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-proud 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 none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you annoy him.
The main cause of this breakdown 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.
单选题
What does the author mean by "the only thing necessary...do nothing"?
单选题
According to the policeman, internal constraint is ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：选项A对应第五段最后一句话，这句话中说到，对于人们行为的约束来说，外部控制没有内部控制有效，所以A是同义替换。选项B刚好和原文相反。选项C对应这一段的第一句，但是这一句话和题目的问题没有关系，也就是说它所问非所答，或者无中生有。选项D对应这一段的最后一句，但是根据文意，guilt，shame and embarrassment仅仅是文章用来举例说明internal restraints的，因此D选项的“only”过于绝对，缩小了文章内容的范围。
单选题
Which of the following is not the reason for the criminal being considered victimized?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：根据题干，定位到第八段第三句，这一句话的冒号往后对应的就是题目问的4个原因。选项C对应最后一个原因，但是文章中并没有说父母不爱他们，而是说父母没有给他们提供一个稳定的家庭环境，故C曲解了文意。选项A对应第二个原因，文中的“didn't teach him to read”对应选项A中的“illiterate”，意思是“不识字的”。选项B对应的是第三个原因，很清楚的同义改写。选项D对应的是第一个原因，文中的“underprivileged”对应选项D中的“inferior”。
单选题
What is the author's attitude toward the comments on robbers?