Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
When it comes to health, the poor are doubly cursed. Not only are they more prone to deadly infectious diseases than the rich, but they have far less access to the means of improvement. Twenty years ago, Paul Farmer, an American doctor and anthropologist(人類學(xué)者), set out to do something about this. Amid the political turmoil(混亂)and poverty of rural Haiti, he created a communitybased healthcare system called Zanmi Lasante, or Partners in Health. It not only delivers appropriate, affordable medical treatment to thousands of poor people, but goes beyond the clinic to address the social causes making them sick and keeping them from getting better.
As Dr. Farmer argues, improving the health of the poor is not just a medical challenge, but a question of human rights. Tackling the inequality, racism, sexism and other forms of “structural violence” which oppress the poor is as critical as extending the drugs. Or as his Haiti patients put it, medicine without food is like washing one’s hands and drying them in the dirt.
Unfortunately, Dr. Farmer’s powerful message is often weakened by his book’s academic tone. It does, however, scream out in passages describing the human face of “structural violence”. It is these personal stories that make Dr. Farmer’s anger at such “stupid deaths” so compelling.
The good doctor’s motives and methods are better described in Mountains Beyond Mountains. This biography by Tracy Kidder traces Dr. Farmer from his unconventional upbringing and unusual education, shuttling (來回穿梭于) between the shacks of central Haiti and the halls of Harvard Medical School, to his later work around the world. Though well written, Mr. Kidder’s book also makes for uncomfortable reading. The author is clearly close to his subject, having traveled with Dr. Farmer from the green poverty of Haiti to the tubercular whiteness of Russia. Too close, perhaps. The biographer seems to be seeking his subject’s approval, rather than the other way round. Mr. Kidder writes, rather disturbingly, about his fear of disappointing Dr. Farmer, his own pain at wounding him with a critical remark and his relief at the doctor’s forgiveness.
When Mr. Kidder’s health falls, this dependence becomes all the more intense. But rather than compromise the book’s equity(公正), this intimacy serves to highlight Dr. Farmer’s admirable, yet ultimately irritating, character. As Mr. Kidder observes, “Farmer wasn’t put on earth to make anyone feel comfortable, except those lucky enough to be his patients or those unlucky enough to need him.”
57. What makes the “Partners in Health” system unique compared with traditional hospitals?
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
When it comes to health, the poor are doubly cursed. Not only are they more prone to deadly infectious diseases than the rich, but they have far less access to the means of improvement. Twenty years ago, Paul Farmer, an American doctor and anthropologist(人類學(xué)者), set out to do something about this. Amid the political turmoil(混亂)and poverty of rural Haiti, he created a communitybased healthcare system called Zanmi Lasante, or Partners in Health. It not only delivers appropriate, affordable medical treatment to thousands of poor people, but goes beyond the clinic to address the social causes making them sick and keeping them from getting better.
As Dr. Farmer argues, improving the health of the poor is not just a medical challenge, but a question of human rights. Tackling the inequality, racism, sexism and other forms of “structural violence” which oppress the poor is as critical as extending the drugs. Or as his Haiti patients put it, medicine without food is like washing one’s hands and drying them in the dirt.
Unfortunately, Dr. Farmer’s powerful message is often weakened by his book’s academic tone. It does, however, scream out in passages describing the human face of “structural violence”. It is these personal stories that make Dr. Farmer’s anger at such “stupid deaths” so compelling.
The good doctor’s motives and methods are better described in Mountains Beyond Mountains. This biography by Tracy Kidder traces Dr. Farmer from his unconventional upbringing and unusual education, shuttling (來回穿梭于) between the shacks of central Haiti and the halls of Harvard Medical School, to his later work around the world. Though well written, Mr. Kidder’s book also makes for uncomfortable reading. The author is clearly close to his subject, having traveled with Dr. Farmer from the green poverty of Haiti to the tubercular whiteness of Russia. Too close, perhaps. The biographer seems to be seeking his subject’s approval, rather than the other way round. Mr. Kidder writes, rather disturbingly, about his fear of disappointing Dr. Farmer, his own pain at wounding him with a critical remark and his relief at the doctor’s forgiveness.
When Mr. Kidder’s health falls, this dependence becomes all the more intense. But rather than compromise the book’s equity(公正), this intimacy serves to highlight Dr. Farmer’s admirable, yet ultimately irritating, character. As Mr. Kidder observes, “Farmer wasn’t put on earth to make anyone feel comfortable, except those lucky enough to be his patients or those unlucky enough to need him.”
57. What makes the “Partners in Health” system unique compared with traditional hospitals?