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. Day after day
my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone
terribly wrong with our once-prod 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 restraints such as guilt, shame and
embarrassment. Fortunately there are still communities—smaller
towns, usually—where 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
larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical
robber has done. He considers your property his property; he takes what he
wants, including your life if you enrage him. The main cause of
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's the criminal who is considered victimized: 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.
单选题
What the wise man said suggests that______.
A. it's unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil
B. it's certain that evil will prevail if good men do nothing about it
C. it's only natural for virtue to defeat evil
D. it's desirable for good men to keep away from evil
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本文第一段第一句“A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”即一位智者说过邪恶取胜的必要条件是好人无所作为。这句话的含义与选项B相符。
单选题
According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime,______.
A. society is to be held responsible
B. modern civilization is responsible for it
C. the criminal himself should bear the blame
D. the standards of living should be improved
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 作者在倒数第二段指出，罪犯应为其行为负责。故选C。
单选题
Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have______.