单选题 .    A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer I have some urgent things to say to good people.
    Days after days my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.
    Accountability isn't hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.
    Of the many values that hold civilization together—honesty, kindness, and so on—accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law—and, ultimately, no society.
    My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on people's behavior are far less effective than internal restraint such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.
    Fortunately, there are still communities—small towns, usually—schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: "In this family certain things are not tolerated—they simply are not done!" Yet more and more, especially in our large cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has gone. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants including your life if you enrage him.
    The main cause for this break-down is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now in a shocking reversal, it is the criminal who is considered victimize: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didn't teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn't provide a stable home.
    I don't believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything.
    We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.1.  What the wise man said suggests that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】 推理题。智者说,邪恶要想取得胜利,唯一必要的因素就是好人什么都不要做;也就是说,好人不作为的话,邪恶就会横行。综观全文,作者论述的也是这一观点。因此选择B项。
   以为哲人曾经说过,邪恶要想取得胜利,唯一必要的因素就是好人什么都不做。因此,作为一名警官,我有些重要的事情要告诉好人们。
   日复一日,我和我的下属们都努力阻止着如潮水般的犯罪。我们引以为豪的美国式生活方式中有地方出了严重的问题。问题出在价值观领域。我们价值观中一个很重要的成分正在消失,我想我知道这是什么:那就是责任心。
   责任心不难定义。它意味着每个人都要对他或她的行为本身负责任且对他们的行为结果负责任。
   在组成文明的众多价值观之中——诚实、友善等等——责任心可能是最重要的了。没有责任心,就没有尊重,没有信任,没有法律——最终,也就没有社会了。
   作为一名警官,我的工作职责就是让那些拒绝或者从未学着拥有责任心的人们产生责任心。但是正像每个警察都知道的那样,对人们的行为进行外部控制和诸如罪恶感、羞愧和尴尬等人们内心的自制力相比,效果要差得多。
   幸运的是,我们还有很多社区——通常是小城镇——在那儿学校仍保留严明的纪律,高举标准规范的父母们声称:“在这个家里,有些事是不容许做的——就是不能做!”然而,这种内在约束力越来越散漫,尤其是在我们的大城市和市郊。典型的抢劫者已经不存在了。他把你的财产当作他自己的财产;而如果你激怒了他,他还会拿走他想拿走的一切,包括你的生命。
   这种堕落的主要原因在于人们态度上的根本转变。30年前,如果有人犯罪,整个社会被认为是受害者。而现在情况发生了巨变,罪犯本身会被认为受到了不应有的责怪:由于他贫困的生长环境,由于学校没有教会他阅读,由于教会未能给予他道义上的指引,由于他的父母没有给他一个稳定的家庭。
   我不这么认为。许多处在同样不利条件下的人们并没有参与刑事犯罪活动。如果我们对罪犯完全地,甚至部分地免除责任,我们的社会将变成一个有着无止境的借口的社会,没有人呢会对任何事负起责任。
   在美国,我们急切需要跟多的怀着这样一种信念的人:谁犯了罪,谁就应该自己负责任。