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　　A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people.

　　Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.

　　Accountability isn’t hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.

　　Of the many values that hold civilization together -- honesty, kindness, and so on -- accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law -- and, ultimately, no society.

　　My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.

　　Fortunately there are still communities -- smaller towns, usually -- where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: “In this family certain things are not tolerated -- they simply are not done!”

　　Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you enrage him.

　　The main cause of this break-down is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home.

　　I don’t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything.

　　We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.

　　习题

　　1. What the wise man said suggests that ________.

　　[A] it’s unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil

　　[B] it’s certain that evil will prevail if good men do nothing about it

　　[C] it’s only natural for virtue to defeat evil

　　[D] it’s desirable for good men to keep away from evil

　　2. According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime, ________.

　　[A] society is to be held responsible

　　[B] modern civilization is responsible for it

　　[C] the criminal himself should bear the blame

　　[D] the standards of living should be improved

　　3. Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have ________.

　　[A] less self-discipline

　　[B] better sense of discipline

　　[C] more mutual respect

　　[D] less effective government

　　4. The writer is sorry to have noticed that ________.

　　[A] people in large cities tend to excuse criminals

　　[B] people in small towns still stick to old discipline and standards

　　[C] today’s society lacks sympathy for people in difficulty

　　[D] people in disadvantaged circumstances are engaged in criminal activities

　　5. The key point of the passage is that ________.

　　[A] stricter discipline should be maintained in schools and families

　　[B] more good examples should be set for people to follow

　　[C] more restrictions should be imposed on people’s behavior

　　[D] more people should accept the value of accountability