The Reagan administration's most serious foreign policy problem surfaced near the end of the president's second term. In 1987 Americans learned that the administration had secretly sold arms to Iran in an attempt to win freedom for American hostages held in Lebanon by radical organizations controlled by Iran's Khomeini government. Investigation also revealed that funds from the arms sales had been diverted to the Nicaraguan contras during a period when Congress had prohibited such military aid.

    The ensuing Iran-contra hearings before a joint House-Senate committee examined issues of possible illegality as well as the broader question of defining American foreign policy interests in the Middle East and Central America. In a larger sense, the Iran-contra hearings, like the celebrated Senate Watergate hearings 14 years earlier, addressed fundamental questions about the government's accountability to the public, and the proper balance between the executive and legislative branches of government.

參考答案：

    里根政府最嚴重的對外政策問題在總統(tǒng)第二任期行將結(jié)束之際浮出水面。1987年，美國人得知里根政府曾秘密向伊朗出售武器，試圖為那些美國人質(zhì)換取人身自由，這些人質(zhì)被伊朗霍梅尼政府所控制的激進組織囚禁于黎巴嫩。此外，調(diào)查也披露，這些武器交易中所得的款項被轉(zhuǎn)移到尼加拉瓜反政府武裝組織的手里，但在這一時期，美國國會早已禁止此類性質(zhì)的軍事援助。

    隨后所舉行的參眾兩院聯(lián)合委員會的有關(guān)"伊朗-反政府武裝組織事件"聽證會審議了有可能存在的非法問題，以及對美國在中東和中美洲對外政策利益進行界定這一更為廣泛的問題。從某種較為寬泛的意義上說，有關(guān)"伊朗-反政府武裝組織事件"的聽證會，猶如14年前著名的參議員水門事件聽證會那樣，所涉及到的都是某些根本性問題，即政府應(yīng)如何向公眾負責(zé)，以及政府行政與立法部門之間如何才能達成某種恰如其分的平衡。