Drunken driving has become a national 【C1】______ . Every hour of every day about three Ame

ricans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding 【C2】______ to an incredible 250,000 over the past decade.

A drunken driver is defined as one with 0.10 blood alcohol 【C3】______ or through three beers, glasses of wine or 【C4】______ of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy dinking used to be a (an) 【C5】______ part of the American macho image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken 【C6】______ Zhas recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially involving young children, 【C7】______ public opinion is no longer tolerant.

Twenty states have raised the 【C8】______ drinking age to 21. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-to-20-year-old drivers more than 【C9】______ , so the state recently upped it back to 21.

Reformers fear 【C10】______ the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational 【C11】______ to help young people to resist 【C12】______ pressure to drink.

Tough new laws have led to incredible arrests and tests and, in many areas already, to a marked 【C13】______ in fatalities. Some are also penalizing bars for 【C14】______ customers too many drinks. A tavern in Massachusetts was 【C15】______ for serving six or more double brandies to a customer who was " 【C16】______ intoxicated" and later drove off the road, killing a nine-year-old boy.

【C17】______ the fatalities continue to occur in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years of national 【C18】______ of alcohol that began in 1919, what President Hoover called the "noble 【C19】______ ". They forget that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy 【C20】______ .

【C1】

A．epidemic

B．disease

C．infection

D．casualty