Text 4

In a rare unanimous ruling,the US Supreme Court has overturned the corruption conviction of a former Virginia governor,Robert McDonnell.But it did so while holding its nose at the ethics of his conduct,which included accepting gifts such as a Rolex watch and a Ferrari Automobile from a company seeking access to government.

The high court’s decision said the judge in Mr.McDonnell’s trail failed to tell a jury that it must look only at his“official acts,”or the former governor’s decisions on“specific”and“unsettled”issues related to his duties.

Merely helping a gift-giver gain access to other officials,unless done with clear intent to pressure those officials,is not corruption,the justices found.

The court did suggest that accepting favors in return for opening doors is“distasteful”and“nasty.”But under anti-bribery laws,proof must be made of concrete benefits,such as approval of a contract or regulation.Simply arranging a meeting, making a phone call,or hosting an event is not an“official act.”

The court’s ruling is legally sound in defining a kind of favoritism that is not criminal.Elected leaders must be allowed to help supporters deal with bureaucratic problems without fear of prosecution of bribery.“The basic compact underlying representative government,”wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the court,“assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act on their concerns.”

But the ruling reinforces the need for citizens and their elected representatives, not the courts,to ensure equality of access to government.Officials must not be allowed to play favorites in providing information or in arranging meetings simply because an individual or group provides a campaign donation or a personal gift.This type of integrity requires will-enforced laws in government transparency,such as records of official meetings,rules on lobbying,and information about each elected leader’s source of wealth.

Favoritism in official access can fan public perceptions of corruption.But it is not always corruption.Rather officials must avoid double standards,or different types of access for average people and the wealthy.If connections can be bought,a basic premise of democratic society–that all are equal in treatment by government-is undermined.Good government rests on an understanding of the inherent worth of each individual.

The court’s ruling is a step forward in the struggle against both corruption and official favoritism.

36. The underlined sentence(Para.1)most probably shows that the court         

[A]avoided defining the extent of McDonnell’s duties.

[B]made no compromise in convicting McDonnell.

[C]was contemptuous of McDonnell’s conduct.

[D]refused to comment on McDonnell’s ethics.

37. According to Paragraph 4,an official act is deemed corruptive only if it involves        

[A]concrete returns for gift-givers.

[B]sizable gains in the form of gifts.

[C]leaking secrets intentionally.

[D]breaking contracts officially.

38. The court’s ruling is d on the assumption that public officials are        

[A]allowed to focus on the concerns of their supporters.

[B]qualified to deal independently with bureaucratic issues.

[C]justified in addressing the needs of their constituents.

[D]exempt from conviction on the charge of favoritism.

39. Well-enforced laws in government transparency are needed to        

[A]awaken the conscience of officials.

[B]guarantee fair play in official access.

[C]allow for certain kinds of lobbying.

[D]inspire hopes in average people.

40. The author’s attitude toward the court’s ruling is         

[A]sarcastic.

[B]tolerant.

[C]skeptical.

[D]supportive.

【參考答案】CACBD

Part B

Directions: The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order.For questions 41-45,you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent text by choosing from the list A-G and filling them into the numbered boxes.Paragraphs B and D have been correctly placed.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.（10 points）

[A]. The first published sketch,"A Dinner at Polar Walk"brought tears to Dickens's eyes when he discovered it in the pages of The Monthly Magazine From then on his sketches,which appeared under the pen name"Boz" in The Evening Chronicle,earned him a modest reputation.

[B]. The runaway success of The Pickwick Papers,as it is generally known today,secured Dickens's fame.There were Pickwick coats and Pickwick cigars,and the plump,spectacled hero,Samuel Pickwick,because a national figure.

[C]. Soon after Sketches by Boz appeared,a publishing firm approached Dickens to write a story in monthly installments,as a backdrop for a series of woodcuts by the then-famous artist Robert Seymour,who had originated the idea for the story.With characteristic confidence,Dickens successfully insisted that Seymour's pictures illustrate his own story instead.After the first installment,Dickens wrote to the artist and asked him to correct a drawing Dickens felt,was not faithful enough to his prose.Seymour made the change,went into his backyard,and expressed his displeasure by committing suicide.Dickens and his publishers simply pressed on with a new artist.The comic novel,The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,appeared serially in 1836 and 1837 and was first published in book form in 1837.

[D]. Charles Dickens is probably the best-known and,to many people,the greatest English novelist of the 19th century.A moralist,satirist,and social reformer,Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.

[E]. Soon after his father's release from prison,Dickens got a better job as errand boy in law offices.He taught himself shorthand to get an even better job later as a court stenographer and as a reporter in Parliament.At the same time,Dickens,who had a reporter's eye for transcribing the life around him,especially anything comic or odd,submitted short sketches to obscure magazines.

[F]. Dickens was born in Portsmouth,on England's southern coast.His father was a clerk in the British Navy Pay office--a respectable position,but with little social status.His paternal grandparents,a steward and a housekeeper,possessed even less status,having been servants,and Dickens later concealed their background.Dicken's mother supposedly came from a more respectable family.Yet two years before Dicken's birth,his mother's father was caught stealing and fled to Europe,never to return.The family's increasing poverty forced Dickens out of school at age 12 to work in Warren's Blacking Warehouse,a shoe-polish factory,where the other working boys mocked him as"the young gentleman."His father was then imprisoned for debt.The humiliations of his father's imprisonment and his labor in the blacking factory formed Dickens's greatest wound and became his deepest secret.He could not confide them even to his wife,although they provide the unacknowledged foundation of his fiction.

[G]. After Pickwick,Dickens plunged into a bleaker world.In Oliver Twist,he traces an orphan's progress from the workhouse to the criminal slums of London.Nicholas Nickleby,his next novel,combines the darkness of Oliver Twist with the sunlight of Pickwick.The popularity of these novels consolidated Dickens' as a nationally and internationally celebrated man of letters.

D → 41. → 42. → 43. → 44. → B →45. 

【參考答案】FEACG

相關推薦：

考研政治/英語/數學/專業課歷年真題匯總

歷年考研復試分數線匯總

考研院校庫/專業庫/簡章庫/報錄比