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  3. It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months

游客2025-04-07  22
问题     It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the 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 10. 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 group’s on line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn’t 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 III law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia — where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia In the U.S. 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 request death—probably by a deadly injection or pill—to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54 year old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally III law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I’m not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I’d go, because I’ve watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks," he says. [br] The author’s attitude towards euthanasia seems to be that of______.
选项 A、opposition
B、suspicion
C、approval
D、indifference
答案 C
解析 从文章第1段的内容可知，经过6个月的争论和16个小时议会的最后激烈辩论，澳大利亚北部地区成为第一个允许医生结束那些无药可救、但求一死的病人的生命的合法地区；这一法案的通过不只是澳大利亚发生的事情，它是世界上的一件历史大事；从文章第2段的内容可知，这一法案的深刻意义可能需要过一段时间才能为人们所理解；有些人如释重负，而另一些人都对这一法案以及它的草率通过进行了猛烈抨击；但是这一趋势不可能逆转；在美国和加拿大，死亡权利运动正在逐渐兴起，观察家们正在等待多米诺骨牌开始倒下；从文章最后一段的内容可知，根据澳大利亚北部地区的新法，成年病人可以要求安乐死来结束痛苦；对于饱受肺癌煎熬的Lloyd Nickson来说，北部地区的晚期病人权利法案意味着他可以平静地生活下去而无须惧怕因呼吸困难而死去。据此可知，作者支持安乐死。C项与文章的意思相符，因此C项为正确答案。
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