[单项选择]The heart bypass (心脏搭桥术)has become part of our cultural life. It has come to seem like a ceremony of passage for the successful male, a red symbol of courage in midlife. Six hundred thousand bypass operations are performed a year in the United States. After a bypass, most heart patients experience significant relief from the peculiar discomfort in the chest caused by insufficient blood to the heart muscle. In some cases the surgery can dramatically extend life. American heart patients, who now number about 12 million, are enthusiastic about the surgery. Bypass is one of the most common major operations in America.
In private, however, many of my fellow workers in medicine suspect that bypass has become too popular. A recent Harvard study showed that as many as two-thirds of patients referred for bypass don’t need it or could have it postponed. In Canada and Britain, where physicians perform bypass surgery much less frequently than they do in America,heart patients fare just as wel
A. a dangerous operation
B. a painful experience
C. a symbol of one’s success and courage
D. nothing serious