考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解精讀100篇unit26
Unit 26
Imagine asking a presidential candidate to sit down for a sensitivity session on gay and lesbian issues. That's exactly what we did last week in Austin, Texas. George W. Bush invited us, a dozen gay Republicans, after he'd refused to meet with a gay Republican group that had criticized him. Our meeting set an important precedent: never again will a major-party candidate be able to run for president without addressing gay and lesbian issues.

Bush didn't like everything we had to say. I was struck by his lack of familiarity with the issues, as well as by his desire to learn. I described how my partner, Rob Morris, and I have been in a 17-year relationship. We both come from healthy, strong, religious families. Rob grew up in a conservative Republican family in Georgia; I come from a longtime Republican family in Wisconsin. I'm now the vice president of my Lutheran church. I wanted Governor Bush to understand that long-term, loving relationships, stable families, strong faith-based traditions and Republican voting histories are all part of the gay and lesbian community.

Our stories had an impact. Bush admitted that, growing up in Texas, he had not been as open to elements of America's diverse culture. He had a narrow set of friends and a firm set of traditions. But he was surprised and dismayed to hear that people saw him as intolerant. "What have I said that sent that signal?" he asked repeatedly. We confronted him about his reported statement that if you were openly gay or lesbian you would not be considered for a job in his administration. "I never said that," he insisted, assuring us he would hire gays and lesbians who both were qualified and shared his political views.

Our perspective was clearly eye-opening to him. When one of us talked about his lesbian sister and her partner adopting children, the governor acknowledged his often-stated belief that gays should not adopt. "Now you're telling me of a very loving, caring relationship," he said. "I really appreciate hearing that." We stressed that a Bush administration could not roll back any of the progress made in recent years. We talked about AIDS funding and research. Though Bush was attentive--and does show a willingness to hear all sides--I don't think we changed his positions. He still opposes gay marriage and classifying crimes against gays as hate crimes. To be honest, Bush still has a long way to go. But I think he's a lot farther along today than he was last week.
注（1）：本文選自Newsweek，04/24/2000, p43
注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對(duì)象2003年真題Text 4

1.       What is implied in the first paragraph?

[A]A gay Republican group criticized Bush for his political views.
[B]It is impossible to invite a president for discussing the gay issues.
[C]No president candidate can ignore gay and lesbian issues at the present time.
[D]Gay and lesbian issues are hot issues for the president.

2.       The author uses himself as an example to show _________.

[A]what it is like in the gay and lesbian community
[B]what it is like to be a gay.
[C]what kind of a family the gays come from.
[D]what it is like to maintain a gay relationship

3.       The author’s attitude toward Bush’s performance at the meeting is _________.

[A]scornful
[B]satisfactory
[C]supporting
[D]objective

4.       In spite of his careful listening, Bush still opposes the following behaviors except _________.

[A]adopting the child
[B]getting married
[C]redefining hate crimes
[D]employing the gays and lesbians

5.       The text intends to express the idea that _________.

[A]the gays and lesbians long for the normal life
[B]Bush has partly changed his views about the gay issues
[C]there is still a long way to go to deal with the gay issues properly
[D]the gays has had a successful talk with Bush

答案：CABDC

篇章剖析
本文可以說(shuō)是一篇記敘文，作者以第一人稱的身份講述了十幾個(gè)共和黨人同總統(tǒng)候選人布什的會(huì)面，并就男女同性戀問(wèn)題進(jìn)行了探討和交流。第一段指出這一會(huì)面蘊(yùn)涵的意義；在第二段，作者以自己為例，向布什具體講述有關(guān)同性戀者的家庭、宗教信仰以及他（她）們之間的關(guān)系；第三段和第四段指出這一交流對(duì)布什產(chǎn)生的影響和作用。

詞匯注釋
behind the scenes  adv.在后臺(tái), 在幕后
gay[] n.<美俚> 同性戀者, 尤指男性同性者
sit down  v.坐下, 扎營(yíng), 坐下來(lái)商討, 停止, 降落
lesbian[]n.同性戀的女性
precedent[]n.先例
major party  n.（有競(jìng)選力量、可能入主政府或成為主要反對(duì)黨的）大黨；主要政黨
intolerant[]adj.不寬容的, 偏狹的
eye-opening[]adj.使瞠目吃驚的, 很有啟發(fā)的
acknowledge[]vt.承認(rèn), 答謝, 報(bào)償

難句突破
Our meeting set an important precedent: never again will a major-party candidate be able to run for president without addressing gay and lesbian issues.
主體句式：Our meeting set an important precedent…
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：“Our meeting set an important precedent”和“never again will a major-party candidate be able to run for president without addressing gay and lesbian issues”是一種并列關(guān)系。在這個(gè)句子中，需要注意這么一個(gè)語(yǔ)法點(diǎn)：如果否定詞（never, hardly, seldom, etc）位于句首，謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞要倒裝。注意掌握詞組“run for”，意為“競(jìng)選”，“address”意為“處理”。
句子譯文：我們的會(huì)面開(kāi)創(chuàng)了一個(gè)重要的先河：主要政黨的候選人不處理男女同性戀問(wèn)題就能競(jìng)選總統(tǒng)的日子一去不復(fù)返了。

題目分析
1.答案為C, 屬推理判斷題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是：“Our meeting set an important precedent: never again will a major-party candidate be able to run for president without addressing gay and lesbian issues. ”這一句話點(diǎn)出了此次會(huì)談的意義。
2.答案為A，屬推理判斷題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是“I wanted Governor Bush to understand that long-term, loving relationships, stable families, strong faith-based traditions and Republican voting histories are all part of the gay and lesbian community. ”作者以自己為例，是為了向布什更好地解釋有關(guān)同性戀的問(wèn)題。
3.答案為B，屬情感態(tài)度題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是“I was struck by his lack of familiarity with the issues, as well as by his desire to learn.”其中“strike”的含義為“打動(dòng)；感動(dòng)；給…印象； 吸引”等等。文章最后兩句話“To be honest, Bush still has a long way to go. But I think he's a lot farther along today than he was last week.”意為“老實(shí)說(shuō)，布什要走的路還很長(zhǎng)。但是我認(rèn)為與上周相比，他今天已走了很遠(yuǎn)。”表現(xiàn)出對(duì)布什的贊賞和肯定。
4.答案為D，屬事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是“He still opposes gay marriage and classifying crimes against gays as hate crimes.”由此我們可以確定選項(xiàng)B和C是正確的；從原文“the governor acknowledged his often-stated belief that gays should not adopt”，我們可以確定選項(xiàng)A是正確的；選項(xiàng)D在文中對(duì)應(yīng)的信息是“he insisted, assuring us he would hire gays and lesbians who both were qualified and shared his political views.”
5.答案為C，屬推理判斷題。從文中第一段“Our meeting set an important precedent: never again will a major-party candidate be able to run for president without addressing gay and lesbian issues.”我們可看出同性戀問(wèn)題的嚴(yán)重性。最后一段“To be honest, Bush still has a long way to go.”我們可看出這一問(wèn)題的長(zhǎng)期性和復(fù)雜性。由此可作出判斷。

參考譯文
想象一下，要求一位總統(tǒng)候選人坐下來(lái)參加“敏感會(huì)議”來(lái)商討有關(guān)男女同性戀問(wèn)題。但這正是我們上周在德克薩斯州的奧斯汀所做的事情。喬治•沃特•布什在拒絕會(huì)見(jiàn)批判他的共和黨同性戀團(tuán)體之后，邀請(qǐng)了我們十幾位同性戀共和黨人。我們的會(huì)面開(kāi)創(chuàng)了一個(gè)重要的先河：主要政黨的候選人不處理男女同性戀問(wèn)題就能競(jìng)選總統(tǒng)的日子一去不復(fù)返了。

布什并不贊同我們不得不說(shuō)出的一切。他對(duì)此類事情的陌生以及想要去了解的愿望使我深有感觸。我向他講述我和我的同伴羅布•莫理斯是如何處于這種長(zhǎng)達(dá)17年的同性戀關(guān)系的。我們雙方都是出自健康、健全、有宗教信仰的家庭。羅布生長(zhǎng)在喬治亞州的一個(gè)保守的共和黨家庭；我來(lái)自威斯康星州的一個(gè)老共和黨人家庭。我現(xiàn)在是我所在的路德教堂的副會(huì)長(zhǎng)。我想讓領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人布什明白的是，男女同性戀團(tuán)體擁有持久恩愛(ài)的關(guān)系，穩(wěn)定的家庭，堅(jiān)定的有宗教信仰的傳統(tǒng)和共和黨派選舉史。

我們的講述起了作用。布什承認(rèn)，因?yàn)樵诘轮蓍L(zhǎng)大，所以他對(duì)美國(guó)多元文化的構(gòu)成不夠敏感。他的交友圈很窄，而且他還固守傳統(tǒng)。但是當(dāng)他聽(tīng)說(shuō)人們認(rèn)為他很偏狹的時(shí)候，他還是感到吃驚和沮喪。“我說(shuō)了什么話傳遞了這樣的信息？”他反復(fù)地問(wèn)。我們就他在報(bào)導(dǎo)聲明里提到的如果你公然表示是男同性戀或女同性戀的話，那么將不予考慮你在政府部門任職這一觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行了對(duì)質(zhì)。“我從未說(shuō)過(guò)這樣的話。”他是這樣強(qiáng)調(diào)的，并向我們保證他會(huì)任用那些能干并且與他政治觀點(diǎn)相同的男、女同性戀的。

我們的看法對(duì)他而言顯然是有啟發(fā)性的。當(dāng)我們中的一個(gè)人談到他的同性戀姐姐和她的同伴收養(yǎng)孩子的問(wèn)題時(shí)，這位領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人承認(rèn)了他經(jīng)常陳述的觀點(diǎn)，那就是同性戀不應(yīng)該收養(yǎng)孩子。“你們給我講述了一種很忠情、很關(guān)愛(ài)的關(guān)系，”他說(shuō)，“我真的很重視我所聽(tīng)到的有關(guān)情況。”我們強(qiáng)調(diào)說(shuō)布什政府不會(huì)使我們近幾年所取得的進(jìn)展付之東流。我們還談到了有關(guān)艾滋病資助和研究問(wèn)題。雖然布什很專注——也確實(shí)表現(xiàn)出愿意傾聽(tīng)各方的意見(jiàn)——但我認(rèn)為我們并沒(méi)有改變他的觀點(diǎn)。他仍然反對(duì)同性戀人結(jié)婚，反對(duì)把迫害同性戀者的犯罪歸為仇視罪。老實(shí)說(shuō)，布什要走的路還很長(zhǎng)。但是我認(rèn)為與上周相比，他今天已走了很遠(yuǎn)。

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