单选题 With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most (1) issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent to murder, (2) others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.
The principal argument (3) by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman (4) , that it is the mark of a (5) society, and finally that it is of (6) effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.
In our opinion, the death penalty is a (7) evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were (8) of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others.
For example, it is one thing to (9) the life of another in a fit of blind rage, (10) quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher.

单选题 A. severe B. ambiguous C. controversial D. complicated

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] severe“严重的，严格的”；ambiguous“模棱两可的”；controversial“有争议的”；complicated“复杂的”。根据题意，选择C项。

单选题 A. however B. although C. and D. while

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] however“然而”，副词不能用于连接句子；although表示让步关系；and表示并列关系；while“而，然而”表示转折关系。本句很显然是在陈述两种不同的观点，因此D项是最佳答案。

单选题 A. abided B. approved C. advanced D. alleged

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] abide的用法为abide by“遵守，坚持”；approve的用法为approve of...“同意，赞成”；allege“断言，宣称”；advance表示“提出”，可与argument连用，故选C项。

单选题 A. measure B. punishment C. behavior D. tactics

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] measure“大小，尺寸”；punishment“惩罚”；behavior“行为，举止”；tactics“策略，战术”。根据题意，只有punishment才能是残忍的和非人道的，所以B项为正确答案。

单选题 A. brutal B. civilized C. democratic D. liberal

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] brutal“残忍的”；civilized“文明的”；democratic“民主的”；liberal“自由的”。由上文的cruel和inhuman两个词可得出本题答案为A项。

单选题 A. absolute B. implicit C. relative D. questionable

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] absolute“绝对的，完全的”；implicit“完全的，内隐的”；relative“相对的”；questionable“让人质疑的”。根据题意，D项正确。

单选题 A. dreadful B. necessary C. fierce D. prevalent

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] dreadful“可怕的”；fierce“残忍的”；prevalent“流行的，普通的”。作者的观点为支持死刑，因此可以判断出B项为正确选项。

单选题 A. capable B. liable C. apt D. possible

单选题 A. murder B. take C. execute D. grab

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] take one's life是固定搭配“夺取某人生命”；murder“谋杀”；execute“将……处死”；grab“攫取，抓取”。

单选题 A. but B. and C. nevertheless D. or

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] but表转折关系；and表示并列关系；nevertheless前后都要用逗号隔开；or表示或者。根据上下文，答案选择A项。