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  3. California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its

California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its

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问题     California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its method of lethal injection was improper and could cause excessive pain. The state spent five years coming up with a better method — and last month, a judge threw that one out too. One indication of just how encumbered California’s capital-punishment system is: the prisoner who brought the latest lethal-injection challenge has been on death row for 24 years.
    It isn’t just California. The Death Penalty Information Center reported last month that the number of new death sentences nationally was down sharply in 2011, dropping below 100 for the first time in decades. It also reported that executions were plummeting — down 56% since 1999.
    There has long been an idea about how the death penalty would end in the U. S. : the Supreme Court would hand down a sweeping ruling saying it is unconstitutional in all cases. But that is not what is happening. Instead of top-down abolition, we seem to be getting it from the bottom up — governors, state legislatures, judges and juries quietly deciding not to support capital punishment. New Jersey abolished its death penalty in 2007. New Mexico abolished its death penalty in 2009. There are now 16 states — or about one-third of the country — that have abolished capital punishment.
    There are several reasons we seem to be moving toward de facto abolition of the death penalty. A major one has been the growing number of prisoners on death row who have been exonerated — 139 and counting since 1973, according to a list maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. Even many people who support capital punishment in theory balk when they are confronted with clear evidence that innocent people are being sentenced to death.
    Another factor is cost. Money is tight these days, and more attention is being paid to just how expensive death-penalty cases are. A 2008 study found that California was spending $ 137 million on capital cases — a sizable outlay, particularly since it was not putting anyone to death.
    According to the polls, a majority of the country has not yet turned against the death penalty — but support is slipping. In 1994, 80% of respondents in a Gallup poll said they supported the death penalty for someone convicted of murder. In 2001, just 61% did. In polls where respondents are given a choice between the death penalty or life without parole and restitution, a majority has gone with the non-death option.
    Many opponents of the death penalty are still hoping for a sweeping Supreme Court ruling, and there is no denying that it would have unique force. Five Justices, with a stroke of their pens, could end capital punishment nationwide. But bottom-up, gradual abolition has other advantages. What we are seeing is not a small group of judges setting policy. It is a large number of Americans gradually losing their enthusiasm for putting people to death.
The top-down abolition in Paragraph 3 refers to______.
选项 A、the abolition of death penalty on a national scale
B、the abolition of death penalty decided by the supreme court
C、the abolition of death penalty at state level
D、the abolition of death penalty by referendum
答案B
解析 作者在前两段中介绍了死刑在美国的各州逐渐被废弃。在第三段中主要分析了现阶段废除死刑的形式。因为死刑在美国一直是一个有争议的话题，所以人们长期以来都在想象美国最终会以什么样的形式废除死刑。想象中的情形大多是这样的：高等法院将出台一项统一裁决，规定在任何情况下判决死刑均为非法。但实际上现实的情况却不是这样的，死刑并非top—down被废除，而是相反，以一种bottom—up的方式被废除。可见人们想象当中的由高等法院出台法律取缔死刑的方式是一种自上而下的(top—down)的死刑取缔方式，而相反地，现在各州自行的没有经过法律明文规定的取缔方式就是所谓的bottom-top取缔模式。因此，本题的正确答案应该选[B]。
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