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:ac-countability.

　　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 con-trols 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 re-straints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property ; he takes what he wants,including your life if you engage 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 rever-sal,it's the criminal who is considered victimized : by his under-priviledged 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 accountabili-ty,we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for any-thing.

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

　　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

　　這篇文章的中心思想句就出現(xiàn)在文章的第四段：Of the many values that hold civi-lization together--honesty，kindness，and so on--accountability may be the most im-portant of all.Without it，there can be no respect，no trust，no law——and，ultimately，no society(在許多人類文明的價值觀念中，負(fù)起責(zé)任是最重要的)。文章最后一句的總結(jié)也是這一意思：We in America desperately need more people who believe that the per-son who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.使更多的人認(rèn)識到犯罪的人要對自己的罪行負(fù)起責(zé)任。對照選項(xiàng)，D.more people should accept the value of accounta-bility就是這個意思。

　　也有中心思想旬在文章結(jié)尾出現(xiàn)的。

　　例3

　　The death of reading has been frequently, if not prematurely, reported. We are toldthat we live in an audio-visual age with radio,television,film,or other forms for ear and eye replacing the printed page. The picture is said to be faster to present, more adapta-ble to the message, and easier to comprehend.

　　How can anyone be expected to resist the tide, the torrent of competing images?

　　Can we preserve the printed page and the art and skills of reading? Untold teachers, writers,and others have struggled to show the rewards of reading,to demonstrate the practical values, and to encourage reading for personal discovery and growth. The ques-tion is whether the dedicated have had more influence than the image-flashers. Fortu-nately there are some hopeful signs.

　　We can note the publication of more books, magazines, and papers than in any pre-vious time in our history. Libraries report far greater use than ever before. Schools con-tinue to show large numbers at all ages(except the young,due to a changing birthrate)seeking to attend. Even the visual media acknowledge their great dependence on the production of the printed word. Reading is not dead, dying, or. seriously ill. It remains as the major avenue to individual learning and satisfaction.