Question

What is freedom? It seems like such a simple question. Freedom is being able to do what you want to do. Allow me to explain it.

I’m tired of working for a living. I’d rather collect taxes. So that’s what I’m going to do: collect a kind of tax. You are ordered to estimate your income from the past 12 months, and write me a check for 1%. I have provided a mailing address for this purpose on my contact page …

What? You have a problem with my plan? Oh, I see. If you have to send me a check for the tax, then I have hurt your freedom to spend that money as you see fit. We have a conflict! And our basic problem is: we cannot enjoy freedom at the same time; we must settle for a limit. But what limit?

Libertarians (自由论者) believe freedom should be based on self-control. They describe freedom as being able to do what you want to do as long as it doesn’t influence the equal right of others to do what they want to do. That is, freedom is being able to do what you like as long as you do not harm another person’s life, liberty or property.

You can build a set of legal and ethical (道德的) rules on the principle of self-control, and libertarians do. Their request for self-control often becomes more important than common sense, or even freedom itself.

The definition rules out the freedom to steal, murder, and so on. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want. There is no problem until you realize that taxation is theft, that war is murder, and that national service is a form of slavery. Since only the government has a legal right to use force, libertarians focus on making the government smaller, or even going without it. The libertarians’ definition of freedom is thus freedom from the government. Isn’t it ridiculous?

According to the first three paragraphs, the author’s idea of collecting taxes is _________.

A. reasonable   B. responsible   C. unacceptable   D. understandable

The author takes tax-collecting as an example in the passage to prove that freedom is _________.

A. unreal     B. unbelievable   C. achievable    D. limited

In the opinion of libertarians, freedom is realized mainly by _________.

A. the law    B. self-control   C. ethical rules    D. common sense

Which of the following statements is supported by libertarians according to the passage?

A. National service should be canceled.

B. People can do whatever they want.

C. The government should have more power.

D. They should be governed by the government.

Answer 1

【小题1】C

【小题2】D

【小题3】B

【小题4】A

解析:

每个人都渴望自由，有些人希望得到无限制的自由，但是这种自由可取么？

【小题1】根据文中的信息作出判断推理。依据文章前三段内容可知，随意对别人征税被认为侵犯了别人的自由，当然是不被接受的。

【小题2】根据文中的信息作出判断推理。本文用征税为例，目的是为了说明自由是有限制的，故答案为D。

【小题3】理解文中具体信息。根据第四段Libertarians believe freedom should be based on self-control可知，答案为B。

【小题4】理解文中具体信息。根据最后一段 … and that national service is a form of slavery可知，根据自由论者所谓的自由，国家的公共服务就成了奴役行为，因此应该废除。