单选题 One reason many politicians behave badly these days is that we spend less time thinking about what it means to behave well. This was less of a problem in past centuries when leaders, teachers and clergy held detailed debates over what it meant to have good character.
In the 18th century, for example, Edmund Burke composed a long, famous passage defining the standards of political excellence. In the 19th century, Anthony Trollope wrote a series of popular novels fussing over what it means to behave well in political life. Trollope's view was different than ours. Many Americans today assume that people are born with a good Inner Self but get corrupted by politics. American voters are always looking for the Innocent Outsider who can come in and bring sweeping change.
Trollope admired Prudent Insiders, not Innocent Outsiders. His most admirable characters have been educated by long experience. They have grown mature by exercising responsibility. They have been ennobled by custom and civilization. In his books, powerless outsiders often behave self-indulgently and irresponsibly. Those who are in government have to grapple with the world as it really is.
Trollope's ideal politicians—who have names like Plantagenet Palliser, Joshua Monk and the Duke of St. Bungay put service before independence. Their party and their country have asked them to accept certain duties and face certain problems, and they just get on with it. They are more weighty, but also more boring.
Trollope's ideal politicians share certain traits. They are reserved, prudent and scrupulous. They immerse themselves in dull practical questions like, say, converting the currency system. They are not sweeping thinkers, but they make sensitive discriminations about the people and the circumstances around them. They learn to operate within the constraints imposed by their idiom, and they don't whine or complain about those constraints. They develop delicate understandings of what is required in a given place in time.
Trollope's ideal leaders are not glamorous celebrities of the sort we have come to long for since J. F. Kennedy. They are more like seamen or carpenters. They are judged by their professional craftsmanship. They are thin-skinned about any moral transgression they might commit and rigorously honest when judging themselves. They try to make things better but are acutely aware that everything they do might make things worse. Trollope's leaders don't embrace change quickly but have to be dragged into embracing it after much interrogation, and the change they prefer is incremental.
Trollope praises one of his prime ministers, Plantagenet Palliser, for "that exquisite combination of conservatism and progress which is his country's present strength and her best security for the future. " Trollope's readers would have come away from his books with a certain model for how practical people should behave, which they could either copy or argue with. I'm not sure his exemplars could thrive amid the TV politics of today, which calls for grand promises and bold colors. But there are prudent, reserved people in government even now.

单选题 By mentioning Burke and Trollope, the author means to emphasize the idea that
[A] the modern silence on what good behavior is leads to its decline.
[B] moral standards in the 19th century were different from modern standards.
[C] American voters are less confident of their choice of political leaders.
[D] lack of responsibility is what is wrong with modern politicians.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第一段提到，许多政治家行为不端，其中一个原因是人们很少去想什么是好行为。但是，在以前，你们经常围绕什么是好行为和好人格进行深入争论，因此在那个时代，很少有政治家存在行为不端的问题。第二段提到Edmund Burke和Anthony Trollope的例子，用来说明第一段提出的观点。这两个人的共同之处是深入探讨了什么是良好的政治行为。
单选题 A Prudent Insider is one
[A] who can come up with ideas in reforming the outside world.
[B] who shows little concern about the outside world as it really is.
[C] whose well-trained mind enables him to make sound judgment.
[D] whose education helps him to free himself from customs and traditions.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】Tollope区分了两种人：一种是天真的外人，另一种是审慎的内部人士。第三、四段对后者的特点进行了详细说明，即他们有丰富经验，有责任心，习俗和文明使他们变得高贵。他们保守、审慎、严肃认真，愿意处理无聊的现实问题，他们对周同的人及其环境有敏锐的判断力，他们懂得在习惯设定的限制范围内工作，并对此不加抱怨。他们能及时对某个场合所需要的东西形成微妙的认识等。第五、六段也对Prudent Insider的政治品质做出了说明。从这些品质来看，他们受过良好的训练，有责任心和判断力，能够任劳任怨地工作。
单选题 Trollope's ideal politicians have all the following traits except
[A] an admirable sense of responsibility.
[B] a commitment to routine government work.
[C] a sensitive discrimination against impatient people.
[D] a lesser sense of independence.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第五段中they make sensitive discriminations about the people and the circumstances around them是说他们(指Prudent Insiders，也就是Trollope理想中的政治家)对自己周边的人和环境有敏感的判断力。这里，discrimination意为the ability to make sound judgment(拥有良好的判断能力)，这时其后接about 或between等；如果discrimination后接against则表示“对……歧视”。
单选题 Unlike such leaders as Kennedy, Trollope's political leaders
[A] are born of humble or modest origins.
[B] have the intention of making themselves famous.
[C] often make things worse when they engage in reforms.
[D] do not embrace radical political changes.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第二段提到，Prudent Insiders不同于肯尼迪这样明星式的政治家。他们按自己的职业才能判断自己的能力，他们对违背道德的行为很敏感，实事求是地对待自己的过错。他们不会迅速接受变革，但是经过质询之后也会被拖人对改革的支持中，他们更喜欢渐进的变革。
单选题 Towards today's conservative leaders, the author's attitude is
[A] critical. [B] admirable. [C] suspicious. [D] tolerant.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】实际上，Trollope所认同的政治领袖是政治上保守的人，他们身上体现了保守主义和社会进步的结合。作者说，Trollope的政治家在今天电视主导的政治氛围内是否能取得成功，这是值得怀疑的，因为今天的政治家要善于做出大的许诺、善于张扬，但是，即使在今天，在政府中也有Trollope所赞赏的那种政治家存在。从最后一段和第一、二段可以看出，本文作者对Trollope所赞赏的政治家是认可的，认为他们是好政治家。