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Advice to would-be culture warriors in the 21st century: walk softly and carry a big thesaurus—a dictionary of classified synony

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问题     Advice to would-be culture warriors in the 21st century: walk softly and carry a big thesaurus—a dictionary of classified synonyms. According to the conventional wisdom, the culture wars are over in Washington—or, at the very least, reduced to minor disputes. Buoyed by the support of centrist, socially conservative Christians, the Obama administration has ushered in a new era of conciliation. Ideological opponents—especially those on either side of the abortion issue—are now trying to establish common ground. A first order of business is "abortion reduction," a seemingly non-controversial and praiseworthy goal. By agreeing that abortion is a complex moral issue and that it should be less frequent, former enemies can work together to find ways to reduce abortions.
    Beneath all the optimism though, tensions continue to boil, and it can seem that differences between the old culture wars and the new ones are merely differences in tone and tactics, not in ideology. In previous eras, warriors fought with rhetorical arguments; now they use new semantic weapons so sharp they could split a hair. On both sides, people say they want abortion reduction. But listen carefully to how they say it. On the left, the so-called common ground advocates talk about reducing the need for abortion, while on the right, folks talk about reducing the number of abortions. The way you talk about your desire for common ground, it turns out, signals whose side you’re actually on. The left wants to reduce demand for abortion; the right wants to reduce supply.
    Inside the Beltway, these seemingly invisible semantic differences have big policy implications, for the inevitable question arises: how do folks intend to reduce abortions? Two bills currently in Congress point to the deep, ideological differences that continue to linger. The Pregnant Women Support Act, favored mostly by pro-life groups, provides financial support especially for poor and younger mothers who want to carry their pregnancies to term. The Prevention First Act, favored mostly by pro-choice groups, funds contraception(the practice of preventing a woman from becoming pregnant when she has sex)and comprehensive sex education especially to poor and younger women.
    The conversation about "abortion reduction" then, is not really about abortion but about other hot-button issues: birth control, premarital sex, teen sex and sex education.
    Outside the Beltway, who really cares? According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll from August 2008, 54 percent of Americans support legal abortion in all or most cases—exactly the same percentage as a decade ago. It’s hard to imagine anyone arguing with the basic premise: in an ideal world, fewer American women would seek abortions. How our government achieves that end matters; how activists talk about achieving it matters not at all.
The difference of the two sides in the new culture war is characterized as
选项 A、ideological.
B、rhetorical.
C、semantic.
D、psychological.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。题干问的是新文化战争中对立的双方差异体现在哪方面。通过第二段中in previous eras和now这一对比较信号词。我们看到旧文化战争双方是对观点进行争论，而现在新文化战争双方却是在措辞上大做文章，故选C项。原文中提到新旧文化战争之间的区分并非意识形态上的不同，显然A项错误；B项“带修辞色彩的”，这是之前旧文化战争阵营双方的做法；D项psychological“心理上的”，原文未提及。本题也可根据第三段首句选出正确答案。
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