It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary

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问题     It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group’s online service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because this isn’t just something that happened in Australia. It’s world history. "
    The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally I11 law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia—where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the U. S. and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.
    Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death—probably by a deadly injection or pill—to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nick-son, a 54 year old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally 111 law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I’m not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I’d go, because I’ve watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks," he says.
From the second paragraph we learn that______.

选项 A、the objection to euthanasia is slow to come in other countries
B、physicians and citizens share the same view on euthanasia
C、changing technology is chiefly responsible for the hasty passage of the law
D、it takes time to realize the significance of the law’s passage

答案D

解析 从文章第2段的内容可知,要充分领会这一法案的全部意义可能需要一段时间。《北部地区晚期病人权利法》使得医生和市民都以同样的方式看待这一法案的道德意义和实际意义;一些人觉得如释重负,而另一些人对这一法案以及它的草率通过进行了猛烈抨击;但是这一趋势不可能逆转。在澳大利亚这样一个人口老龄化、延长寿命的技术以及变化的公众态度都起了各自作用的国家,其他州也将考虑制定类似的法律来处理安乐死问题。在美国和加拿大,死亡权利运动正在逐渐兴起,观察家们正在等待多米诺骨牌开始倒下。据此可知,由于人们对安乐死的看法有异,要充分领会安乐死法案通过的全部意义需要时间。D项与文中的意思相符,因此D项为正确答案。
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