真题背单词:2010年考研英语(二) Text 4 原文及翻译

2010年《考研英语（二）》Text 4 原文及翻译

原文：

Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries; that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion, sex, or national origin; that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers; and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.

But as recently as in 1968, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals. In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character. Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of Strauder v. West Virginia, the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.

The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century. Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898, it was not until the 1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty. Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personally asked to have their names included on the jury list. This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.

In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury. This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level. The ruling also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.

翻译：

许多美国人将陪审团制度视为关键民主价值观的具体体现，包括以下原则：所有符合最低年龄和识字要求的公民都有平等的能力担任陪审员；陪审员应从具有代表性的社区群体中随机选出；任何公民不得因种族、宗教、性别或民族出身而被剥夺担任陪审员的权利；被告有权接受同侪的审判；并且，裁决应体现社区的良知，而不仅仅是法律条文的字面意义。陪审团制度也被认为是现存最好的直接民主制度的例子，而非代议制民主。在直接民主中，公民轮流自治，而不是选举代表来替他们治理。

但就在1968年，陪审团遴选程序仍与这些民主理想相冲突。例如，在一些州，陪审员职责仅限于那些被认为具有卓越智力、教育水平和道德品质的人。尽管美国最高法院早在1880年斯特劳德诉西弗吉尼亚州案中就禁止了陪审团遴选中的故意种族歧视，但遴选所谓的精英或蓝带陪审团的做法为绕过该禁令及其他反歧视法律提供了便利。

直到20世纪中期，该制度才定期将女性纳入陪审团。尽管女性最早于1898年在犹他州担任州陪审员，但直到20世纪40年代，大多数州才赋予女性担任陪审员的资格。即便如此，仍有几个州自动豁免女性的陪审员职责，除非她们个人要求将自己的名字列入陪审团名单。这种做法以女性需要待在家里的理由为借口，使得陪审团在20世纪60年代仍缺乏女性代表。

1968年，美国国会通过了《陪审团遴选与服务法案》，开启了陪审团民主改革的新时代。该法律废除了对联邦陪审员的特殊教育要求，并要求从整个社区的代表性群体中随机遴选陪审员。在1975年具有里程碑意义的泰勒诉路易斯安那州案中，最高法院将陪审团必须代表社区所有部分的要求延伸至州一级。该裁决还宣布陪审团遴选中的性别歧视违宪，并命令各州在遴选男女陪审员时使用相同的程序。

重点单词与短语汇总

核心名词与术语：

• jury system 陪审团制度

• democratic values 民主价值观

• minimal qualifications 最低资格要求

• representative cross section 代表性横截面（指代表社会各阶层的人群）

• national origin 民族出身

• defendants 被告

• trial by their peers 由同侪审判

• verdicts 裁决

• conscience of the community 社区良知

• letter of the law 法律条文（字面意义）

• direct democracy 直接民主

• representative democracy 代议制民主

• selection procedures 遴选程序

• superior intelligence 卓越智力

• moral character 道德品质

• intentional racial discrimination 故意种族歧视

• elite / blue-ribbon juries 精英/蓝带陪审团

• antidiscrimination laws 反歧视法律

• Jury Selection and Service Act 陪审团遴选与服务法案

• federal jurors 联邦陪审员

• landmark decision 里程碑式的裁决

• unconstitutional 违宪的

核心动词与短语：

• regard...as... 将...视为...

• be competent to 有能力做...

• be selected randomly 被随机选出

• be denied the right 被剥夺权利

• on account of 因为，由于

• be entitled to 有权享有...

• take turns 轮流

• conflict with 与...冲突

• prohibit...in... 禁止...在...中

• provide a way around 提供绕过...的方法

• fail to include 未能包含

• be eligible for 有资格做...

• automatically exempt...from 自动免除...的...义务

• usher in 开启（新时代）

• abolish requirements 废除要求

• extend...to... 将...延伸至...

逻辑与描述性词汇：

• concrete 具体的

• crucial 关键的

• supposedly 据称，被认为

• convenient 便利的

• unrepresentative 无代表性的

• at random 随机地