had no news to celebrate. According to the report, published on December 21st, (1) _________________ in America fell in 2016, for the second year in a row. An American baby born in 2016 can expect to live (2) _______________ 78.6 years, down from 78.9 in 2014. The last time life expectancy was lower than in the preceding year was in 1993. The last time it fell for two consecutive years was in 1962-63.

Other statistics suggest that this alarming (3) _____________ is caused by the epidemic of addiction to opioids, which is becoming deadlier. Drug overdoses claimed more than 63,000 lives in 2016. (4) _______________ of these deaths were caused by opioids, including potent synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and tramadol, which are easier to overdo by accident and are becoming more popular among illegal drug users.

According to the CDC, the leading (5) ______________ in 2016 remained heart disease and cancer. But a category called Тunintentional injuriesУ, which includes drug overdoses, (6) _________________ - from fourth place in 2015 and fifth place in 2012. Although unintentional injuries caused just 6% of deaths in 2016, they claim mostly people in the prime of their lives. A young personХs death cuts (7) ______________ life expectancy by more than the death of an older person.

The (8) ____________ in mortality was among 25- to 34-year-olds. In that age group deaths per 100,000 people from any cause increased by 11% from 2015 to 2016. Mortality from drug overdoses in the same age group shot up by 50% from 2014 to 2016.

At the same time, the decrease in mortality from heart disease and cancer - which has been a chief driver of the steady increase in life expectancy - has begun (9) ______________ . As a result, (10) ______________ increases in overdose deaths would probably push life expectancy down again. A decline for three straight years was last seen in America a century ago, when the Spanish flu pandemic ravaged the world.

This outcome seems likely. According to CDC officials, provisional data for the first half of 2017 suggest that overdose deaths continued to rise.

A (11) _____________ in life expectancy would leave America trailing even farther behind other rich countries. Lives in America are already two years shorter than the average in the OECD group of 35 rich and soon-to-be-rich countries: life expectancy is closer to Costa RicaХs and TurkeyХs than to that of Britain, France and Germany. (From The Economist, January 6th 2018, abridged)

Exercise 11. Using the information from the text answer the questions:

1. What trends in life expectancy and mortality in the United States does the text reveal?

2. What are the driving forces behind the trends?

3. Why are the trends alarming?

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