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Файл:Соединенные Штаты Америки. Учебное пособие
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11. He will be sent back to England to face a charge of (= to be on
trial for) armed robbery.
12. Her lawyer made a statement outside the court.
OJ Simpson was on trial for murder.
13.
The number of reported crimes is increasing at an alarming
14.
rate.
15. They took their landlord to court for breaking the contract.
There wasn’t enough evidence to bring the case to court
16.
(= start a trial).
She can’t pay her tax and is facing court action.
17.
The case was settled out of court (= a decision was reached
18.
without a trial).
The case never came to trial.
19.
The company can’t expect me to move my home and family at
20.
the drop of a hat.
21. He did not receive a fair trial.
His pulse rate dropped suddenly.
22.
23.
After being questioned by the police, she was released
without charge.
24. They decided to drop the charges against the newspaper and
settle out of court.
25. At the rate you work, you’ll never finish!
26. She is awaiting trial on corruption charges.
Local businesses are closing at a / the rate of three a year.
27.
II. Paraphrase the sentences:
1. He became a person who gave evidence in court to the killing.
2. The group of people who decided the man’s destiny returned
the verdict of not guilty.
3. Many people from Asia crave for becoming legal Russians.
4. Attorneys get big money for affairs in court that they win.
5. The postcard cost me nothing.
6. I didn’t want to begin this process; it would be easier for me to
come to consensus without all that stuff.
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7. They threatened to make suppliant request if the work was not
completed.
8. One player is out of the team because of the harm
body
during the game.
III. Fill in the blanks with the words from the active
vocabulary:
1. They hired a … to defend their fights in … .
2. The criminal didn’t avoid the … . At the end of the… the …
returned him a verdict of guilty.
3. Being a … to the killing, she … political asylum.
4. During the final game the athlete suffered an … . And now he
is … the organizers for the absence of timely medical service.
5. In the American … it’s accepted … somebody … something
that makes you feel uncomfortable.
6. The … to the crime claimed that Mr. Johns was … .
7. Barbara was determined to … for damages and she wasn’t
going to ….
IV. Match the columns:
done to his
1. claim a. someone who is present when
something happens, esp. a crime
2. a case b. the action or process of trying
or putting the proof
3. injury c. a person whose business is to
advise people about laws, write
formal agreements, or represent
people in court
4. trial d.
5. witness e. a question to be decided in a
a person who makes a formal
complaint against somebody in
court
court of law
72
6. a citizen f. the price demanded for
something
7. charge g. a group of people legally
selected and sworn to inquire any
matter and give their verdict
according to the evidence
8. plaintiff h. a demand for something due or
believed to be due
9. lawyer i. a native person who owes
allegiances to a government and
is entitled to protection from it
10. jury j. violation of another’s rights for
which the law allows an action to
cover damages
V. Consider the words from your active vocabulary and
explain their meaning:
1. Lawyers charge a lot for their services.
2. The man was charged with kidnapping.
3. He suffered an injury and was taken to an emergency room in a
hospital.
4. Mike had no claim on the inheritance.
5. It was time to begin the session, but the plaintiff wasn’t in the
court room yet.
6. Mrs. Smith filed a lawsuit against her husband. She sued for
divorce and claimed to her part of the fortune.
7. He realized that he wouldn’t manage to avoid liability. But at the
drop of a hat he found a way out and hired the best available lawyer.
VI. Translate into English paying attention to the active
vocabulary:
1. Судья сказал, что слова свидетеля не имеют юридической
силы, так как он не является гражданином данной страны.
2. Моя мать хотела, чтобы я стал юристом, но я стал
писателем.
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3. Мистер Вулф — главный свидетель обвинения.
4. Полиция изучила факты и решила не возбуждать дела
против доктора Рея.
5. Вы застрахованы против травмы на рабочем месте?
6. Когда ее дом ограбили, она потребовала возмещения
убытков у страховой компании.
7. Ответчик получил травму прямо пред заседанием суда,
поэтому суд был отложен.
8. Компания предложи
урегулировать дело без суда.
9. Закон требует наказания человеку, который лжет в суде.
10. Марк подал заявление на развод.
11. Хилари имеет право претендовать на собственность; она
принадлежала ее отцу.
12. В России многие граждане не хотят доводить дело до суда.
13. Жертвы подали су
за полученные травмы.
14. Среди присяжных заседателей было пять женщин.
15. Во время экономического кризиса уровень безработицы
увеличивается с огромной скоростью.
16. На суде по обвинению в убийстве неожиданно был
вынесен оправдательный приговор.
17. А теперь давайте попросим жюри выбрать победителей в
танцевальном конкурсе.
18. Истец — это человек, который выдвиг
против кого-либо в суде.
19. Опубликованные сегодня цифры показывают новое
снижение уровня инфляции.
20. Потребовалось пять лет, чтобы довести дело до суда.
ла истцу покрыть все убытки и
дебный иск с требованием компенсаций
ает обвинение
Render in English:
ДУРАЦКИЕ ЗАКОНЫ
Приводимый ниже текст содержит информацию о законах,
которые по сей день существуют в некоторых американских штатах.
В штате Алабаме не разрешается водить машину босиком,
носить мороженое в карманах, плеваться в присутствии женщин,
носить в церковь наклеенные усы и появляться на улицах в
74
маске. В городе Джаспер в Алабаме муж не может колотить жену
палкой, диаметр которой больше толщины его большого пальца
на руке.
В Аляске запрещено будить медведей, чтобы их сфотографировать, поить спиртными напитками лосей, а также
выбрасывать живых лосей из самолета.
В Моухейв Каунти в Аризоне вора, попавшегося на краже
мыла, предп
кончится.
В Арканзасе считается преступлением неправильно
произносить название этого штата.
В городе Оттумва, штат Айова, мужчина не может
подмигивать женщине, если он с ней не знаком.
В Айдахо запрещено рыбачить, сидя на верблюде.
В городе Зайон в Иллинойсе запрещается давать зажженные
сигары кош
городе Юрика в том же штате мужчинам, носящим усы,
запрещается целовать женщин.
В Индиане запрещено принимать ванны в период между
октябрем и мартом.
В Лос-Анджелесе, Калифорния, существует постановление,
запрещающее купать одновременно двух младенцев в одной и
той же купели. В городе Лафайет в Калифо
преступлением плеваться в пределах метра от других людей. В
Голливуде есть особое постановление, запрещающее прогонять
по улицам более двух тысяч овец. В Сан-Франциско нельзя
выпускать на улицу слонов, если только их не ведут на поводке.
В Кентукки женщинам запрещено ходить по шоссе в
купальном костюме. Исключение — если ее со
крайней мере двое полицейских или если она вооружена палкой.
В городе Пуэбло, Колорадо, одуванчики считаются запретным
растением.
В Хартфорде, Коннектикут, запрещено переходить дорогу на
руках. В Логан Каунти в этом же штате считается преступлением
целовать женщину, пока она спит.
исывается мыть этим мылом до тех пор, пока оно не
кам, собакам и другим домашним животным. В
рнии считается
провождают по
75
В Балтиморе, штат Мэриленд, не разрешается приходить в
театр со львами.
В Миннесоте вы можете попасть в тюрьму за то, что спите
голым.
В Сент-Луисе, Миссури, запрещается сидеть на мостовой и
распивать пиво из ведра.
В Мичигане женщина не может постричь волосы без
предварительного согласия мужа.
В городе Экселзиор-Спрингс в Монтане счита
преступлением бросаться мячами.
В городе Элко в Неваде по улицам можно ходить только в маске.
В городе Мэнвилл в Нью-Джерси особым постановлением
запрещено предлагать сигареты и алкоголь животным в зоопарке.
В Кармеле, штат Нью-Йорк, мужчине грозит штраф, если он
выйдет на улицу в штанах, которые не подходят к пиджаку.
В Карризоз, Нью-Мексико, женщинам запреща
на публике небритыми.
В Оксфорде, штат Огайо, женщинам нельзя раздеваться, стоя
перед портретом мужчины.
В Оклахома-Сити нельзя ходить по улицам задом наперед,
поедая на ходу гамбургер.
В Пенсильвании всем водителям, оказавшимся на сельских
дорогах ночью, предписывается останавливаться через каждую
милю и стре
уйдет скот, который мог на ней оказаться, и затем ехать дальше.
В этом же штате не разрешается, чтобы в доме вместе проживали
более 16 женщин (по мнению законодателей, 17 женщин — это
уже бордель). Закон, однако, позволяет совместно жить 120
мужчинам.
В городе Провиденсе, Род-Айланд, в магазинах за
воскресеньям продавать зубную щетку и пасту одному и тому же
покупателю.
Во Флориде женщине грозит штраф, если она заснет во время
сушки волос. В городе Пенсакола, Флорида, жителям
предписывается всегда иметь при себе не меньше десяти долларов.
См. также сайт:
лять из ракетницы, ждать 10 минут, пока с дороги
http://www.dumblaws.com/.
ется появляться
прещено по
ется
76
DISCUSSION
1. Do you find the laws given above stupid?
2. How can you account for their existence?
3. Why do you think American laws differ from one state to
another?
4. Can the drawbacks of American society be revealed through
those laws?
TEXT 2
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
It would be hard to imagine a more evil piece of work than Robert
Alton Harris. After a lifetime of vicious, random crime, in 1979 in
California he murdered two teenaged boys in cold blood for their car. As
he drove away, he finished off the cheeseburgers they had been eating.
He was arrested within hours, and confessed his guilt freely. Even
so, it took the state of California thirteen years of complex and costly
trials and retrials to exhaust all the legal possibilities necessary to put
Harris to death.
There are almost 500 other people like Harris on death row in
California. Altogether the state spends an estimated $90 million a year
pursuing death penalty cases. Since 1967 it has spent $1 billion (over
£600 million) on capital cases and executed exactly two people
(Harris being one of them).
Now it seems to me evident from this, if nothing else, that the
death penalty in America is madness. Think what California could
have done with that $1 billion if it had spent it on, say, education.
Nearly everyone agrees that such a convoluted legal process is
crazy, but the problem is that Americans love the death penalty. Polls
consistently show that about three-quarters of them support capital
punishment. Moreover, they want it — indeed insist on it — for a very
wide range of offences. Roughly half of Americans, for instance, would
make it a capital offence to sell drugs to children. Already in the United
States you can be put to death for more than fifty types of crime.
77
Quite apart from moral issues, there are, it seems to me, several
practical considerations that make it difficult to defend. One is that it
is inconsistently applied. Those sentenced to death are almost without
exception male — only one woman has been put to death since 1962,
though another is scheduled to die in Texas this month — and
disproportionately poor and black, and their victims are overwhelmingly white. Of the approximately 360 people executed in the United
States since 1977, 83 per cent had been convicted of killing a white
person, even though white people represent only about half of all
murder victims. Depending on the state, criminals are anywhere from
four to eleven times more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a
white person than a black person — hardly a ringing endorsement of
the principle that justice is blind.
There is also a striking geographical disparity. Thirty-nine US
states have the death penalty, but in only seventeen of them — mostly
in the South — were people put to death last year. If you are going to
murder someone in a state with the death penalty, you are much better
off doing it in New Hampshire, where they have not executed anyone
for decades, than in Texas or Florida, where people are dispatched
with comparative enthusiasm. Texas alone last year executed thirtyseven people, as much as all the rest of the country put together.
Altogether in the United States there are about 3,000 people on
death row. In 1997, seventy-four of them were executed, the highest
number in forty years. Even so, the number added to death row each
year outstrips by about four to one the number eliminated. (The
leading cause of death on death row is actually natural causes.) To
clear the backlog and deal with the rising number of new inmates,
America would have to execute one person a day for twenty-five
years. Because of the legal process, that is never going to happen.
The question is why they bother. On average, it takes ten years and
five months to exhaust all the appeals processes necessary for
execution. As a result, according to a study at Duke University, it costs
$2 million more to execute a prisoner than to incarcerate him for life.
Of course you could argue that convicted murderers shouldn’t be
allowed to appeal endlessly on frivolous technicalities. Congress,
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accepting this view with all its heart, in 1995 voted to abolish the $20
million of federal money that was being spent on assisting death row
inmates with appeals. Almost overnight the average length of time
from conviction to execution fell by eleven months.
This would be good news if you were confident that everyone put
to death deserved it, but in fact this is not so. Consider the case of
Dennis Williams of Chicago, who spent seventeen years on death row
for a murder he vociferously claimed not to have committed for the
very good reason that he hadn’t. He was saved only because a
journalism professor at the University of Chicago assigned his
students to look into the case as a class project. They found, among
other things, that the police had suppressed evidence, witnesses had
lied, and that another man was prepared to confess to the crime if only
someone would listen to him.
Like most death row inmates, Williams had been defended by a
court-appointed lawyer. Illinois pays public defenders $40 an hour.
The going rate for lawyers in private practice is $150 an hour. You
don’t have to be a genius to work out that the best lawyers are unlikely
to be doing public work. Typically they are granted just $800 to
prepare and present their defence in capital cases, so even the most
dedicated lawyer will hardly be able to secure expert witnesses,
independent forensic tests, or anything else that might prove his
client’s innocence.
Thanks to the students’ school project, Williams was released last
September. This is less unusual than you might expect. Since 1977,
when Illinois reintroduced the death penalty, the state has executed
eight people, but freed nine. Nationally in the last twenty-five years
sixty-nine people convicted of murder have later been found to be
innocent and freed. With federal funds for appeals curtailed, few of
those people could expect such happy outcomes now.
It is one thing for a citizen to murder an innocent person, quite
another for the state to do it. Yet amazingly even this is a minority
view. According to a 1995 Gallup poll, 57 per cent of people in the
United States would remain in favour of the death penalty even if it
were found that one person in every hundred was wrongly executed.
79
I don’t believe there is a politician in America — certainly none of
any stature — who would stand up to such a weight of feeling. There
used to be a time when politicians tried to change public opinion. Now
they just respond to it, which is unfortunate because these things are
not immutable.
Writing in the New Yorker in 1992, Richard L. Nygaard noted that
West Germany outlawed the death penalty in 1949 even though 74 per
cent of people approved of it. By 1980, the proportion in favour had
slumped to 26 per cent. As Nygaard observes: ‘Among people who
don’t grow up with it, capital punishment comes to be seen as a
barbaric relic, like slavery or branding.’
Would that it were so here.
NOTE:
Pay attention to the difference in the following British and
American spellings:
AmE
defense
AmE
offense
AmE
favor
CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS
cf. BrE defence
cf. BrE offence
cf. BrE favour
Look up the following entries in the Dictionary of U. S. Life and
Culture (Жизнь и культура США: Лингвострановедческий
словарь) or other dictionaries and encyclopedias:
capital punishment
Chicago
death row
Duke University
Florida
Gallup poll
New Hampshire
New Yorker
Texas
University of Chicago
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