单选题
The classic difficulty felt with democracy arises
from the fact that democracy can never express the will of the whole people
because there never exists any such unchanging will (at least in any society
that call itself democratic). The concept of government of the whole people by
the whole people must be looked on as being in the poetry rather than in the
prose of democracy; the fact of prose is that real democracy means government by
some kind of dominant majority. And the ever-present danger,
repeatedly realized in fact, is that this dominant majority may behave toward
those who are not of the majority in such a manner as to undermine the moral
basis of the right of people, because they are people, to have some important
say in the setting of their own course and in the use of their own faculties.
Other forms of government may similarly fail to respect human independence. But
there is at least no contradiction in that; the underlying assumption of every
kind of government by wisers and betters is that people on the whole are not fit
to manage their own affairs, but must have someone else do it for them, and
there is no paradox when such a government treats its subjects without respect,
or deals With them on the basis of their having no rights that the government
must take into account. But democracy affirms that people are
fit to control themselves, and it cannot live in the same air with the theory
that there is no limit to the extent to which public power--even the power of a
majority--can interfere with the lives of people. Rational
limitation on power is therefore not a contradiction to democracy, but is of the
very essence of democracy as such. Other sorts of government may impose such
limitations on themselves as an act of grace. Democracy is under the moral duty
of limiting itself because such limitation is essential to the survival of that
respect for humankind which is in the foundations of democracy. Respect for the
freedom of all people cannot, of course, be the only guide, for there would then
be no government. Delicate ongoing compromise is what must be looked for. But
democracy, unless it is to deny its own moral basis, must accept the necessity
for making this compromise and for giving real weight to the claims of those
without the presently effective political power to make their claims prevail in
elections.
单选题
By "the prose of democracy" (Paragraph 1) the author most probably
means its ______.
A. popular interpretation
B. actual operation
C. ongoing compromise
D. rational limitation
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】这是一道词义题。题干中的信号词出自于文章第一段第二句话中。文章第一段指出：“全民的政府应该为全民”的观念应该被看成是只存在于民主的诗歌中，而不是存在于民主的散文中；散文描述的事实是，真正的民主意味着政府被控制在某些占主导地位的多数人手中。根据government by some kind of dominant majority可知，作者可能指的是政府的运作。B“实际运作”，与作者的意思符合。A与文章的意思相反；与C和 D有关的信息都在第四段，与该短语的意思无关，所以不对。
单选题
The failure of nondemocratic governments to respect human independence
______.
A. is in conformity with their basic assumptions
B. interferes with the rights of the minority
C. hinders the achievement of their objectives
D. leads to consequences beyond their anticipation
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为respect human independence，出自第二段第二句话中。文章第二段指出：其他形式的政府形式可能不尊重人们的独立性；由更睿智、更优秀的人组成的任何政府都可能认为，总体而言，人们不适合管理他们自己的事务，应该让其他人来为他们管理这些事务，因此，在这样的政府，不尊重其国民，或者基于这些人没有政府本应该重视的人权的立场对待他们时，就没有什么不合情理了。这说明，不尊重人的独立性符合这些政府的设想。A说“与其基本设想一致”，这与文章的意思符合。B是其设想造成的结果，与题目的要求不符； C与文章的意思相反；文中没有提到D。
单选题
Which of the following is essential for the preservation of the moral
basis of democracy?
A. Actual development of self-governments of the minority.
B. Real expression of the whole people's will.
C. Necessary limitation on the power of the government.
D. Full respect for the freedom of all individuals.
单选题
According to the passage, all types of governments believe that the
______.
A. minority must well cooperate with the majority
B. course of citizens' lives is to be regulated officially
C. individual is entitled to directing his or her own affairs
D. government can hardly express the will of every citizen
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为all types of governments，出自于文章第一段第二句话中，只是文中用的是government of the whole。文章第一段指出：民主面对的一个典型难题源于这样的事实，它永远无法代表全体人民的意愿，因为永远不会有这种，不变的意愿(至少在所有自称是民主的社会是这样)。这说明，D“政府几乎代表不了每个公民的意愿”与文章的意思符合。文中没有提到A：与B有关的信息是第三、四段，文中是说“民主强调，人们适合管理自己的事务，在这一点上，它与这样的理论相抵触；公共权力可以不受任何限制地干预人民的生活；对权力进行合理的限制与民主并不矛盾，这正是民主的精髓；某些政府把对自己采取一些这样的限制当作一种姿态高的表现”，这说明B不对；C是民主的概念，不是政府的看法，所以不对。
单选题
We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. democracy in its true sense can scarcely be regarded as realistic
B. democracy has to give up its moral basis for proper compromise
C. democratic governments should respect the rights of the minority
D. democratic governments must weigh the claims of political
inferiors