大学英语六级考试拓展阅读练习(8)

　　How fair are juries? A study published this week offers timely support for a system that used to be regarded as one of the bulwarks of an Englishmans civil liberties but has come under increasing attack of late. In England, unlike America, juries no longer decide most civil trials. And now the government is pushing a bill through Parliament to abolish them in complex fraud cases. In America the selection of jurors acceptable to both the prosecution and the defence sometimes takes longer than the trial itself. The process can involve exhaustive interviews about prospective jurors beliefs and prejudices. But in Britain jurors are selected randomly from the 94 Crown Court catchment areas in England and Wales. Most accept the call, and there is little chance to challenge a juror unless he actually knows the defendant. This has not prevented assertions that English juries produce verdicts that are racially biased because they do not accurately reflect societys ethnic mix. A four-year study by a team at the University of Birminghams law school, led by Cheryl Thomas, has shown those charges to be largely a myth. In over 95% of the 84 Crown Courts that were surveyed, ethnic minorities were not under-represented among either those summoned for jury service or those actually serving as jurors. Members of ethnic minorities and whites were equally willing to do jury service and to support the jury system. The study punctured another myth too: that juries are largely made up of the retired and the unemployed. Women, young people and self-employed folk were all fully represented, the reports authors concluded. And far from shirking jury duty, fancy people in fancy jobs were found to be more conscientious than others, if anything. All in all, jury pools seem to reflect the local population quite closely in terms of race, gender, age and background. Yet the perception of racial bias is not always unfounded. In London, where 45% of ethnic minorities live and a quarter of all jurors serve, juries are always racially mixed. But in 74 of the 94 court-catchment areas, ethnic minorities, though sometimes concentrated in pockets, make up less than 10% of the population overall. They therefore have little chance of being selected for jury duty. Ms Thomas and her team chose to study racially mixed juries to see whether a defendants race influenced deliberations. Contrary to widespread belief, no discrimination was found. In an elaborate case simulation at Londons Blackfriars court, which involved more than 300 jurors on 27 juries, the verdicts were all remarkably similar, regardless of whether the defendant was black, Asian or white. This does not mean that a defendants race did not influence individual jurors. Black and Asian jury members tended to show more leniency toward black defendants, whereas white jurors were usually softer on white defendants. But these individual biases did not affect the collective verdicts of the juries. Ten of 12 jurors must usually agree for a verdict to be reached, so individual biases cancelled each other out. Lord Falconer, the newly styled justice secretary, hailed the report as a vindication of juries, which he believes are utterly vital to our justice system . This has not, apparently, changed his and the governments determination to abolish juries for complex and lengthy fraud trials, however despite the opposition of most lawyers, civil-liberties groups and the vast majority of the British public. 1.The government of Britian wants to abolish juries in complex fraud cases probably because_____ there is no significance of jury s existence since civil trials do not need it any more. the system of juries has been under increasing attack by all people of the society. juries do not accurately reflect society s ethnic mix. the selection of jurors makes jury inefficient and intricate. 2. From he study by the team led by Cheryl Thomas, we may make the following conclusions except _____ the juries reflect society s ethnic mix. the juries could fully represent people of all walks of life. the juries are made of members of whites and ethnic minorities of equal number. the juries make verdicts without discrimination. 3. About the racial bias of juries, which one of the following statements is TRUE? Racial bias is often counterbalanced with each other among individual jurors, resulting in a fair verdict. The jurors has almost none individual discrimination toward the defendant Racial bias exists in individual jurors but is seldom reflected in their final personal judgment. The jurors are usually well-trained in curbing their individual bias. 4. In the eyes of most Englishmen, the verdicts by juries are_____ immune from discrimination. influenced by their prejudices. fair enough. influenced by the defendant. 5. Towards the determination to abolish juries for complex fraud trials, Lord Falconer s attitude can be said to be_____ supportive. opposing. indifferent. dubious.

　　文章剖析： 这篇文章介绍了英国预废除诈骗案件陪审团的情况以及相关的研究。第一段讲述英国陪审团体制目前政府在考虑废除;第二段讲述英国民众对于陪审团的看法;第三、四段讲述某小组研究成果表示英国民众对于陪审团的看法是错误的;第五段讲述存在的一些偏颇;第六段讲述陪审团裁决不会受到偏见的影响;第七段讲述目前的废除进展。 词汇注释： bulwark n. 壁垒，防御 catchment n. 流域，区域 puncture v. 刺破 shirk v. 逃避，推卸 conscientious adj. 尽责的 leniency n. 宽大, 仁慈, 温和 难句突破： This has not prevented assertions that English juries produce verdicts that are racially biased because they do not accurately reflect societys ethnic mix. This has not prevented assertions that 这是一个复合句，that 引导的是定语从句修饰前面的assertions，在该定语从句中又有一个that引导的定语从句修饰verdicts, because引导的原因状语从句是主语定语从句中的状语从句。 但是即使这样还是有人难免认为英国陪审团所作出的裁决具有种族偏见，因为陪审团不能准确地反映社会的种族混合情况。 In an elaborate case simulation at Londons Blackfriars court, which involved more than 300 jurors on 27 juries, the verdicts were all remarkably similar, regardless of whether the defendant was black, Asian or white. The verdicts were all similar. 这是一个复合句，前面的介词短语是句子的状语;在该状语中，which引导的非限定性定语从句修饰前面的case。 在伦敦Blackfriars法庭的一次精心的案件模拟中，有27个陪审团的300个陪审员参加，不管被告是黑人、亚洲人还是白人，裁决都非常相似。 题目分析： 1. The government of Britian wants to abolish juries in complex fraud cases probably because_____ 1. 英国政府要在诈骗案件中废除陪审团是因为_____ juries no longer make verdict on civel trials. 陪审团在民事案件中不再作出裁决。 the system of juries has come under increasing attack. 陪审团制度不断受到攻击。 juries do not accurately reflect society s ethnic mix. 陪审团不能体现社会种族混合。 the selection of juries is too complex. 陪审团的选择过于复杂。 B ☆☆☆ 推理题。第一段提到了英国政府正在将废除诈骗案件陪审团的提议提交国会，前面提到陪审团制度目前备受非议，后面又多次提到大众对陪审团的偏见，认为他们有歧视现象。因此，可以推断，之所以要废除陪审团可能就是受到责难的原因。因此，选项B符合题意。 2. From the study by the team led by Cheryl Thomas, we may make the following conclusions except _____ 2 由CherylThomas小组的研究我们可以得出除_____外的以下结论。 the juries reflect society s ethnic mix. 陪审团反映了社会种族混合。 the juries could fully represent people of all walks of life. 陪审团可以充分代表各行各业的人 the juries are made of members of whites and ethnic minorities of equal number. 陪审团由相同数量的白人和少数民族组成。 the juries make verdicts without discrimination. 陪审团作出裁决没有偏见。 C ☆☆ 细节题。选项A，从第三段可以看出，陪审团体现了这种民族混合。选项B，从第四段可以看出，不论种族、年龄、背景等的不同，陪审团都充分代表了;选项C，第三段只提到白人和少数民族的人都愿意参加陪审工作、支持陪审制度，但并未说明数量相同，而且从第五段可以看出，有些地区的少数民族人数过少，就没有参与的机会，因此该选项说法错误;D，第六段可以看出这一点来。因此，答案为C选项。 3. About the racial bias of juries, which one of the following statements is TRUE? 3 关于陪审团的种族偏见，下列哪个陈述是正确的? Racial bias is often counterbalanced with each other among individual jurors, resulting in a fair verdict. 由于陪审团成员之间的种族歧视互相抵消，因此最后的判决是公正的。 The jurors has almost none individual discrimination toward the defendant. 陪审员对于被告没有个人偏见。 Racial bias exists in individual jurors but is seldom reflected in their final personal judgment. 陪审员都有自己的种族偏见，但却没有体现在他们最终的个人判断上。 The jurors are not affected by their individual bias. 陪审员不会受到他们个人偏见的影响。 A ☆☆☆☆ 细节题。根据文章中小组所作的研究，陪审员单个人对于被告是会受到个人偏见的影响，但他们整体做出的裁决却不会受到影响。因此，选项中，A是正确的， C选项看上去与A选项的表述差不多，但是其错误在于personal judgment，其实陪审员的个人判断也受到了个人种族偏见的影响，只是最终的审判结果在众人的综合作用下是公正的。D是错误的。选项C在文章第五段提到，在一些地区其实存在着一些不平等。因此正确答案为A选项。 4. In the eyes of most Englishmen, the verdicts by juries are_____ 4 在大多数英国人眼中，陪审团所作出的裁决是_____ immune from discrimination. 不受偏见影响的。 influenced by their prejudices.

　　受到他们偏见的影响。 fair enough. 非常公正。 influenced by the defendant. 受到被告的影响。 B ☆☆☆ 推理题。文章第一段就提到，有人认为陪审团不能充分反映各混合民族的利益;而文章第六段又提出，和广泛的意见相反的是，裁决中没有偏见的影响。那么，公众是认为他们的裁决受到他们偏见的影响。因此，答案为B选项。 5. Towards the determination to abolish juries for complex fraud trials, Lord Falconer s attitude can be said to be_____ 5.对于在复杂诈骗案件中废除陪审团的决议，Lord Falconer的态度是_____ supportive. 支持的。 opposing. 反对的。 indifferent. 中立的。 dubious. 不确定的。 B ☆ 推理题。最后一段提到，Lord Falconer将该报告视为对陪审团的辩护， hail 也表明了他欢迎的态度，而他的话语也表达了他支持报告的结果，反对废除陪审团的决议。因此，答案为B选项。 参考译文： 陪审团公平程度如何呢?而本周公布的一项调查为该体制提供了及时的支持。一个原来被认为是每个英国人公民自由保障的制度，但是近来却受到了不断升温的攻击，与美国不同的是，在英国陪审团不再裁决民事审判。目前政府正在试图使一项议案获得议会同意，从而在复杂的诈骗案件中废除陪审团。 在美国，陪审员既要被原告方也要被被告方接受，选择陪审员花去的时间往往比审判本身的时间还要长。该程序还包括对陪审员信仰及偏见的详尽问询。但是在英国，陪审员却是从英格兰和威尔士94个刑事法庭附近区域中随机选取。大多数都接受传唤，除非本人确实认识被告，否则陪审员很少会被质问。但是即使这样还是有人难免认为英国陪审团所作出的裁决具有种族偏见，因为陪审团不能准确地反映社会的种族混合情况。 伯明翰大学法律学院Cheryl Thomas领导的一个小组进行了一项长达四年的研究，该研究表明这些指控大多都是莫须有的。所调查的84个刑事法庭的95%的法庭中，不管是被临时应急召集过去的人员还是真正的陪审团，少数民族都得到了充分的代表。少数民族成员和白人都愿意从事陪审工作或支持陪审团制度。 该研究还打消了另外一个说法：陪审团大多由退休和失业人士组成。研究报道的作者称，妇女、青年和半雇佣工人代表都有出席。那些在从事奇特行业的奇特人士并没有推卸陪审团责任，而是比其他人更加尽责。总而言之，陪审团在种族、性别、年龄和社会背景上所反映的情况都和当地人民相一致。 但是种族偏见也时有发生。伦敦生活着45%的少数民族，有1/4的陪审员在服务，因此陪审团经常是种族混合。但是94个法庭附近地区中有74个地区，虽然少数民族有时聚集在某一地区，但是只占总人口的10%。因此，他们几乎没有机会被选择来参与陪审工作。 Thomas女士及其团队选择研究种族混合的陪审团，从而了解是否被告的种族会影响陪审团的审议。和人们普遍的想法相反，其实不存在没有任何偏见。在伦敦Blackfriars法庭的一次精心的案件模拟中，有27个陪审团的300个陪审员参加，不管被告是黑人、亚洲人还是白人，裁决都非常相似。这并不能说明被告的种族并不会影响单个陪审员。黑人和亚洲陪审团成员对黑人被告更为宽容，而白人陪审员对于白人被告相对温和。但是这些个人偏见并不会影响陪审团集体的裁决。12个陪审员中必须有10个同意某个裁决，因此个人偏见会互相抵消掉。 新式司法秘书Falconer阁下将该报告作为对陪审团的辩护，他相信这 对于我们的司法体系是非常重要的 。显然，报告还没改变影响到他和政府在复杂、漫长的诈骗案审理中废除陪审团的决定，尽管大部分律师、公民自由组织和英国大部分公民都持反对意见。