单选题

Easy Death

In ancient Greek, the term euthanatos meant "easy death". Today euthanasia (安乐死) generally refers to mercy killing, the voluntary (自愿) ending of the life of someone who is terminally ill. Like abortion, euthanasia has become a legal, medical, and moral issue over which opinion is divided.
Euthanasia can be either active or passive. Active euthanasia means that a physician or other medical personnel takes an action that will result in death, such as giving an overdose of deadly medicine. Passive euthanasia means letting a patient die for lack of treatment, or stopping the treatment that has begun. Examples of passive euthanasia include taking patients off a breathing machine or removing other life-support systems. Stopping the food supply is also considered passive.
A good deal of the debate about mercy killing originates from the decision-making process. Who decides whether a patient is to die? This issue has not been solved legally in the United States. The matter is left to state law, which usually allows the physician in charge to suggest the option of death to a patient's relatives, especially if the patient is brain dead. In an attempt to make decisions about when their own lives should end, several terminally ill patients in the early 1990s used a controversial suicide device, developed by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to end their lives.
In parts of Europe, the decision-making process has become very flexible. Even in cases where the patients are not brain dead, patients have been put to death without their approval at the request of relatives or at the suggestion of physicians. Many cases of passive euthanasia involve old people or newborn infants. The principle justifying this practice is that such individuals have a "life not worthy of life".
In countries where passive euthanasia is not legal, the court systems have proved very tolerant in dealing with medical personnel who practice it. In Japan, for example, if physicians follow certain guidelines they may actively carry out mercy killings on hopelessly ill people. Courts have also been somewhat tolerant of friends or relatives who have assisted terminally ill patients to die.

单选题 A terminally ill patient is one who______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为词汇题。terminal意为“末端的，晚期的”。a terminally ill patient表示“晚期患者，绝症病人”，即选can never get well again(无法再治愈了)。也可以参考第三段的一句话：several terminally ill patients in the early 1990s used a controversial suicide device, developed by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to end their lives. 由此推断出应该是“不可能再治好的病人”才有可能采取“安乐死”。

单选题 The difference between active and passive euthanasia is whether______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题答案在文章第二段。本段介绍了安乐死的两种方式：active euthanasia和passive euthanasia。第二句“Active euthanasia means that a physician or other medical personnel takes an action that will result in death, ...”意为“主动的安乐死是指由医生采取措施结束病人生命，……”，第三句“Passive euthanasia means letting a patient die for lack of treatment, or stopping the treatment that has begun.”意为“被动的安乐死是指使病人因缺乏治疗或停止己开始的治疗而死亡”，由此可推知两种方式的区别在于是否采取某种措施来加速病人的死亡，即选项A。而B和D选项是对passive euthanasia所举的具体例子，C选项则是针对active euthanasia所举的具体例子，都过于具体，故不对。

单选题 According to the passage, who has/have the legal responsibility to decide on euthanasia?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 首先找到问题出处在第三段第二句：Who decides whether a patient is to die? 紧接着论述了这一问题在美国的情况，指出“This issue has not been solved legally in the United States. (在美国，这个问题在法律上还没解决。)”第四段介绍了欧洲的情况：In parts of Europe, the decision-making process has become very flexible. (在欧洲的部分国家，这一决定的程序则非常灵活。)第五段又介绍了在其他一些国家的情况。由此可推出对这个问题，不同的国家有不同的解决办法，故选D。

单选题 The principle justifying passive euthanasia in Europe is that terminally ill patients are______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题答案在第四段最后一句：The principle justifying this practice is that such individuals have a "life not worthy of life" . 给这些人实施安乐死的合理依据是这些人的生命已经是毫无价值的了，也就是说他们活着无论是对于他们自己还是对于他们的亲人都毫无意义，可能仅仅是维持着呼吸而已，因此几乎是不能叫做生命了，故此题答案为B。C和D选项明显不对，而A选项比较容易误选，需注意without consciousness(没有意识或知觉)，可能只是昏迷不醒，并不能说明这个生命毫无价值，因此也不能选。