The political career of Cicero, a great Roman statesman and the most well-known speech-maker of his time, was a remarkable one.

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问题     The political career of Cicero, a great Roman statesman and the most well-known speech-maker of his time, was a remarkable one. At the time, high political offices in Rome, though technically achieved by winning elections, were almost exclusively controlled by a group of wealthy noble families that had held them for many generations. Cicero’s family, though noble, was not one of them, nor did it have great wealth. But Cicero had a great deal of political ambition; at a very young age he chose as his basic belief the same one Achilles was said to have had: to always be the best and overtop the rest. Lacking the advantages of a proper family origin, there were essentially only two career options open to him. One was a military career, since military success was thought to result from exceptional personal qualities and could lead to popularity and therefore political opportunity as was the case much later for American presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight
    D. Eisenhower. Cicero, however, was no soldier. He hated war, and served in the military only very briefly as a young man.
    Instead, Cicero chose a career in the law. To prepare for this career, he studied law, rhetoric, and philosophy. When he felt he was ready, he began taking part in legal cases. A career in the law could lead to political success for several reasons, all of which are still relevant today. First, a lawyer would gain a great deal of experience in making speeches. Second, he could also gain exposure and popularity from cases. Finally, a successful lawyer would build up a network of political connections, which is important now but was even more important in Cicero’s time, when political competition was not conducted along party lines or on the basis of doctrine, but instead was based on loose, shifting networks of personal friendships and commitments. Cicero proved to be an excellent speech-maker and lawyer, and an outstanding politician. He was elected to each of the principal Roman offices on his first try and at the earliest age at which he was legally allowed to run for them.
To win an important office in Cicero’s time, a candidate should________.

选项 A、be born of a wealthy family
B、possess political experience
C、launch a national campaign
D、convince the general public

答案A

解析 细节题。文中第一段第二句提到“At the time, high political offices in Rome, though technically achieved by winning elections, were almost exclusively controlled by a group of wealthy noble families that had held them for many generations. ”在那一时期,罗马的高级官职尽管需要严格依据法律要通过选举产生,但历代以来,政界官员几乎都完全受控于显赫的富有家族组织。由此可知,在西塞罗时期想要当选,就要来自富有的家族,故选A。
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