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Text 4 Queuse are long. Life is short. So why

2022-08-05 18:57:09 问答库 阅读 171 次

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Text 4
Queuse are long. Life is short. So why waste time waiting when you can pay someone to do it for you? In Washington D. C. - a city that struggles with more than its share of bureaucratic prac- tices - a small industry is emerging that will queue for you to get everything from a driver"s license to a seat in a congressional hearing.
Michael Dorsey,one of the pioneering" service expediters" ,began going to traffic courts for other people back in 1988. Today his fees start at $ 20 and can go into the thousands to plead indi- vidual cases at the Bureau of Traffic Adjudication(his former employer) . Mr. Dorsey knows what a properly written parking ticket looks like,and often gets fines invalidated on its failures in formali- ty. His clients include congressmen and diplomats,as well as firms for which tickets are an occupa- tional hazard,such as taxi operators and television broadcasters.
Service expediters are not universally loved. Non-tax income,like fines and fees,makes up a-bout 7% of local-government revenue in Washington. Mr. Dorsey alone relieves that fund of $ 150,000 a year. Meanwhile ,citizen advocacy groups keep complaining about expediters such as the Con-gressional Services Company and CVK Group that specialise in saving places for congressional hearings. Committees hearing hot topics such as energy regulation often do not have enough seats.Why should a well-heeled lobbyist who has paid $ 30 an hour to a professional place-holder grab the place? Critics say this perpetuates a two-layered system:the rich get good government service, but the poor still have to wait.
This seems a little harsh. Service expeditors can hardly be blamed for creating the unfair system they profit from. Anyway ,it"s not only rich corporate types who benefit from their services. Poor foreigners with little English hire expediters to navigate the ticket-fighting process; so do elderly and disabled people who want to save time on errands that require long hours standing in line.
And ,who knows ,the service expediters might even shame the bureaucrats into pulling their socks up. Back in 1999,Washington"s mayor ,Tony Williams ,promised to liberate citizens from the tyranny of the government queue. Things have gotten a bit better, but the 20-minute task of renewing a driver"s license can still take days. Hiring an expert to confront the bureaucratic beast on your behalf takes care of that.
56. What is the new business which emerged in Washington D. C. ?
[ A] Helping to establish small industries.
[ B] Making false tickets and driver"s licenses.
[ C] Assisting in organising congressional hearings.
[ D] Offering to go through official procedures for clients.请帮忙给出正确答案和分析,谢谢!

参考答案

正确答案:D
Text4参考译文队列很长。生命很短。如果可以花钱雇人为你排队的话,那你为什么还要浪费时间自己排队呢?在华盛顿——一座人们为繁琐的政府办事手续而苦恼的城市——正在兴起一种小型行业,即有人替你排队办理各种繁琐的行政手续,从驾照手续到占据国会听证座位。麦克·多斯是具有开创性的“服务加速员”其中一员,他从1988年起就开始替别人去交通法庭。现在,他在交通审判局(他以前的工作单位)为顾客辩护交通案件的收费从20美元起价,最高能达到几千美元。多斯先生知道罚单正确的填写格式,因此他经常使罚单由于格式不正确而变得无效。他的顾客包括国会议员和外交官,以及收到违规停车罚单将会面临职业风险的公司,比如出租车公司和电视广播公司。并不是所有人都喜欢服务加速员。非税金收入,比如罚金和各种费用,占华盛顿政府年收入的7%,仅多斯先生一人就使华盛顿政府每年减少了15万美元的收入。同时,公民平等原则提倡团体一直都在抱怨像国会服务公司和CVK集团这类服务加速员,他们专门为顾客在国会听证会上占座位。一些热门话题的委员会听证会比如能源法规听证会的座位常常比较紧张。为什么一个富有的议员游说人以每小时30美元的价格雇佣一个专业占位人就能得到座位呢?批评家认为该新兴行业延续了双层体制:富人享受良好的政府服务,而穷人仍然不得不排队等候。这种说法似乎有一点残酷。我们不应该指责服务加速员为了盈利而制造了不公平的体制。无论如何,并不仅仅是富人受益于他们的服务。那些几乎不懂英语的可怜的外国人雇佣服务加速者来应对交通违规罚单申辩程序,那些想要免除排队之苦的老年人和残疾人也受益于这一新兴行业。2008年9月参考答案及精析第8页(共12页)谁知道呢。也许正是服务加速者使得政府感到羞愧而努力改善服务。早在1999年,华盛顿市长托尼·威廉姆斯就承诺将市民从等待办理行政手续的长队中解脱出来。虽然情况已经有所好转,但是等待20分钟更换驾照的日子还要继续。而你自己完全可以通过雇佣专业的服务加速者来解决这一问题。答案及精析56.D【精析】该题为细节题。根据第一段第四句“InWashingtonD.C.-acitythatstruggleswithmorethanitsshareofbureaucraticpractices-asmallindustryisemergingthatwillqueueforyoutogeteverythingfromadriver'slicensetoaseatinacongressionalhearing.”可知,在华盛顿人们为繁琐的政府办事手续苦恼,因此出现了一个新兴行业,从业者替你排队办理各种手续,包括驾照手续及国会听证会手续,故选D。

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