2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 70

Unit 70

Few lawyers did more to help George W. Bush become president than Barry Richard. As Bush’s quarterback in the Florida courts during last fall’s bruising recount, the white-maned Tallahassee, Fla., litigator became a familiar figure to TV audiences. He got the GOP equivalent of rock-star treatment when he came to Washington last January for Bush’s Inauguration. At one ball, recalls law partner Fred Baggett, a heavyset Texas woman lifted Richard off the floor and planted a big kiss on his cheek, exclaiming, “I love you for giving us our president!”

But Richard has discovered that the Bushes’ gratitude has its limits. More than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 2000 election, he and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, are still owed more than $800,000 in legal fees. The firm, which sent 39 lawyers and 13 paralegals into court battles all over the state, is one of a dozen that have so far been stiffed. The estimated total tab: more than $2 million. The situation, Newsweek has learned, has gotten increasingly sticky. While lawyers complain privately about foot dragging（Richard says he’s not among them）, Bush advisers are griping about “astronomical” bills—including one from a litigator who charged for more than 24 hours of work in a single day. “What you’ve got here is a bunch of rich lawyers bellyaching,” says one former Bush campaign official. “Yet these guys got huge in-kind contributions to their reputations out of this.”

The lawyers were supposed to get their money from the Bush Recount Committee, a fund-raising vehicle set up when the Florida fight began. A nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money, the committee and its chief fund-raiser, Texas oilman （and now Commerce secretary） Don Evans, swiftly collected $8.3 million—more than twice the $3.9 million Al Gore’s recount committee raised to pay its lawyers. To avoid charges that the recount was being bankrolled by special interests, the Bushes imposed a $5,000 cap on individual donations, a PR gesture they now regret. After paying off caterers, air charters and the army of GOP Hill types who came to Florida as “observers,” the “kitty ran dry,” says one source.

The Bush camp says it intends to pay up. But Ben Ginsberg, the former chief campaign counsel who has inherited the mess, hasn’t yet figured out how. As for the law firms, they are taking pains not to alienate their deadbeat clients, for fear of damaging their burgeoning Washington lobbying practices. Greenberg Traurig now represents electric power companies, drug manufacturers and Internet gambling interests willing to pay big money for access to policymakers. Whether Richard and company collect or not, that $800,000 could end up being a smart investment.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：第1、2、3、5、4題分別模仿1995年真題Text 3第1、2、3、5題和Text 4第1題。

1. The word “quarterback”（Line 2, Paragraph 1）most probably means ______.

A) supporter

B) counsel

C) assistant

D) adviser

2. The main problem Richard is facing now is ______.

A) the ingratitude of the Bushes

B) the complaints of his law partners

C) the unpaid bills

D) Bush advisers’ criticism

3. From the passage we can infer that ______.

A) lawyers also benefited a lot from working for the Bush Camp

B) Al Gore lost the recount case because his Recount Committee raised far fewer funds than that of Bush’s

C) Texan women are all very proud of having Bush as their president

D) the Bushes intend to become deadbeat clients because it does no harm to their relationship with law firms

4. According to the passage, the Bush Recount Committee ______.

A) spent all the raised money to pay its lawyers

B) had got most of its funds from individuals

C) could have raised more money if they hadn’t imposed a cap on individual donations

D) had to pay the bills of the army for their help in Bush’s election

5. We can learn from the last paragraph that ______.

A) the Bush camp also owes electrical power companies and drug manufacturers a lot of money

B) richard and his company have invested their legal fees to expand their business

C) greenberg Traurig works for electric power companies, drug manufacturers and Internet gambling interests

D) law firms don’t want to lose influential clients even if they don’t pay off their legal fees

篇章剖析

本文是一篇說明文，采用提出問題—分析問題的寫作模式。第一段，作者介紹了Barry Richard這個幫助布什贏得選舉的重要人物；第二段則說明了他和他的法律公司所面臨的問題：布什重新計票委員會尚未支付他們的律師費；第三段介紹了布什重新計票委員會的工作及其資金使用情況；第四段則分析說明即使該法律公司收不回律師費，他們?nèi)匀恍枰S持和這種客戶的關(guān)系。

詞匯注釋

quarterback /?kw??t?b?k/ n. （橄欖球）四分衛(wèi)；關(guān)鍵人物；智囊

bruising /?bru?z??/ adj. 困難的；令人不快的

mane /me?n/ n. （人的）長頭發(fā)；鬃毛

Tallahassee /?t?l??h?s?/ n. 塔拉哈西（美國佛羅里達州首府）

litigator /?l?t?ge?t?/ n. 訴訟律師

GOP 大老黨（美國共和黨的別稱）（Grand Old Party）

paralegal /?p?r??li?g?l,?p?r?l-/ n. 律師的專職助手，律師幫辦

stiff /st?f/ v. 〈美俚〉不肯給…小賬，讓…空手而去；失信沒給予或供給（擔保的或期望的東西）

astronomical /?str??n?m?k(?)l/ adj. 龐大的，無法估計的

bellyache /?bel?e?k/ v. 發(fā)（不該發(fā)的）牢騷，抱怨

nebulous /?nebjul?s/ adj. 含糊的，模糊的；曖昧的

bankroll /?b??kr??l/ v. 為…提供資金，資助

PR 公共關(guān)系 （public relation）

caterer /?ke?t?r?(r)/ n. 包辦伙食的人；籌備文娛節(jié)目的人

deadbeat /?dedbi:t/ n. 〈俗〉賴債不還的人，游手好閑者

burgeon /?b??d?(?)n/ v. （迅速）成長，發(fā)展

難句突破

A nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money, the committee and its chief fund-raiser, Texas oilman（and now Commerce secretary）Don Evans, swiftly collected $8.3 million—more than twice the $3.9 million Al Gore’s recount committee raised to pay its lawyers.

主體句式：The committee and its chief fund-raiser... swiftly collected...

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是個包含同位語和附加說明的長句。A nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money是委員會的同位語，起到補充說明的作用，而破折號之后的成分也是對句子的補充說明。

句子譯文：法律不要求這個性質(zhì)模糊的機構(gòu)透露其使用資金的情況。該委員會和它的主要籌資人，得克薩斯州石油商（現(xiàn)商務秘書）唐·伊萬斯很快就籌集了830萬美元——比艾爾·戈爾重新計票委員會所籌集的390萬美元資金的兩倍還多，并主要用這筆錢來支付律師費用。

題目分析

1. B 語義題。根據(jù)上下文，Richard作為訴訟律師為布什在佛羅里達法庭的成功立下了汗馬功勞。Quarterback原意是橄欖球比賽中的四分衛(wèi)，是球賽中的關(guān)鍵人物，這里則是指在法庭中為布什效力的辯護律師，是在法庭中勝訴的關(guān)鍵人物。Counsel有“辯護律師”的意思，詞義最為接近。

2. C 細節(jié)題。文章第二段提到了布什陣營拖欠Richard的公司巨額律師費以及由此引發(fā)的抱怨和布什競選班子的辯解，可見其面臨的主要問題是賬單未付清。

3. A 推理題。這從第二段引用布什競選班子成員的話：“Yet these guys got huge in-kind contributions to their reputations out of this.”和最后一段“that $800,000 could end up being a smart investment”兩句中可以看出律師事務所和律師們都從其為布什陣營的服務中獲益匪淺。

4. C 細節(jié)題。文章第三段提到布什重新計票委員會設置了個人捐助的上限（imposed a $5,000 cap on individual donations），并為其后悔。在第三段結(jié)尾處講到在付完各種費用后，他們的資金已經(jīng)所剩無幾（the “kitty ran dry”），由此可以推斷出答案是C。

5. D 推理題。從最后一段“As for the law firms, they are taking pains not to alienate their deadbeat clients, for fear of damaging their burgeoning Washington lobbying practices.”來看，為了華盛頓的業(yè)務，律師事務所還不得不拉攏賴賬的客戶。所以答案D是正確的。

參考譯文

為了幫助喬治·W.布什成為總統(tǒng)，巴里·理查德做了比大多數(shù)律師都要多的工作。作為在去年秋天那場難解難分的重新計票風波中布什的法庭辯護律師，這位來自佛羅里達州塔拉哈西市的滿頭白發(fā)的訴訟律師成了電視觀眾熟悉的人物。去年一月他到華盛頓參加布什就職典禮的時候，得到了共和黨對待搖滾歌星的待遇。據(jù)他的律師合伙人弗萊德·巴格特回憶，在一場舞會中，一位體格壯實的得克薩斯婦女將理查德舉了起來，在他臉上重重地吻了一下，并且大聲說道：“你成就了我們的總統(tǒng)，我愛你！”

但理查德發(fā)現(xiàn)布什陣營的感激是有限的。在美國最高法院裁定2000年選舉最終獲勝者四個多月后，他和他的“格林伯格·特里格”公司仍然被拖欠了超過80萬美元的法律服務費。他的公司將39名律師和13名律師助手派往全州各地參與法庭辯論，現(xiàn)在和其他十幾家公司一樣沒有收到勞務費。估計拖欠費用總計已經(jīng)超過了200萬美元。據(jù)《新聞周刊》了解，現(xiàn)在這種局面已經(jīng)變得越來越困難了。雖然律師們私下對拖延付費頗有微詞（理查德說他沒有抱怨過），布什的顧問手里還有一大把“天文數(shù)字”的賬單——包括一位訴訟律師開出的每天超過24小時工作費的賬單?！霸谶@里的都是些收入不菲還抱怨個不停的律師?！币晃磺安际哺傔x班子的官員說道，“可是這些人還從這項工作中得到了提高他們聲望的巨大實惠?！?

這些律師應該從布什重新計票委員會那里拿到他們的報酬。該委員會成立于佛羅里達之爭開始的時候，其主要工作就是籌集資金。法律不要求這個性質(zhì)模糊的機構(gòu)透露其使用資金的情況。該委員會和它的主要籌資人，得克薩斯州石油商（現(xiàn)商務秘書）唐·伊萬斯很快就籌集了830萬美元——比艾爾·戈爾重新計票委員會所籌集的390萬美元資金的兩倍還多，并主要用這筆錢來支付律師費用。為了避免被指控其重新計票工作獲得特殊利益集團的資助，布什班子對個人捐款設置5000美元的上限，現(xiàn)在他們正為這種公關(guān)姿態(tài)后悔不已。在付清了用于包辦伙食、包租飛機以及到佛羅里達“觀察”助陣的共和黨議員團的賬單之后，“籌集的資金已經(jīng)所剩無幾”，一位知情人說道。

布什陣營說他們想要付清賬單。但前主要競選顧問本·金斯伯格面對著接手的一團糟局面還沒有理出頭緒。至于那些法律事務所，他們正在盡力不疏遠那些賴賬的客戶，以免損害他們在華盛頓剛剛起步的院外游說業(yè)務。現(xiàn)在“格林伯格·特里格”公司代表著那些愿意出巨資來接近政策制定者的電力公司、藥品制造商和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)博彩行業(yè)。不論理查德及其公司能不能收回法律服務費，那80萬美元都是一筆精明的投資。