Just a few years ago, a graduate from Brown University medical school had just a slight understanding about how to care for the elderly. Now, Brown and other U. S. medical schools are plugging geriatric (老年醫(yī)學(xué)的) courses into their curricula.

　　The U. S. Census Bureau projects the number of elderly Americans will nearly double to 71 million by 2030. The first members of the Baby Boomer generation, so named for the explosion in births in the years after World War Two, turn 65 in three years. In addition, people are living longer than ever.

　　“ The first ripples of the silver tsunami are lapping at the shores of our country, but there is not a coordinated or strategic response taking place in America,” said Richard Besdine, who is director of the geriatrics division at Brown University medical school in Providence.

　　Geriatrics has never been a field of choice for young doctors. Elderly care doctors are paid less than most other physicians and surgeons and the aged can be hard to treat. They have complicated medical histories and their ailments, even such routine illnesses as pneumonia (肺炎) ,can be more difficult to diagnose because they may be masked by other conditions. Also, drugs can affect them differently than middle-aged adults. “ It’s a hard job ;it’s not paid very well; it’s complicated; and there’s very little status within the hierarchy of medical specialties to being a geriatric physician,” said Gavin Hougham, senior program officer and manager of medicine programs at the John A. Hartford Foundation.

　　Out of 800,000 doctors in the United States, roughly 7,000 are geriatricians, Hougham said. The country needs another 13,000 to adequately care for today’s older population, according to the American Geriatrics Society. The shortfall could reach 36,000 by 2030.To help counter that, private groups are bankrolling medical schools’ emphasis on aging. The Hartford Foundation has given more than $40 million t0 27 schools to train faculty in elderly care, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has given more than $100 million to 30schools to include more geriatrics content.

　　“If they don’t learn it, they still have to deal with it,” Hougham said. “It’s not that not learning geriatrics will cause these older people to go away. They’re coming whether we’re ready or not. “

　　1.What does Richard Besdine mean in paragraph 3?

　　A. The large amount of the elderly has created a big problem in America.

　　B. The number of the elderly has been growing beyond the capacity of America.

　　C. America is not ready to cope with the growing number of the elderly.

　　D. America is not the ideal place for the elderly to spend the rest of their lives.

　　2. The main point of paragraph 4 is _____

　　A. why geriatric physicians are paid less than other physicians

　　B. why doctors show little interest in being geriatric physicians

　　C. what are the major problems with the elderly care industry

　　D. what can be done to ensure the healthy development of elderly care

　　3. It can be learned from the passage that in the U. S. , .

　　A. there is a shortage of geriatric physicians

　　B. more training is needed for geriatric physicians

　　C. demand for geriatric physicians varies across states

　　D. care for the elderly will depend more on geriatric physicians

　　4. The fact that private groups have provided money to medical schools _____.

　　A. highlights the inadequacy of government support

　　B. emphasizes the importance of more professional training

　　C. demonstrates the increasing impact of private money

　　D. indicates the growing awareness of the related problem

　　5. According to Hougham, the challenge posed by the elderly is ______.

　　A. temporary

　　B. universal

　　C. unavoidable

　　D. controllable