考研英语学习对于大多数人来讲是一件非常头疼的事，特别是考研阅读，生词多，句式复杂，语法生涩让很多同学叫苦不停。其实考研英语中90%的文章基本来源于Times、纽约时报、科学杂志、自然杂志等时文外刊杂志。今天新航道考研小编给大家带来了历年考研英语外刊常考热点：美国文化，希望对大家有帮助哦。

　　原文标题：Don’t put work requirements on Medicaid

　　美国的平价医疗法案(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) ，又名为PPACA, ACA 或奥巴马医改 (Obamacare) 。
　　主要亮点：①观点鲜明；②结构清晰：提出一项要求“人们必须工作、提供志愿服务或学习才能参加医疗补助计划”的医保新规（第一段）--承认法规的合理之处（第二段）--指出法规的问题所在（第三至五段）--揭示医疗补助计划的实际问题，再次强调医保新规的错误，并指明正确的改革方向（第六段）。

　　Part 1原文
　　ⅠThe Trump administration made a change to America’s safety-net in January 2018. The new rule lets states experiment with forcing recipients of Medicaid to work, volunteer or study in exchange for their government-funded health insurance. So far, only one state-Arkansas-has imposed extensive work requirements on Medicaid. Fourteen other states have applied to follow its example. They should look at what has happened in Arkansas and think again.
　　Ⅱ The theory behind tying cash benefits to work requirements is sound. Asking people to do something in exchange for a payment can build political support for welfare programmes. Without the requirements, beneficiaries are easily dismissed as scroungers. Moreover, encouraging people back into work is the best anti-poverty scheme.
　　Ⅲ Even so, tying health care to work is a mistake, for two reasons. The first is practical. Safety-net programmes work best when they are simple, well-understood and governed by rules that are easy to administer. The Arkansas experiment fails this test. To be eligible for Medicaid, you must earn less than $17,000 a year and must prove that you are working, studying or taking care of young children or infirm relatives for at least 80 hours a month. Many people who earn so little have unpredictable patterns of work. One month they will put in enough hours to meet the criteria for eligibility, the next they will not.
　　Ⅳ Worse, Arkansas made it unnecessarily hard for people to register their work effort. In a state with one of the lowest rates of internet usage, Medicaid recipients had to log their working hours on a website that shut down between 9pm and 7am. As a result, 18,000 of the approximately 80,000 people who were asked to report their schedules lost their coverage.
　　Ⅴ Supposing these problems can be overcome, tying access to health care to work is still wrong, because it is based on a misconception about incentives. When the Trump administration announced the new policy, it observed that “higher earnings are positively correlated with longer lifespan.” That is true, but the White House has the causation backwards: People do not work in order to be healthy; they can work because they are healthy already.
　　Ⅵ Medicaid does have a problem with work incentives, but it is not the one the White House has identified. When Obamacare became law, the intention was that low-income Americans would either be eligible for Medicaid or for government subsidies to help them buy their own, private insurance policies. In fact 14 states decided not to implement part of the law.That left about 2 million Americans in a state of uncertainty, earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to be eligible for Obamacare subsidies. In these 14 states, people whose earnings are close to the cut-off for Medicaid eligibility can lose their health insurance if they work a few more hours. This is a huge disincentive to extra work. If states want to fix the real problem with Medicaid, that is where to look.

　　Part 2长难句语法点拨
　　The new rule lets states experiment with forcing recipients of Medicaid to work, volunteer or study in exchange for their government-funded health insurance.
　　本句主干是The new rule lets states experiment with doing sth. 。这项新法规允许各州试实施……。试实施的内容是forcing (recipients of Medicaid) to work, volunteer or study in exchange for their government-funded health insurance.

　　Part 3写作句型借鉴
　　The theory behind AA is sound.…（举例）… Even so, AA is a mistake, for two reasons.The first is practical.
　　AA背后的理论是合理的。……即便如此，AA仍是一个错误，原因有二。其一在于实践方面。
　　原文例句：第二三四五段
　　Supposing these problems can be overcome, XX is still wrong, because it is based on a misconception about YY.
　　假设这些问题能够解决，XX仍是错误的，因为它基于对YY的一种错误理解。
　　原文例句：Supposing these problems can be overcome, tying access to health care to work is still wrong, because it is based on a misconception about incentives. 假设这些问题能够解决，将医疗获取权与工作绑定仍是错误的，因为它基于对动机的一种错误理解。
　　have the causation backwards 颠倒了因果关系
　　原文例句：That is true, but the White House has the causation backwards: People do not work in order to be healthy; they can work because they are healthy already.此话不假，但白宫颠倒了因果关系：人们并非为了健康才工作；他们能够工作是因为他们本是健康的。

　　今天新航道考研小编整理的历年考研英语外刊常考热点：美国文化就到这里了，希望大家能在题目与答案中找到解题思路。