【考研类试卷】南京大学考研基础英语真题2008年及答案解析.doc

1、南京大学考研基础英语真题 2008 年及答案解析(总分：150.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Part One: Reading Co(总题数：1，分数：30.00)The Ethics of Foreign PolicyBy Felix Morley1. The architects of foreign policy throughout the ages have frequently asserted that morality plays an important part in their official planning and conduct. 2. This dubiou

2、s claim has received much partisan support, but relatively little objective examination. The failure to exercise the critical faculty toward the acts of one“s own government, while readily believing the worst in respect to the acts of other governments, is a tribute to the virtue of patriotism rathe

3、r than to the quality of scientific analysis. The law of averages alone would indicate, without reference to cases, that in countless number of disputes between sovereignties, no single government is likely to have demonstrated superior morality consistently, except in the opinion of its own adheren

4、ts. 3. The logical assumption would be that the foreign policy of any government is seldom completely “good“, in the sense of being a perfect exponent of the moral code of its time and place, and equally seldom is it absolutely “evil“, in the sense of being wholly oblivious to current moral standard

5、s. 4. From the ethical viewpoint the complexion of foreign policy would seem to be a habitual, though not uniform, gray. It is therefore the more desirable to indicate precisely why moral considerations, while seldom altogether ignored, are nevertheless of wholly secondary importance in determining

6、the relations of governments. 5. Men are endowed by their Creator with a moral sense. They possess an intangible organ, to which we give the name “conscience“, that distinguishes between the more and the less admirable choices in all the countless occasions of decision that occur in an individual li

7、fetime. 6. Conscience may be strong to the extreme of obduracy or weak to the point of impotence, but it is seldom altogether non-existent. Men have this inborn sense of “knowing with“, or being privy to, a code of moral conduct. Without conscience, all aspects of social life would be far more chaot

8、ic than is actually the case. To the degree that men will not obey natural law, it is therefore reasonable to subject them to the artificial law that the state imposes. 7. But the state, which is the most complicated product of social development as yet folly achieved, has no moral sense; and, in sp

9、ite of its law courts and enforcement agencies, it possesses no organ that can be compared with the human conscience. The church, as distinct from the state, is of course deeply and continuously concerned with moral issues. The church, however, no longer dominates the state, even in countries where

10、a particular religion is legally “established“. 8. Of course, the state as an instrument may be utilized to forward morality and to oppose immorality. And in doing this whether by legislative action or executive fiat, it reflects both the influence of the individual conscience and the prevalent mora

11、lity of a particular time and place. Nevertheless, it remains true that the state can achieve good only by the application of coercion to its subjects. It substitutes the rigid compulsion of man-made law for the less well codified but morally more impelling influence of the natural law. 9. The state

12、, in short, is the repository of physical rather than moral power. While this physical strength can be used for moral ends, it can equally well be, and often has been, placed at the service of an immoral philosophy. The American case against Soviet Russia rests on the evidence that this distortion i

13、s currently dominant there. 10. Although the state has no conscience, its so-called welfare aspects substitute for the function of this organ in the social activities of the individual. To the extent that the welfare state deprives the individual of power to do good or evil as he sees fit, there is,

14、 of course, encroachment on the sphere of personal morality, in behalf of governmentally defined morality. 11. In Soviet Russia, where God is virtually outlawed, this encroachment of positive law on natural law has reached the stage of almost complete substitution. In the United States, there is sti

15、ll a valiant and partially successful effort to oppose socialism, which may be accurately defined as the political system that seeks to take the right of moral decision from free individuals in order to vest it in officials serving the state. 12. It is frequently, and often persuasively, argued that

16、 the increasing complexity of human life and the growing interdependence of men in modem society make the expansion of state authority inevitable and indeed imperative. 13. Much that is specious can be detected in this argument, but even if it were wholly conclusive, an issue of great political and

17、moral moment would still remain to be reconciled. Whenever and however the state assumes the power of decision, there must be an equivalent surrender of power on the part of the subjects. Encroachment may be on the freedom of the market, in the economic sphere; on the freedom of worship, in the reli

18、gious sphere; on the freedom of criticism, in the political sphere. But fundamentally, the encroachment is always on freedom, in one or another aspect of this condition for which the human being has not merely a biological but also an often passionate and deeply spiritual yearning. 14. Properly spea

19、king, there is no such thing as freedom from something. Freedom, being the political condition in which the individual retains his natural power of choice, must always be for something. The choice of the free individual may be neither intelligent nor moral, but it is always a definite choice in beha

20、lf of some selected course out of many that are usually available. 15. The socialist believes that it is socially advantageous when the state assumes the power of choice for the individual. Sometimes the argument is that the average person has no opportunity, and sometimes that he has no capacity, t

21、o choose wisely and well. But whether the emphasis in the argument is humanitarian or autocratic, the net result of its successful application is the same. The power in the people is contracted and the power of the state is enlarged. 16. Much more is involved here than the amount of spending power l

22、eft to the taxpayer after Big Government has taken its ever-increasing slice. The power of the individual to act as his conscience dictates is also taken from him by the state. Government may, because of the heritage of freedom, be patient and relatively gentle with the conscientious objector. It ma

23、y, when the political heritage is tyrannical, dispose of him by firing squad. But either way, his right to follow the dictates of conscience is called in question. 17. Since the state does not and cannot possess the organ of conscience, and since the individual conscience alone gives human life a mo

24、ral direction, it follows that the enlargement of state power is necessarily at the expense not only of freedom, but also of morality. This means that the socialist, whether he realizes it or not, has actually a very low regard for the human race. The criticism that he lavishes on “Wall Street“ or o

25、ther products of free enterprise system is basically criticism of the concept of freedom. 18. Although the state is an amoral instrumentality, without a conscience and with no inherent sense of right and wrong, its actions towards its subjects are always to some extent restrained and guided by the p

26、revalent morality of the people. The most complete autocrat must give consideration to the inborn sense of justice and decency among those over whom he rules. 19. In dealing with other sovereignties, however, political rules have never been and are not now much influenced by ethical considerations a

27、s such. Rulers raise no taxes from those outside the area Of their control and therefore have no politically compelling reason to treat the subjects of other sovereignties with respect. It is not that the ruler is less humanitarian in his instincts or more immoral in his behavior than any other indi

28、vidual, but that, having the responsibility of the state on his shoulders, the ruler tends to put what seems to be the state“s immediate interest above all other considerations, including those of an ethical nature. In time of war, of course, this subordination of ethical considerations is especiall

29、y pronounced. 20. The absence of any ethical content in foreign policy during time of war is too obvious to need much citation or emphasis. Many would be inclined to discount this characteristic, however, by saying that war represents a break-down rather than an aspect of forging policy, and by asse

30、rting further that even in wartime the chief executive of a democratic nation is under constitutional restraints which tend to check immoral conduct on his part. 21. Unfortunately, both qualifications are more apparent than real. The President of the United States is nominally subject to many Consti

31、tutional restraints, in time of war as well as in time of peace. However, aside from the indication that the United States can now be plunged into a major war by Presidential edict, it is also clear that during the fighting, foreign policy decisions of the greatest moment will be made by the Preside

32、nt alone. 22. As against the theory that war is a mere interruption of the normal conduct of foreign policy, one recalls the aphorism of von Clausewitz, to the effect that war has always been definitely an instrument of national policy and that peacetime diplomacy only fills in the chinks until the

33、time has come for the state to strike with military force. Certainly in the Prussian tradition, from Hegel on, there is little to indicate that peace is the normal condition of a nation; war a mere unfortunate aberration. Though Prussia is destroyed, the “Prussian doctrine“ of Nietzschethat the stat

34、e is “beyond good and evil“, determining morals for itselfis stronger than ever before. 23. Because individuals for the most part possess a moral sense, there has been, usually under religious leadership, a long and valiant effort to introduce an ethical content into the theory and practice of forei

35、gn policy. This effort has taken two distinct forms. One is the long-standing attempt to make those who control foreign policy strictly accountable to elected representatives of the people. The other is the more recent endeavor to establish an enforceable international law, involving the creation of

36、 an international political authority empowered and competent to take preventive action against a government whose foreign policy threatens a breach of peace. 24. The latter effort was obviously impractical until nations as we know them today had taken form as disciplined political units, with gover

37、nment competent to keep order at home as a preliminary to making international commitments. Also, there had to be development of communications, trade, and travel on a large scale before the need for any international political authority became apparent to people as a whole. 25. Aside from these pos

38、itive factors, two of a negative nature helped pave the way for interest in world government. One was the decline of vital religious interest, which followed the fragmentizing of the Christian church throughout the European counties that once had recognized the spiritual supremacy of Rome. The other

39、 was the increasing destructiveness of war. With no universally recognized religious authority and with all existing political authorities seriously menaced by the effects of scientific war, argument for international organization was greatly strengthened. 26. The effort to establish popular control

40、 over the forging policy of an individual sovereign, however, had made great headway long before concerts, or leagues, or unions of nations had become more substantial than the dreams of idealistic philosophers. Instances of this effort that could be cited from many countries would be found to rest

41、on the principle that arbitrary executive authority in this field is an intolerable infringement of “the liberty of the subjects“. 27. Liberty, of course, is an ethical concept based on the religious belief that men “are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights“, as the Declaration o

42、f Independence asserts. And it is in no way accidental that the endeavor to give an ethical content to foreign policy has made the most headway under representative government, especially in those countries where men with a deep religious faith are willing to challenge the authority of the state. Fo

43、r questions 1 to 10, choose the best answer according to the passage you have just read.（分数：30.00）(1).In spite of its law courts and enforcement agencies, the state has no organ comparable to the -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.natural lawB.executive fiatC.human conscienceD.disciplined political unitesE.“Prussian

44、doctrine“ of Nietzche(2).The choice of the free individual must always be a definite choice -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.between an easily lead minority and a highly educated group of citizensB.between genuine public spirit and personal official dutyC.that is socially advantageous to the average personD.within

45、the limits set down by the stateE.of some selected course from the many choices available(3).One argument about modern society, which the author terms “specious“, is that -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.the increasing complexity and interdependence in our lives make the expansion of state authority imperative and

46、inevitableB.the foreign policy of any nation is seldom completely “good“C.conscience may be strong to the point of “obduracy or weak to the point of impotence“D.all aspects of social life would be more chaotic without conscienceE.the state imposes an artificial law to the degree that men will not ob

47、ey the natural law(4).In dealing with countries other than their own, political rulers have been influenced chiefly by the -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.immediate interests of their own sovereigntiesB.ethical considerations of a high orderC.humanitarian motives of the good of mankindD.inborn feelings of justice

48、and decencyE.democratic constitutional restraints(5).One of the author“s major points is that the enlargement of state power is necessarily at the expense of -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.Wall Street and free enterpriseB.freedom and moralityC.critical faculties and logical assumptionD.worker productivity and ris

49、ing wagesE.ideal democracy and the “man on the street“(6).One of the positive factors not included in the effort to introduce an ethical content into the theory and practice of forging policy is that of -|_|-.（分数：1.50）A.perpetuating the American ideal on a worldwide scale by overcoming the evils of indifferenceB.realizing the need for an international political authority after trade, travel, and communications mushroomedC.making governments orderly at home prior to making international commitmentsD.est