2016年12月英语四级（第3套 · 含听力）选词填空

When someone commits a criminal act, we always hope the punishment will match the offense. But when it comes to one of the cruelest crimes—animal fighting—things __26__ work out that way. Dog-fighting victims are __27__ and killed for profit and "sport," yet their criminal abusers often receive a __28__ sentence for causing a lifetime of pain. Roughly half of all federally-convicted animal fighters only get probation (缓刑).
Some progress has been made in the prosecution (起诉) of animal fighters. But federal judges often rely heavily on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines when they __29__ penalties, and in the case of animal fighting, those guidelines are outdated and extremely __30__.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which __31__ these sentencing guidelines, is revisiting them, proposing to raise the minimum sentence from 6-12 to 21-27 months. This is a step in the right __32__, but we'd like to see the U.S. Sentencing Commission make further changes to the guidelines.
Along with this effort, we're working with animal advocates and state and federal lawmakers to __33__ anti-cruelty laws across the country, as well as supporting laws and policies that assist because the high animal __34__ that care for animal fighting victims. This help is __35__ important because the high cost of caring for animal victims is a major factor that prevents people from getting involved in cruelty cases in the first place.