Section B
Drunken driving——sometimes called America’s socially accepted form of41_——has become a national infectious disease．Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding up to an42number of 250,000over the past decade． A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0．10 blood alcohol content or 43three beers, glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours．Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American strong man image and judges were not44in most courts, but the drunken slaughter has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially45young children, that public opinion is no longer so 46 of it． Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, altering a47in the 1960s to reduce it to 18．After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21． Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless48by educational programs to help young people to develop “responsible attitudes” about drinking and teach them to49strong pressure to drink． Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and tests and, in many areas already, to a marked decrease in fatalities（死亡事故）．Some states are also penalizing bars for serving customers too many drinks． |