单选题Passage Four To claim
supernatural powers and then be caught in dirty acts—sexually abusing children
or, even worse, protecting the abusers—is not only a moral problem. It is a near
fatal professional error. I wonder if the hierarchy knows how gravely the Roman
Catholic Church, especially the American church, has been wounded. There's huge
internal bleeding, a hemorrhage of credibility —yet, in the face of all that, a
changing official attitude mixing pain and evasion. At least priest Jimmy
Swaggart had the good grace to cry on television and beat his breast and
otherwise oblige the audience with the acting of regret. Last week the Pilot,
the newspaper of the archdiocese of Boston, did ask several questions that it
admitted are "out there in the minds of Catholics"—an interesting phrase, by the
way, that suggests some of the problems: A hierarchy that sees "the Catholic
mind" as something "out there" and the defended priests as being "in here."
Among the questions: 1) Should being alone continue to be "a normative condition
for the diocesan priests"? 2) If being alone were of their own choice, would
there be fewer errors of this nature in the priests? My answers would be: 1) No.
2) Yes. There's no cure-all, as the Pilot said. Catholics have
to think though strong arguments for and against being alone—and for and against
the appointment of women as priests. But the current failure will be compounded
if the debate becomes a merely technical discussion of difficulties and ignores
the overall danger to the church. A Catholic Church that is losing so much
ground around the world and has such difficulty in employing new priests cannot
afford the critical, firm pride of centuries past. Allowing priests to marry,
and appointing women, would do an important thing: begin to change the culture
of the priests—a culture that needs very considerable changing. It would help
clean the sometimes dirty atmosphere of the religion. Sexual
crimes against the most innocent lambs in the flock are a tragedy for the
authority and moral structure of the church. Faith climbs on a vertical axis to
God. The vertical is supported by a horizontal axis—trust, which is the
everyday, stabilizing living church. If trust dissolves into doubt and dislike,
if God's representatives on earth turn out to be, many of them, child abusers
and protectors of child abusers, then who will ever see such men at their
priestly work without suspicion and hating?
单选题
What is the passage mainly about?
A. The change of the culture of priests in the Catholic Church.
B. The moral problem of the priests.
C. The being alone in priests.
D. The problem facing the Catholic Church and the possible
solutions
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】主旨题。第一段讲There's huge internal bleeding，a hemorrhage(出血)of credibility即天主教会面临的问题，第二、三段讲cure and solution，所以D项是正确答案。
单选题
What does the author think the official attitude towards the problem
facing the priests is?
A. Facing up to the problem and eager to resolve it.
B. Having taken measures decisively.
C. Worrying about it, but trying not to fact it.
D. No clear attitude at all.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】第一段中有“a changing official attitude mixing pain and evasion”，官方态度是痛苦与逃避，只有C选项是正确的。
单选题
What would be the possible methods to fact the problem mentioned in
the passage?
A. To have the right attitude towards the problem.
B. To clean the present atmosphere of the religion.
C. To make being alone optional and ordain woman priest.
D. To get rid of those priests who commit sexual crimes.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】第二段中提到“Allowing priests to marry，and appointing women”是可能的解决方法。
单选题
At the time of the publication of this article, in the Catholic
Church, being alone to diocesan priests is a (an) ______ condition.
A. optional
B. normative
C. unnecessary
D. ordinary
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】第一段最后两句中的虚拟语气表明，“being alone”还没有成为“of their own choice”，所以选项B是正确的。
单选题
If the church doesn't face the problem, what is NOT the possible
result?
A. There is much more difficulty in employing new priests.
B. The church will lose its authority.
C. The believer will loathe and suspect the priests very much.