考研英语范文阅读模拟试题及答案解析.pdfVIP

考研英语范文阅读模拟试题及答案解析 ( 一) It was 3: 45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After si x months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australias Northern Territory became the first legal authority in th e world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 1 0. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the groups on-line servi ce, Death NET. Says Hofsess: We posted bulletins all day long, becaus e of course this isnt just something that happened in Australia. It s world history. The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed si ghs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and t he Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Aust ralia-where an aging population, life-extending technology and changi ng community attitudes have all played their part-other states are go ing to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the US and Canada, where the right-to-die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling. Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can reques t death-probably by a deadly injection or pill-to put an end to suffe ring. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a cooling off period of seven days, the patient can sign a cer tificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. Fo r Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung ca ncer, the NT