大学英语四级阅读Test 5 Reading Passage Two

Passage Two

 

Questions 57 to 61are based on the following passage.

 

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 .

 

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 restraint 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 his 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 enrage him.

 

The main cause of this break-down 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 teach 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.

 

We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.

 

57.What the wise man said suggests that     

A) it's unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil

B) good men should advocate accountability

C) it's only natural for virtue to defeat evil

D) it's desirable for good men to keep away from evil

 

58. Which of the following hasn't been used by people to justify that a criminal is a victim?

A) He was brought up with too many privileges.

B) The schools didn't give him a good education.

C) The church did an unsuccessful moral guidance job.

D) He has an unstable family.

 

59. Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have       

A) more sense of rights

B)better sense of discipline

C) less self-discipline

D) less effective government

 

60.The most effective way to control crimes is to      

A) put more policemen in to catch criminals

B) have more churches and smaller towns

C) guarantee people a more happier life

D) build up self-restraint among people

 

61. The key point of the passage is that    

A) stricter discipline should be maintained in schools and families

B) more good examples should be set for people to follow

C) more restrictions should be imposed on people's behavior

D) more people should accept the value of accountability