Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes into touch with them.Their values---this can not be repeated too often--aren’t necessarily our values.Physical comfort,cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things.The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a room with rotten food covered by small worms,and an old person lying alone on bed,taking no notice of the worms.But is it interrupting personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers,the ones who clear up the worms,think we’re in danger of carrying this idea of personal freedom to the point where serious risks(冒险)are being taken with the health and safety of the old.
Indeed,the old can be easily hurt or harmed.The old is like a car: it needs more mechanical repair as it gets older.You can carry this comparison right through to provision of spare parts.But never forget that such operations are painful experiences,however good the results are.And at what point should you stop to treat the old body?Is it morally right to try to push off death by continuing the development of medicine to excite the forgetful old mind and to make the old body active,knowing that it is designed to die?You cannot ask doctors or scientists to decide,because so long as they can see the technical chances,they will feel it necessary to give them a try,by the rule that while there’s life,there’s hope.
Talking to the old,however,you’re forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or health than it does on your ability to have fun.
小题1:After reading Paragraph 1，we learn that____.
A．very old people are able to keep their living places very clean
B．old people enjoy living alone so as to have more personal freedom
C．every old people enjoy living with their relatives
D．social services have nothing to do with very old people小题2:Some social workers think that_____．
A．old people should keep their living places clean
B．one should not take risk dealing with old people
C．health and safety are more important than personal freedom
D．personal freedom is more important than health and safety小题3:In Paragraph 3，the underlined word“it”refers to____．
A．one’s memory or health
B．the conclusion you have come to
C．whether age is happy or unpleasant
D．your talk to the old people小题4:The writer of this passage thinks that_______．
A．it is always morally right to treat old people and push off death
B．the opinion that we should try every means possible to save old people is uncertain
C．old people can enjoy a happy life only if they are very rich
D．medical decisions for old people should be left to the doctors
