Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
Caught in a squeeze between the health needs of aging populations on one hand and the financial crisis on the other, governments everywhere are looking for ways to slow the growth in health-care spending. Increasingly, they are looking to the generic-drugs (普通药物) industry as a savior. In November Japan's finance ministry issued a report complaining that the country's use of generics was less than a third of that in America or Britain. In the same month Canada's competition watchdog criticized the country's pharmacies for failing to pass on the savings made possible by the use of generic drugs. That greed, it reckoned, costs taxpayers nearly C$1 billion a year.
Then on November 28th the European Commission issued the preliminary results of its year-long probe into drug giants in the European Union. The report reached a damning~, though provisional, conclusion: the drugs firms use a variety of unfair strategies to protect their expensive drugs by delaying the entry of cheaper generic opponents. Though this initial report does not carry the force of law (a final report is due early next year), it has caused much controversy. Neelie Kroes, the EU's competition commissioner, says she is ready to take legal action if the evidence allows.
One strategy the investigators criticize is the use of the "patent duster( 专利群)". A firm keen to defend its drug due to go off-patent may file dozens or hundreds of new patents, often of dubious merit, to confuse and terrify potential copycats and maintain its monopoly. An unnamed drugs firm once took out 1,300 patents across the EU on a single drug. The report also suggests that out-of-court settlements between makers of patented drags and generics firms may be a strategy used by the former to delay market entry by the latter.
According to EU officials, such misdeeds -have delayed the arrival of generic competition and the accompanying savings. On average, rite report estimates, generics arrived seven months after a patented drug lost its protection, though where the drug was a big seller the lag was four months. The report says taxpayers paid about q 3 billion more than they would have-had the generics gone on sale immediately.
But hang on a minute, Though many of the charges of bad behavior leveled at the patented-drugs industry by EU investigators may well be true, the report seems to let the generics industry off the hook(钩子) too lightly. After all, if the drugs giants stand accused, in effect, of bribing opponents to delay the launch of cheap generics, shouldn't the companies that accepted those "bribes" also share the blame?
56. Why are governments around the world seeking ways to reduce their health-care spending?
A) They consider the generic-drugs industry as a savior.
B) They are under the double pressure of aging group and financial crisis.
C) Health-care spending has accounted too large proportion.
D) Health-care spending has cost taxpayers too much income.
57. What can we learn from the report issued by the European Commission?
A) Drug firm will use just ways to protect their drags.
B) Cheaper generic drugs are easy to enter market,
C) The report has come to an ultimate conclusion.
D) The final report may lead to commissioner's legal action.
58. The investigators seriously condemned the drug firms for__________.
A) they do not let their opponents to resort to the comet
B) they use clusters of patents to protect their products
C) they bribe the cheaper generic opponents
D) trey do not pass on the savings made by use of generic drugs
59. On average, the genetics will be delayed to enter the market by __________.
A) seven months
B) three months
C) four months
D) eleven months
60. Which of the following accords with the author's view?
A) Charges on patented-drug industry are anything but true.
B) Generics industry is a sheer victim in the competition.
C) Only drug giants are to blame.
D) Exclusion of generics industry from taking responsibility is questionable.
