纵观本次考试完型考题,难,那是相当的难!难在一点:读不懂!法律相关的文章已经多年未见,上次谋面应该是在考研01年改革去掉词汇那年,那年的考题也让很多考生叫苦不迭。再看本次考试完型考题,简单,那又是相当的简单!简单在于:最后成为答案的选项无一超过四级词汇要求!这一点也是让很多考生最为懊恼的。那些在迷茫时有着选择难词偏向型强迫症的同学,不知又作何感想。下面是本次考试完型真题、选项及参考答案,不妨我们来做一个简单的分析。
The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices became an important issue recently. The court cannot 1(emphasize/maintain/modify/recognize) its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law 2(when/lest/before/unless) justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that 3(rendered/weakened/established/eliminated) the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.
段首句,秉承往年特色,没有出题,但依旧扮演了重要的角色。很多考生将issue一词理解为话题,所以使第一句话失去了原有的意义,故而也失去了做题重要的依据。Issue一词根据朗文字典解释,应为:a subject or problem that is often discussed or argued about, especially a social or political matter that affects the interests of a lot of people,故段首句应该理解为ethical judgments of the Supreme Courts justices变得倍受争议来得恰当得多。其实这句话主导了后文政对于法的公正性的影响。
第一题的maintain … as …表示“维持其作为法律条文守护者的合法性”,本题没有做对的同学,请参考09年考题的第13题后自行面壁反省。
第二题的when一词,虽然貌似是时间引导词,其实按照翻译来看,“当法官们采取像政客一样的行为方式时,法院就无法维持其作为法律条文守护者的合法性”,这个“当”扮演的是一个“if”的条件表达,而再放大一点,条件关系应当隶属于并列、转折和因果三大逻辑关系的因果体系,条件亦即原因表达。所以原文可以理解为:因为法官们采取像政客一样的行为方式时,所以法院无法维持其作为法律条文守护者的合法性。类似考点请参考99年44题where一词的考法。
第三题前的acted in ways其实就是前文的behave,所以两句话之间形成转折对应关系。前句说到:法院无法维持其作为法律条文守护者的合法性,若法官们采取像政客一样的行为方式。紧接着一个“yet”“然而,在一些情况下,法官们的行为的确如此。”是正常的逻辑表达方式(此处也可参考下段首句的分析)。所以后半句的内容就应该是:acted in ways that使courts cannot maintain its legitimacy,也就是本文中所选的weakened the court’s reputation of being independent and impartial.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr., for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be 4(challenged/compromised/suspected/accepted) as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not 5(advanced/caught/bound/founded) by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself 6(resistant/subject/immune/prone) to the code of conduct that 7(resorts/sticks/leads/applies) to the rest of the federal judiciary.
本段首句提到两个法官出现在政治活动中,但重点却在于for example一词,表示这是对上文的举例。很显然,这里说的就是法官采取政客行为,所以再次证明上段末第三题的分析。
第四题:这类行为使得法院的决定被认为是公正判断的可能性有所下降。此处的accepted as一词的最直接线索来自文末句“That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, (by all means/at all costs/in a word/as a result), convincing as law.”中的be seen as一词,而本段本句中的less likely正好呼应了文末的more likely. 而本文第四段末句which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily 17(dismissed/released/ranked/distorted) as unjust也考察了同样内容be dismissed as unjust,只不过是其反义表达而已。考生可以总结归纳类似表达:be regarded as, be considered as, be seen as, be viewed as等等,当然也包括反面的be dismissed as及其近义表达。
第五题的be bound by,即被绑定一个ethics code,虽然理解的情况下,不难解释,但很多考生问道:如何找到这个词的线索。其实本文到这里就不难理解,无非是法应该绑定ethics还是politics,绑定politics的容易受人怀疑,所以最好划清界限,绑定ethics。这样,我们就找到了其对应的部分:第三段末句“Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely (guarded/followed/studied/tied).”这个tied和本题的be bound by,应该算是激情四射的一对了。
看到第六题,我觉得上过我的课的学生如果没做出来,那不是你跳楼,是我想去跳楼了。请参考04年28题,选项都有三个一样的,回忆下我讲的这道题,以及最后一节课下课之前对你们说的话,你们懂的,我不解释!
第七题是一个主动和被动的词组的同义替换,上半句说到court使其自身subject to 那些code,后半句说那些 code被apply to 其他的联邦法官。其实也完全可以说court应该将其他的联邦法官所subject to的那些code apply to它自身。简单的说,法院、法官be subject to code,code be applied to 法院、法官,其实本文末段首句The justices must (suppressed/exploit/address/ignore) doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves (accessible/amiable/agreeable/accountable) to the code of conduct.中的accountable to the code也是同一个考点。另外,值得一提的是,本题中出现了一个熟词僻义现象,conduct一般考生只能做动词解,在此处为名词,解释为behavior,即code of conduct解释为“行为准则”,呼应首段末句中的behave一词。
This and other cases 8(evade/raise/deny/settle) the question of whether there is still a 9(line/barrier/similarity/conflict) between the court and politics. The framers of the Constitution envisioned law10 (by/as/through/towards) having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions 11(so/since/provided/though) they would be free to 12(serve/satisfy/upset/replace) those in power and have no need to 13(confirm/express/cultivate/offer) political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely 14(guarded/followed/studied/tied).