Drunken driving — sometimes called American's socially accepted form. of murder — has become a national 【C1】______ Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding 【C2】______ to an incredible 250,000 over the past decade.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol 【C3】______ or roughly three beers, glasses of wine or 【C4】______ of whisky drank within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be a (n) 【C5】______ part of the American macho image and judges were, lenient in most courts, but the drunken 【C6】______ has recently caused so many tragedies, especially involving children, 【C7】______ public opinion is no longer tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the 【C8】______ drinking age to 21, rather than 18. 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, however, fear 【C10】______ the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational 【C11】______ to help young people to develop "responsible attitudes" and teach them to resist 【C12】______ pressure to drink.
Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and tests and, in some areas, 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 daily, 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 corruption and crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy 【C20】______ .
【C1】

A. epidemic
B. disease
C. infection
D. casualty