Vocabulary notes

the curb	бордюрный камень, край тротуара
to edge	продвигаться, проскользнуть
to hunch	горбиться, сутулиться
to strap	закреплять ремешком

Task 3. Read the text again and make sure you know all underlined parts of the text. Give their Russian equivalents

Task 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What rule had David been obeying?

2. How did the witness describe the accident?

3. What did Rowan do after hitting the boy?

4. What did the chemical test show?

5. What happened to Rowan after the accident?

Task 5. Read the statements. Agree or disagree with them. Agreement or disagreement should be followed by some comment

1. David was playing on the road when the accident occurred.

2. David was a disobedient kid.

3. Jean car was damaged by Rowan’ car.

4. Rowan was driving about 20 or 25 mph.

5. Webb saw him hit the boy.

6. David's mother found the boy dead.

7. Rowan was blocked in his car.

8. A chemical test showed that Rowan was sober.

Task 6. Ask questions to which the following statements are the answers:

1. His parents told him not to get close to the curb.

2. Richard Gunderman was David’s step­father.

3. The spot was eight feet from the corner.

4. The driver was hunched low and leaning his head back against the seat.

5. She heard a screech.

6. She saw a little boy.

7. Two neighbors ran to the car.

8. There were three wit­nesses.

9. Gunderman had filed to adopt his wife's son.

10. He was released on $5000 bail.

Task 7. Explain in English what the words and word combinations mean:

Step­father, to speed up, a thump, the scene, to kick open, fast, witness, the strength of statements, to book into, bail, to file, to adopt, to let sb off

Task 8. Practice the speech patterns given below. Make up two sentences of your own on each pattern

1. When the police arrived, Rowan denied being the driver. Rowan finally stopped trying. Why do judges keep letting him off? I enjoy playing computer games.

2. He wasn't dead, but he had no chance of living. You are running the risk of being caught on the border. He played with the idea of taking a trip to Australia. Punitive damages, which hold out the hope of striking it rich, should be abolished except in truly egregious cases.

3. The Gundermans wanted Row­an to pay. I want this guy to get what's coming to him. I don’t want him to sit as a juror in this case.

4. Kelly Jean Webb was driving down Grand Avenue when a 1972 Chevrolet edged into her lane and bumped her car. I was going about 20 or 25, and he was just flying. She glanced at the driver; he was hunched low and leaning his head back against the seat.

5. What she saw was a little boy — David. What he did is hard to comprehend. What I was left with was a small sum of money. What it is getting is a great many drug-taking, drug-dealing, small-time thieves.

6. All of a sudden he sped up. All of a sudden she burst out laughing uncontrollably.

7. Rowan had a 0.27-percent blood-alcohol level, almost three times the lev­el specified by California law for presumption of intoxication. She raised the sum two times the sum needed.

Task 9. Make the summary of the text. Use the key words and word combinations

Text 3

Task 1. Answer the questions:

1. What routine do the courts treat drunk drivers to?

2. In what cases do people appeal court decisions?

3. If driving while under the influence of alcohol results in a death, what punishment should the person receive?

Task 2. Read the text to get the main idea paying special attention to the underlined parts of the text (key words and word combinations)

Court records show that, with few exceptions, the courts had treated Rowan to the routine then in effect. The pattern was a fine, a few weekends in jail, alcohol counseling — in spite of his mounting list of convictions. Ironically, his stiffest jail sentence came not from a conviction for driving while under the influence of alcohol but from a probation violation.

But this time, in the Gunderman case, Rowan faced the new drunk-driving law that went into effect in California this year. He was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol resulting in a death, driving with a 10-percent or more blood-alcohol level, vehic­ular manslaughter and driving without a valid license. Under a recent California Supreme Court decision, Rowan could also have been charged with second-degree murder if his actions had dis­played willful disregard for hu­man life and implied malice had been shown. A conviction could have earned him a 15-years-to-life sentence.

Yet, despite the strength of evi­dence against Rowan, the Orange County district attorneys office decided not to seek a murder com­plaint. To obtain a murder convic­tion, you must prove that the driving itself was so reckless that it amounted to "implied malice," the prosecutor said, and added, "Just being intoxi­cated isn't enough." On June 8, William Richard Rowan pleaded guilty to the major charges and was sentenced to three years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in June 1984, although he faces two more years for probation violations. Rowan is appealing these additional years.

The Gundermans still say that their son was murdered.