Beyond question, Clinton was supposed to close up, stay out of sight, and avoid second- guessing his wife’s boss. After his ego blustered into oncoming traffic during Hillary’s heated primary race (1) Obama, the nation suffered from yet another turn of Clinton fatigue.
(2) this week Bill Clinton showed an instinct for robust, inclusive leadership that the (3) White House occupant could make good use of right for the time being. With President Obama struggling to (4) the political damage from the Gulf oil spill, Clinton not only can’t help himself—he’s worth being listened.
The conventional-wisdom (5) on President Obama’s early reaction to the spill was (6) he didn’t emote enough. He didn’t feel the (7) of all those people in the crisis whose livelihood would be destroyed, whose clean waters and wildlife would be (8) in black gunk.
Clinton considers this is an unfair (9) but offers a different—and more pointed— lesson to his young successor. "I think we ought to (10) in the same boat for a while... Let’s just (11) the problem, and then we can hold everybody responsible and emote or not emote, " Clinton conversed (12) CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Obama’s first (13) after the oil spill was to "feel the blame" rather than "feel the pain, " which are pretty sarcastic words as it were. No one intends to let British Petroleum (BP) management (14) the hook—for dangerously cutting corners, and for a (15) safety record. However, the President’s (16) focus on scolding BP consumed (17) White House energy while the oil gushed.
Great leaders don’t rush to criticise; Instead they instinctively (18) solutions. Rudy Giuliani, who didn’t stop to blame (19) intelligence for letting it happen, stood out from New York mayor with a girlfriend problem to 9/11 hero when he took control of a crisis and instilled confidence that a ravaged city could (20) beyond a terrorist attack.
16（）
A.important
B.special
C.initial
D.sharp
参考答案：C
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系和形容词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格所在句句意为“总统______重点放在指责英国石油公司上，会消耗白宫的资源”。空格处应填入一个形容词，修饰主语focus，将四个选项代入文中，只有选项[C]initial符合文意，initial focus意为“最初关注的焦点”，这与上文第三、五段出现的“early reaction(开始的反应)；first instinct(直觉反应)”相呼应。
[干扰排除] 将其他三项代入原文，important focus“重要的焦点”，special focus“特别的焦点”，sharp focus“备受关注的焦点”，均无法体现文中反复出现的"early reaction"、"first instinct"，故排除。