The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot (1)_______ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law (2)_______ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that (3)_______ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.

    Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be (4)_______ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not (5)_______ by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself. (6)_______ to the code of conduct that (7)_______ to the rest of the federal judiciary.

    This and other similar cases (8)_______ the question of whether there is still a (9)_______ between the court and politics.

The framers of the Constitution envisioned law (10)_______ having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions (11)_______ they would be free to (12)_______ those in power and have no need to (13)_______ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely (14)_______ .

    Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social (15)_______ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it (16)_______ is inescapably political—which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily (17)_______ as unjust.

    The justices must (18)_______ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves (19)_______ to the code of conduct. That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, (20)_______, convincing as law.

答案精析：动词辨析题。空处所填动词是从句的谓语，表明先行词ways（方式）和从句宾语reputation（名誉）之间的关系。这里的several instances（几起事件）和下一段的for example（例如）形成呼应，说明第二段是对此处事件的例证。第二段中法官安东宁·斯卡利亚出现在政治活动中的行为是会削弱法院的独立性和公正性的，故正确答案为B选项。

错项排除：A选项的“恢复”和C选项的“建立”均与原文想表达的含义相反，故错误。D选项“消除”太过绝对，个别行为不足以消除法院的名声，故排除。

长难句分析：Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that weakened the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.

本句为复杂句，句子主干是justices acted，主语是justices，谓语是acted。Yet表示上下文语义的转折。in several instances是地点状语，in ways是方式状语，后面that引导的定语从句修饰ways，定语从句是主谓宾结构，其中for being independent and impartial是介词结构作后置定语修饰reputation。

句意为：然而，在几起事件中，法官的行为都削弱了法庭独立和公正的声誉。