单选题 Moral responsibility is all very well, but what about military orders? Is it not the soldier's first duty to give instant obedience to orders given by his military superiors? And apart from duty, will not the soldier suffer severe punishment, even death, if he refuses to do what he is ordered to do? If, then, a soldier is told by his superior to burn this house or to shoot that prisoner, how can he be held criminally accountable on the ground that the burning or shooting was a violation of the laws of war? These are some of the questions that are raised by the concept commonly called "superior orders", and its use as a defense in war crimes trials. It is an issue that must be as old as the laws of war themselves, and it emerged in legal guise over three centuries ago when, after the Stuart restoration in 1660, the commander of the guards at the trial and execution of Charles I was put on trial for treason and murder. The officer defended himself on the ground "that all he did was as a soldier, by the command of his superior officer whom he must obey or die," but the court gave him short shrift, saying that "when the command is traitorous, then the obedience to that command is also traitorous." Though not precisely articulated, the rule that is necessarily implied by this decision is that it is the soldier's duty to obey lawful orders, but that he may disobey — and indeed must, under some circumstances — unlawful orders. Such has been the law of the United States since the birth of the nation. In 1804, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that superior orders will justify a subordinate's conduct only "if not to perform a prohibited act", and there are many other early decisions to the same effect. A strikingly illustrative case occurred in the wake of that conflict of which most Englishmen have never heard (although their troops burned the White House) and which we call the War of 1812. Our country was badly split by that war too and, at a time when the United States Navy was not especially popular in New England, the ship-in-the-line Independence was lying in Boston Harbor. A pass-by directed abusive language at a marine standing guard on the ship, and the marine, Bevans by name, ran his bayonet through the man. Charged with murder, Bevans produced evidence that the marines on the Independence had been ordered to bayonet anyone showing them disrespect. The case was tried before Justice Joseph Story, next to Marshall, the leading judicial figure of those years, who charged that any such order as Bevans had invoked " would be illegal and void" , and, if given and put into practice, both the superior and the subordinate would be guilty of murder. In consequence, Bevans was convicted. The order allegedly given to Bevans was pretty drastic, and Boston Harbor was not a battlefield; perhaps it was not too much to expect the marine to realize that literal compliance might lead to bad trouble. But it is only too easy to conceive of circumstances where the matter might not be at all clear. Does the subordinate obey at peril that the order may later be ruled illegal, or is protected unless he has a good reason to doubt its validity?
单选题 It can be inferred from Para. 1 that if a soldier obeys his superior's order to burn a house or to kill a prisoner, ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。第一段最后一句提到,如果一个士兵被上级命令烧掉这座房屋或者枪杀那个罪犯,他怎么能以烧杀违反战争法的理由被定罪呢?结合作者的反问语气,推测作者认为士兵是执行上级命令,不应受到惩罚,故答案为[B]项。
单选题 What was the rule implied by the trail of the commander of the guards?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。文章第二段列举了the commander of the guards的例子,他自己因处决查理一世而被送上法庭,法庭驳回他“只是服从上级命令”的辩解,宣布“当命令是叛国的,那么服从命令也是叛国的”。接着第三段第一句提到,这个判决隐含的规则是:士兵的职责是服从合法的命令,但可以——事实上在某些情况下必须——不服从非法的命令。由此可知,答案为[C]项。文中没有提到士兵必须不分对错地服从合法的命令,故排除[A]项,[B]项和[D]项与文意相悖。
单选题 The phrase "to the same effect" (Line 5, Paragraph 3) most probably means "which" ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:词义理解题。第三段先是提出“士兵的职责是服从合法的命令,可以或必须不服从非法的命令”是美国自建国以来就有的法则,接着以首席法官马歇尔的话重申了这个法则,并提到其他早期的判决。由此推测,其他早期的判决也是体现了同样的法则,即都表示相同的意思,故答案为[A]项。
单选题 According to the fourth paragraph, Bevans was found guilty because he______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。第四段提到,贝文斯说独立号上的所有海军陆战队士兵被命令用刺刀刺死任何对他们不敬的人,而大法官约瑟夫.斯托里表示贝文斯援引的上级命令是“不合法且无效的”,如果下了这样的命令且被落实了,那么上下级都犯了谋杀罪。由此可知,贝文斯被判有罪是因为他服从了不合法的命令,故答案为[A]项。
单选题 It can be concluded from the last paragraph that the author's attitude towards Bevans was______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:观点态度题。最后一段第一句中作者提到,这项贝文斯申诉的所给予他的命令相当极端,而且波士顿港不是战场,或许期望这名海军陆战队士兵意识到刻板地服从命令会酿成大祸并不过分。换句话说,作者认为贝文斯应该意识到不应刻板地服从不合法的命令,由此推测作者认为贝文斯不值得同情,故答案为[D]项。作者用语较为平和,故排除[B]项。[A]项和[C]项都不符合文义。