考研英語（二）歷年真題閱讀要點之2010-Text 4（一）

 　英語(二)真題較少，但是不可掉以輕心，一定要合理利用。為了幫助大家更好地復習，小編為各位同學梳理一下歷年真題閱讀文章中涉及的要點，包括詞匯、短語、長難句以及簡單的閱讀方法。接下來看一下2010年Text 4，這篇文章主要探討了美國陪審團制度的歷史和發展。

　　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.

　　regard...as...“視為，看作”;jury system“陪審制”;concrete“具體的”;crucial“重要的”;democratic“民主的”;meet“滿足”;minimal“最低的”;qualification“條件，資格”;literacy“讀寫能力”;be competent to do“稱職，勝任”;serve on“成為...中的一員”，也可以表示“擔任”;juror“陪審員”;select“挑選”;randomly“隨機地”，相當于at random;representative“有代表性的”;cross section可以指“具有代表性的實例”;deny“拒絕給予”;on account of“由于”;national origin可以指“國籍”;defendant“被告”，plaintiff“原告”;be entitled to“有...資格”;trial“審訊”;verdict“裁定”;conscience“良知”;letter of the law“法律條文”;surviving“幸存的”;direct“直接的”;take turns doing“輪流做某事”;govern“管理，統治”;rather than“而不是”;elect“選舉”，presidential election“總統大選”。

　　... jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals... jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character... had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection ... the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.

　　procedure“流程”;conflict with“與...沖突”;ideal“理想”;be limited to“局限于”;supposedly“可能，按照推測”;superior“出眾的”;intelligence“才智”;moral character“道德品質”;prohibit“禁止”;intentional“故意的”;racial discrimination“種族歧視”;practice“做法”;elite“精英”;blue-ribbon“第一流的”;convenient“便利的”;antidiscrimination law“反歧視法”。