2. 外语
  3. 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 cit

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 cit

admin2009-05-09  91
问题     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 practices — 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 Dbrsey, 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 individual 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 formality. His clients include congressmen and diplomats, as well as firms for which tickets are an occupational 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 Congressional 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 anddisabled 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.
It can be inferred from the text that service expediters could possibly
选项 A、sort out troubles for elderly and disabled people.
B、help collect fines for local governments.
C、sting the government into improving services.
D、help poor foreigners navigate home.
答案A
解析 该题为细节题。根据第四段第三句“…so do elderly and disabled people who want to save time on errands that require long hours standing in line．”可知，这些服务加速者代替老年人和残疾人排队，这样老年人和残疾人可以节省排队的时间，A项认为服务加速者可以为老年人和残疾人排忧解难，符合文意；根据第三段第二句和第三句可知，非税金收入，比如罚金，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，B项与文意相反；根据最后一段第一句“And，who knows，the service expediters might even shame the bureaucrats into pulling their socks up．”可知，作者认为服务加速者也许能使政府感到羞愧而努力改善服务，并不是激怒政府，故排除C；根据第四段第三句“Pool foreigners with little English hire expediters to navigate the ticket-fighting process…”可知，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章罚单申辩，而不是D项中的帮助贫穷的外国人回家。
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