hi Andrew,
if you want a low tech solution that will get you close, you may wish to try this:
1) stretch the text object or field out to the width where nothing wraps, like in your pic option #1
2) copy the text object and paste it so that it is level with the existing text object
3) change the border colour of the copy to white
4) insert a line so that it acts as the new border for the first text object...ensure that it is formatted so that it extends to the bottom of the section
here's what i get with this method using the product description memo field from the xtreme sample database.
have a look at the attached sample to see if that helps. please change the file extension to .rpt after you extract it.
cheers,
jamie