These are tough times for Wal-Mart, America’s biggest retailer. Long accused of (1) small-town America mad condemned for the selfishness of its pay, the company has lately come under (2) for its meanness over employees’ health-care benefits. The charge is arguably (3) : the firm’s health coverage, while (4) less extensive than the average for big companies, is on equal terms (5) other retailers’. But bad publicity, coupled with rising costs, has (6) the Bentonville giant to action. WalMart is changes that should shift the ground in America’s healthcare debate.
B.
One (7) is to reduce the prices of many generic, or out-of-patent, prescription drugs. Wal-Mart’s critics dismiss the move as a publicity (8) . The list of drugs includes only 143 different medicines and excludes many popular group. True, but short-sighted. Wal-Mart has (9) retailing by using its size to squeeze suppliers and (10) the gains on to consumers. It could (11) the same with drugs. A "Wal-Mart effect" in drugs will not solve America’s health-costs problem: group account for only a small share of drug costs, which in turn make (12) only 10% of overall health spending. But it would (13) .
C.
The firm’s other initiative is more (14) . Wal-Mart is joining the small but fast-growing group of employers (15) are controlling costs by shifting to health insurance with high deductibles.
D.
Early evidence (16) these plans do help firms control the cost of health insurance. But critics say that the savings are (17) . They argue that the plans shift costs to sicker workers, discourage prative care and will anyway do little to (18) overall health spending, (19) most of the $2 trillion that America (20) health care each year goes to people with multiple chronic diseases.
W: In the paper, it says there’s a man going round pretending he’s from the electricity board. He’s been calling at people’s home, saying he’s come to cheek that all their appliances are safe. Then he gets around them to make him a cup of tea and while they are out of the room, he steals their money, handbag, whatever and makes off with it.
D.
M: But you know Jane, it’s partly their own fault. You should never let anyone like that in unless you are expecting them.
E.
W: It’s all very well to say that, but someone comes to the door and says electricity or gas, and you automatically think they are OK, especially if they flash a card to you.
F.
M: Does this man have an ID then
G.
W: Yes, that’s just it! It seems he used to work tot the electricity board at one time. According to the paper, the police are warning people, especially pensioners not to admit anyone unless they have an appointment. It’s a bit sad. One old lady told them she’d just been to the post office to draw her pension when he called. She said he must have followed her home. He stole the whole lot.
H.
M: But what does he look like Surely they must have a description.
I.
W: Oh, yes, they have. Let’s see. In his thirties, tall, bushy dark hair, slight northern accent, sounds a bit like you actually.
As regards social conventions, we must say a word about the well known English class system. This is an embarrassing subject for English people, and one they tend to be ashamed of, though during the present century class-consciousness has grown less and less, and the class system less rigid. But it still exists below the surface. Broadly speaking, it means there are two classes, the "middle class" and the "working class". (We shall ignore for a moment the old "upper class", including the hereditary aristocracy, since it is extremely small in numbers; but some of its members have the right to sit in the House of Lords, and some newspapers take a surprising interest in their private life.) The middle class consists chiefly of well to do businessmen and professional people of all kinds. The working class consists chiefly of manual and unskilled workers.
B.
The most obvious difference between them is in their accent. Middle class people use slightly varying kinds of "received pronunciation" which is the kind of English spoken by BBC announcers and taught to overseas pupils. Typical working class people speak in many different local accents which are generally felt to be rather ugly and uneducated. One of the biggest barriers of social equality in England is the two class education system. To have been to a so called "public school" immediately marks you out as one of the middle class. The middle classes tend to live a more formal life than working class people, and are usually more cultured. Their midday meal is "lunch" and they have a rather formal evening meal called "dinner", whereas the working man’s dinner, if his working hours permit, is at mid-day, and his smaller, late evening meal is called supper.
C.
As we have said, however, the class system is much less rigid than it was, and for a long time it has been government policy to reduce class distinctions. Working class students very commonly receive a university education and enter the professions, and working class incomes have grown so much recently that the distinctions between the two classes are becoming less and less clear. However, regardless of one’s social status, certain standards of politeness are expected of everybody, and a well bred person is polite to everyone he meets, and treats a laborer with the same respect he gives an important businessman. Servility inspires both embarrassment and dislike. Even the word "sir", except in school and in certain occupations (e.g. commerce, the army, etc.) sounds too servile to be commonly used.