高中英语语法填空:短文题型基础练习 Test 17

A new study has found that excessive alcohol drinking costs Americans more than $220 billion a year. That amount is equal to almost $2 a drink. But study organizers believe 　61　 (big) costs come from a loss of worker productivity.

Robert Brewer works for America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 　62　 public health agency. He helped to produce a report on the study.

He says the biggest cost is lost productivity. Many people 　63　 a drinking problem have lower-paying jobs. He says they may also be less productive 　64　 they are at work.

“In addition to 　65　 , a number of people die of alcohol-attributable conditions. And many of those folks die in the prime of their life. So there's the personal tragedy there. But there's also a huge economic cost to somebody dying, for example, in an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash at age 35.”

The researchers were mainly concerned about the cost of heavy alcohol use. The study didn't look at the effect on individuals 　66　 drink a glass of beer or wine with dinner. Mr Brewer says the largest costs come from binge drinking when people drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time.

The study 　67　 (base) on the economic costs of heavy drinking in the United States, but Mr Brewer says many nations have problems with 　68　 the World Health Organization calls “harmful use of alcohol”.

“But I think that 　69　 is very reasonable to assume that harmful alcohol use is going to result in some of the same consequences in other countries, 　70　 the costs associated with those consequences are different.”