10（）

A．passes
B．passed
C．passing
D．pass

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.

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) .

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.

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.