Passage One

　　23. The Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy was little talked about for more than half a century because Germans________.

　　A) were eager to win international acceptance

　　B) felt guilty for their crimes in World War II

　　C) had been pressured to keep silent about

　　D) were afraid of offending their neighbors

　　推断依据：第二段最后一句“She recalls watching the ship, brightly lit, slipping into its dark grave─and into seeming nothingness, rarely mentioned for more than half a century.(她回想起亲眼看见灯光明亮的船只滑进黑暗的坟墓——进入空空如也的世界，半个多世纪以来很少有人提起此事。)第三段最后两句“The reason was obvious. As Grass put it in a recent interview with the weekly Die Woche：‘because the crimes we Germans are responsible for were and are so dominant, we didn't have the energy left to tell of our own sufferings.’”(原因很明显。正像Grass最近接受周刊的采访时所说的那样:“因为我们德国人为此所承担责任的罪恶感，无论是过去还是现在都非常沉重, 我们以前没有多余的精力来讲述我们自己的痛苦”。)

　　答案解析：半个多世纪以来，很少有人谈论此事，是因为德国人一直认为他们要为所犯的罪行负责，没有精力陈述自己的苦难，所以推论：他们半个多世纪没有谈论此事，是因为他们对在二战期间所犯的罪行有负罪感。故正确答案为B。

　　25. It can be learned from the passage that Germans no longer think that________.

　　A) they will be misunderstood if they talk about the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy

　　B) the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy is a reasonable price to pay for the nations past misdeeds

　　C) Germany is responsible for the horrible crimes it committed in World War II

　　D) it is wrong to equate their sufferings with those of other countries

　　推断依据：第四段后三句“For that, a half century of willful forgetting about painful memories like the German Titanic was perhaps a reasonable price to pay. But even the most politically correct Germans believe that they've now earned the right to discuss the full historical record. Not to equate German suffering with that of its victims, but simply to acknowledge a terrible tragedy.”(为此，半个世纪以来，德国人情愿忘却德国的泰坦尼克号式的苦难，这也许是付出了合理的代价，但是大多数政治上正直的德国人都认为，他们现在有权力来详尽地谈论这一历史记载，这并不是为了把德国人所遭受的苦难与德国造成苦难的受害者等同起来，而是为了承认这一可怕的悲剧。)

　　答案解析: 最后一段谈到德国已毫无保留地承认了在二战中所犯的罪孽深重的罪行，德国人已经得到各国认可与接受，可以推理，既然已得到了世界各国的谅解，那么谈论威廉·古斯特勒夫号悲剧会得到别人的理解，并不是为了开脱自己所犯的罪行，而只是坦言一次可怕的悲剧，所以推断：德国人不再认为他们谈论这次悲剧会被误解。最大干涉项是B，文章中提到半个世纪以来德国人不愿提起这次沉船悲剧也算是付出了国家对所犯罪行的合理代价，并不是说悲剧本身是支付了合理的代价，所以B项不对。故正确答案为A。

　　Passage Three

　　31. Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy________.

　　A) is mainly carried out by means of secret taping

　　B) has been intensified with the help of the IRS

　　C) is practiced exclusively by the FBI

　　D) is more prevalent in business circles

　　推断依据：第一段“When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.”(当我们担心谁会暗中监视我们的私生活时，常常就想到联邦调查局的侦探。但是每一次总是私营部门比政府做得更过分。是琳达·特里普，而不是联邦调查局被指控违反了马里兰州禁止私自电话录音的法律。是我们的银行而不是国内收入署把我们的收入信息传递给了电话推销公司。)

　　答案解析：第一句谈的是人们习以为常的观点，第二句谈的是作者的观点。强调在刺探我们私生活方面，私营部门比政府做的更过分，那么哪些属于私营部门呢？作者接着列举了两个例子，琳达·特里普公司和银行。所以可以推断：对隐私的暗中监视在企业界比政府部门更为盛行。故正确答案为D。

　　35. We can infer from the passage that ________.

　　A) banks will have to change their ways of doing business

　　B) privacy protection laws will soon be enforced

　　C) consumers' privacy will continue to be invaded

　　D) “free trial” practice will eventually be banned

　　推断依据：第二段“Consumer activists are pressing congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.”(消费者中的激进分子对国会施压要求改进隐私法，可至今毫无结果，一些立法者事实上倾向于允许商家任意跟踪我们花钱的习惯。) 第六段最后一句“Many other banks will still do business with Member Works and similar firms. ”(许多其他银行仍将与Member Works及这一类公司做生意。)第七段第一句“And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.”(银行为了向你销售金融产品仍将从你的帐户上挖掘信息，包括价值很小的东西，如信用保险，信用卡保护计划。)

　　答案解析：从消费者要求国会改进隐私法，但至今没有成效，而立法者则倾向于商家可以任意刺探我们的隐私，许多银行仍将做这种刺探消费者隐私的生意，可以推断：消费者的隐私将会继续受到侵犯。故正确答案为C。

　　Passage Four

　　36. Terrorists have obviously taken advantage of________.

　　A) the legal privileges granted to foreigners

　　B) the excessive hospitality of the American people

　　C) the irresponsibility of the officials at border checkpoints

　　D) the low efficiency of the Immigration and Naturalization service

　　推断依据：第一段第一句“It's hardly news that the immigration system is a mess.”(移民制度一团糟简直算不上什么新闻。)第三句“But since Sept. 11, it's become clear that terrorists have been shrewdly factoring the weaknesses of our system into their plans.”(但是，自从9.11事件以来，有一点看得很清楚，那就是恐怖主义分子已经狡猾地在他们的计划中利用了我们制度的弱点。)

　　答案解析：作者谈到移民制度一团糟恐怖分子利用这一点钻空子，所以推断：存在的问题是制度的弊病，而不是个别人的问题，即移民归化局工作效率低。故正确答案为D。

　　38. It can be inferred from the passage that before Sept. 11, aliens with expired visa ________.

　　A) might have been extended without trouble

　　B) would be closely watched by FBI agents

　　C) might stay on for as long as they wished

　　D) would live in constant fear of deportation

　　推断依据：第一段第二句“Foreign nationals have long been slipping across the border with fake papers, and visitors who arrive in the U.S. legitimately often overstay their legal welcome without being punished.”(外国公民长期以来用假证件偷越国境，而且合法来到美国的旅行者通常超期滞留而未受惩罚。)第一段最后一句“The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (移民归化局)lacks the resources, and apparently the inclination to keep track of the estimated 2 million foreigners who have intentionally overstayed their welcome.”(移民归化局缺乏经费，显然也不想追踪大约二百万故意超期滞留的外国人。)

　　答案解析：本文第一段提到许多合法入美的旅游者常常超期滞留而不受惩罚，移民归化局也不愿追踪大约有二百万这类人，可以推断：9.11事件之前签证超期滞留的外国人想呆多久就呆多久，没有人管他们。故正确答案为C。

　　39. It is believed by many that all these years the INS________.

　　A) has been serving two contradictory functions

　　B) has been to liberal in granting visas to tourists and immigrants indiscriminately

　　C) has over-emphasized its service functions at the expense of the nation's security

　　D) has ignored the pleas of the two powerful lobbies

　　推断依据：文章末段最后两句“One reason for the division, supporters say, is that the INS has in recent years become too focused on serving tourists and immigrants. After the Sept. 11 tragedy, the INS should pay more attention to serving the millions of ordinary Americans who rely on the nation's border security to protect them from terrorist attacks.”(支持者声称，这种职责划分的一个原因是最近几年移民归化局过于注重服务旅游者和移民了。9.11惨案之后，移民归化局应更加致力于服务千百万普通的美国人。他们依赖国家的边境安全来保护自己以免遭恐怖分子的袭击。)

　　答案解析：文章末段分析了一些有影响的立法者建议把移民归化局划分为两个机构：一是侧重服务的，另一个是执行驱逐出境职责的。支持这一建议的人声称，以前太注重为旅游者和移民服务了，而9.11事件之后应侧重为千百万美国人服务，加强边境安全，免遭恐怖分子袭击，所以推断：许多人认为若干年来移民归化局以牺牲国家安全为代价而过分注重服务功能。故正确答案为C。

　　(文/祖 林;英语通大学英语六级考试版2004年第12期;版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)