题目内容
Directions:Read the following three passages.Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D.Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Friends and fellow citizens:I stand before you tonight under accusation of the unproven crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote.It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution(宪法), beyond the power of any state to deny.
Our democratic-republican government is based on the idea of the natural right of every individual member to a voice and a vote in making and executing the laws.We declare the duty of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unchallengeable right.We throw to the winds the belief that government can give right.
‘All men are created equal, and gifted by their Creator with certain undeniable rights.Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.To secure these, governments are established among men, gaining their just powers from the agreement of the governed.’
Here is no shadow of government authority over rights, or exclusion of any class from their full and equal enjoyment.Here is pronounced the right of all men, and ‘therefore,’ as the Quaker minister said, ‘of all women,’ to a voice in the government.And here, in this first paragraph of the Declaration, is the declaration of the natural right of all to the vote; for how can ‘the agreement of the governed’ be given, if the right to vote be denied?
The introduction of the Federal(联邦的) Constitution says: ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic peacefulness, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity(子嗣), do establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men.And it is absolute ridicule to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government - the vote.
1.The speaker was standing in front of the audience to ________.
A. accuse the government of having denied treating her unfairly
B. fight for the legal right to vote in the United States as a woman
C. share a recent victory on voting for the president of the States
D. guarantee that they could better understand the National Constitution
2.The expression ‘throw to the winds’ (Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to ‘________’.
A. abandon
B. emphasize
C. shake
D. spread
3.Which of the following statements is true according to the speech?
A. The Quaker minister holds conflicting opinions on women’s right to vote.
B. Government authority has the right to bar some of the governed out of liberty.
C. The policy is undeniably adopted that all the governed in America have the equal rights.
D. There’s no way to the real agreement of the governed if women’s vote right is robbed.
4.It can be inferred from the speech that ________.
A. it’s more important to have liberty than have good wishes of it
B. the Federal Constitution comes from the National Constitution
C. it’s ridiculous that women enjoy liberty while their rights are not secured
D. racial and gender issues are among the major social problems of the USA
5.Which of the following might be the best title of the speech?
A. For the Sake of Liberty and Happiness
B. Vote on the Women’s Rights
C. In the Name of Equal Right to vote
D. Power of American Constitution