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  3. With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death pe

With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death pe

admin2005-06-26  55
问题     With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent(威慑)to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.
    The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.
    In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others.
    Fox example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely isolated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.
    The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is reinforced by evidence which shows that the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100,000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been imposed only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10. 4 murders for each 100,000 population. The sharp climb in the state’s murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence(巧合). It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is vetoed(否决), innocent people will be murdered—some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected.
In the passage the author is primarily concerned with______.
选项 A、supporting a position
B、describing an event
C、analyzing a problem objectively
D、settling a dispute
答案A
解析 作者从头到尾用一个争论来表明作者自己的观点。提出了有关死刑的问题后，提出了反对死刑者的主要论据和赞成死刑者的观点。作者在这里指出：我们认为，死刑是一种不可避免的灾祸。在最后一段中作者指出：绝大多数公民认为死刑保护了他们，有确凿的证据显示死刑确实阻止了许多杀人犯；如果恢复死刑的法案被否决，无辜的人们将被谋杀。所以从整篇文章所表达的观点上来看，作者是支持执行死刑的。A项“支持一个立场”符合文章的意思。所以应该选A。
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