Recently there has been a tendency to sympathize with thieves whose operations have been carried out on a grand scale, and no attempt whatever has been made to hold them responsible. Some of the most thievish (像窃贼的 ) transactions have flourished and are still flourishing. Their success and their wealth are the only things recognized. They are honored as financiers and men of affairs, looked up to and respected.
In reality they are nothing more and nothing less than a lot of merciless and heartless thieves. Fraud is fraud and cheating is cheating despite the artistic manner in which it is committed or the size of the scale upon which it is operated.
It is time these men were classed properly and placed where they rightly belong, for they are no better than the miserable sneak-thief who steals a penny from a blind man’s dog.
For the past two or three years working people who have made sacrifices to save a few pennies have been cheated most unmercifully.
Their hard-earned savings have been
stolen from them by every possible scheme from the obvious looting (打劫 ) of a bank to the higher and more artistic method of legalized high risk, complex financial products. Men high up in the financial world have lent their names to some of the most shady and notorious schemes that ever dishonored a community or a people. Because of this the most diligent and economical (节俭的 ) American people have been induced to place their hard-earned and carefully guarded savings in what they were led to believe was a safe investment, only to find out when too late that they had fallen into the hands of a gang of extremely respectable cheats. They cannot recover what they have lost.
The thief is too powerful to be affected by the law while the victim is too weak to put its machinery in motion. It may be that the law is defective, or it may be that those having its
machinery in charge are influenced by the wealth of the transgressors (违犯者 ). Whatever or whichever it is that is responsible ought to be investigated and the evil remedied.
6)
What does the tendency mentioned in the first paragraph reflect?
A. People only respect success and wealth without any moral judgment.
B. People prefer to carry out operations on a grand scale.
C. People have made attempt to hold thieves responsible.
D. People encourage some of the most thievish transactions to flourish.
7)
How did working people lose their hard-earned savings?
A. They were robbed by the thieves nearby.
B. They were unlucky in investment.
C. They lent their money to men high up in the financial world.
D. They were cheated by the bank.
8)
When the writer says“a gang of extremely respectable cheats”in Paragraph Four, it is implied that .
A. they are respectable in artistic cheating
B. they are well-educated but ill-behaved
C. they are not well-educated but respected
D. they are cheats with respectable goals
9)
What could be a possible reason for the thieves to escape from law according to the passage?
A. They are powerful enough to ignore the law.
B. There are defects in the law.
C. The victim is too weak to investigate them.
D. They are wealthy enough to compensate the victims.
10)
It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. any thief should be punished
B. moral standards are always upheld
C. there are too many thieves and robbers
D. industrious and honest people should be highly paid
参考答案：
6) A 7) D 8) B 9) B 10) A
