2014年职称英语考试综合类完形填空典型练习题(1)

　　In some countries where racial prejudice is acute, violence has been taken for granted as a means of solving differences; and this is not even questioned. There are countries ___1___ the white man imposes his rule by brute force; there are countries where the black man protests by __2__ fire to cities and by looting and pillaging. Important people on both sides, who would in other respects appear to be __3__ men, get up and calmly argue __4__ violence- --as if it were a legitimate solution, like any other. What is really frightening, what really fills you __5__ despair, is the realization that when it comes to the crunch, we have made no actual progress __6__. We may wear collars and ties instead of war-paint, but our instincts remain basically unchanged. The whole of the __7__ history of the human race, that tedious documentation of violence, has taught us absolutely nothing. We have still not learnt that violence never __8__ a problem but makes it more acute. The sheer horror, the bloodshed and the suffering __9__ nothing. No solution ever comes to light the morning after when we dismally contemplate the smoking ruins and wonder __10_ hit us.

　　The truly reasonable men who know where the solutions __11__ are finding it harder and harder to get a hearing. They are despised, mistrusted and even persecuted by their own __12__ because they advocate such apparently outrageous things __13__ law enforcement. If half the energy that goes into violent acts were __14__, if our efforts were directed at cleaning up the slums and ghettos, at improving living-standards and providing education and employment __15__ all, we would have gone a long way to arriving at a solution.