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

　　本文可以說是一篇記敘文，作者以第一人稱的身份講述了十幾個共和黨人同總統(tǒng)候選人布什的會面，并就男女同性戀問題進行了探討和交流。第一段指出這一會面蘊涵的意義;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布什產(chǎn)生的影響和作用。

　　詞匯注釋

　　behind the scenes adv.在后臺， 在幕后

　　gay[^eI] n. 同性戀者， 尤指男性同性者

　　sit down v.坐下， 扎營， 坐下來商討， 停止， 降落

　　lesbian n.同性戀的女性

　　precedent n.先例

　　major party n.(有競選力量、可能入主政府或成為主要反對黨的)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， 答謝， 報償

　　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。在這個句子中，需要注意這么一個語法點：如果否定詞(never， hardly， seldom， etc)位于句首，謂語動詞要倒裝。注意掌握詞組“run for”，意為“競選”，“address”意為“處理”。

　　句子譯文：我們的會面開創(chuàng)了一個重要的先河：主要政黨的候選人不處理男女同性戀問題就能競選總統(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. ”這一句話點出了此次會談的意義。

　　2.答案為A，屬推理判斷題。原文對應(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)同性戀的問題。

　　3.答案為B，屬情感態(tài)度題。原文對應(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;感動;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“老實說，布什要走的路還很長。但是我認為與上周相比，他今天已走了很遠�！北憩F(xiàn)出對布什的贊賞和肯定。

　　4.答案為D，屬事實細節(jié)題。原文對應(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A是正確的;選項D在文中對應(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題的嚴重性。最后一段“To be honest， Bush still has a long way to go.”我們可看出這一問題的長期性和復(fù)雜性。由此可作出判斷。

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