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法律科普类
即刻题库 www.jike.vip
1 、 英译汉
The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principle as entitled to
govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion
and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties,
or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which
mankind is warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of
action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which
power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against
his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a
sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will
be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions
of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for
remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, but not for
compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that,
the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil
to someone else. The only part of the conduct for anyone, for which he is amenable
to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself,
his dependence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the
individual is sovereign.
2 、 英译汉
As I mentioned last week, I’ve recently returned from Australia. While I was
there, I visited a eucalyptus forest that, in February, was the scene of an appalling
wildfire. Perhaps naively, I had expected to find that many trees had been killed. They
hadn’t. They had blackened bark, but were otherwise looking rather well, many of
them wreathed in new young leaves. This prompted me to consider fire and the role
it plays as a force of nature.
Fossil charcoals tell us that wildfires have been part of life on Earth for as long as
there have been plants on land. That’s more than 400 million years of fire. Fire was
here long before arriviste plants like grasses; it pre-dated the first flowers. And
without wanting to get mystical about it, fire is, in many respects, a kind of animal,
albeit an ethereal one. Like any animal, it consumes oxygen. Like a sheep or a slug, it
eats plants. But unlike a normal animal, it’s a shape-shifter. Sometimes, it merely
nibbles a few leaves; sometimes it kills grown trees. Sometimes it is more deadly anddestructive than a swarm of locusts.
The shape-shifting nature of fire makes it hard to study, for it is not a single
entity. Some fires are infernally hot; others, relatively cool. Some stay at ground level;
others climb trees. Moreover, fire is much more likely to appear in some parts of the
world than in others. Satellite images of the Earth show that wildfires are rare in, say,
northern Europe, and common in parts of central Africa and Australia. (These days
many wildfires are started by humans, either on purpose or by accident. But long
before our ancestors began to throw torches or cigarette butts, fires were started by
lightning strikes, or by sparks given off when rocks rub together in an avalanche.)
Once a fire gets started, many factors contribute to how it will behave. The
weather obviously has a huge effect: winds can fan flames, rains can quench them.
The lie of the land matters, too: fire runs uphill more readily than it goes down. But
another crucial factor is what type of plants the fire has to eat.
It’s common knowledge that plants regularly exposed to fire tend to have
features that help them cope with it—such as thick bark, or seeds that only grow
after being exposed to intense heat or smoke. But what is less often remarked on is
that the plants themselves affect the nature and severity of fire.
3 、 英译汉
In 1992, two law professors, Peter Neufeld and Barry Seheck, decided to use
DNA evidence to help set free such mistakenly convicted prisoners. With the help of
their students, they created a not-for-profit organization called the Innocence Project.
Most of their clients are poor men, many from racial and ethnic minorities. In fact,
studies have shown that U. S. judges and juries are often influenced by racial and
ethnic background, and that people from minority groups are more likely to be
convicted.
Between 1992 and 2006, the Innocence Project helped free 100 men. Some of
these prisoners had been in jail for ten, but twenty years or more for crimes they did
not commit. However, the goal of the Innocence Project is not simply to set free
those who are wrongfully in jail. They also hope to bring about real changes in the
criminal justice system.
Illinois in the late 1990s, a group of journalism students at Northwestern
University were able to bring about such a change in that state. They began
investigating some Illinois prisoners who claimed to be innocent. Through DNA
testing, the students were able to prove that in fact the prisoners were not guilty of
the crimes they had been accused of. Thirteen of these men were set free, and in
2000, Governor Ryan of Illinois decided to stop carrying out death sentences until
further study could be made of the prisoners cases.
The use of DNA in criminal cases is still being debated around the world. Some
fear that governments will one day keep records of everyone’s DNA, which could
put limits on the privacy and freedom of citizens. Other people mistrust the science
of DNA testing and think that lawyers use it to get their clients free whether or not
they are guilty. But for those whose innocence has been proven and who are now
free men. DNA testing has meant nothing less than a return to life. And with the
careful use of DNA testing, no innocent person should ever be convicted again.4 、 英译汉
In an equitable society, everyone will have the same opportunities to pursue a
life of their choosing, whether this in terms of acquiring an education, obtaining
credit, finding a job or participating in the public debate, regardless of their country
of birth, the wealth and social status of their parents, or their gender, race, caste,
ethnicity or social class. The distribution of income, education levels, wealth and
other assets will typically be uneven even in an equitable society, because people
differ in the effort they make, how they choose to spend their time, in their desire to
bear risks, or in the way they process information. But everyone should have the
opportunity to make the most of their talents and energies. When they do so, it is not
only good and just and fair for the individual, it is good for the society as a whole,
because equity and growth are, in the long run, complementary. Equity is not the
same as equality. This year’s World Development Report, focuses on equity. And
I’m following the usage of equity in that report that was just issued where equity is
defined as equality of opportunities, where opportunities are the factors that make it
possible for people to generate a certain income and achieve a certain level of well-
being. Note that this is not the same as equality in income. Inequality of incomes is
not only acceptable, but it may even be desirable for the incentives it provides for
people to do well. But inequalities in opportunity not only harm the individual but
can retard growth.
5 、 英译汉
The large river best known to the ancient Greeks was the Nile of Egypt. They
spoke of the river with admiration and called Egypt “the gift of the Nile”. The
reason for this was, first, that the Nile brought water to a rainless desert and, second,
that once a year, the river overflowed its banks, leaving, as the water went back, a
new layer of fertile soil.
The flood waters carry in them soil (called silt) from the upper parts of the river
valley to the lower parts, and so to the sea. But as the river meets the sea, the sea
acts as a barrier and forces the river to drop the silt it is carrying.
There are no tides in the Mediterranean to carry the silt away, so year after year
it collects at the mouth of the Nile, and the river must find its way around islands of
silt to the always more distant Mediterranean. In this way, a vast area of fertile soil
has been built up at the mouth of the Nile and out into the sea. The river water splits
up to form small branches winding across the area. To the ancient Greeks, the mouth
of the Nile looked like the drawing.
Now we sometimes name things after the letters of the alphabet they resemble:
a U-turn, an I-beam a T-square, an S-bend, and so on. The Greeks did the same. The
triangular area of land built up at the mouth of the Nile looked like the fourth letter
of the Greek alphabet delta (Δ) and so this was the name they gave it. The word is
now used for all areas of land formed at the mouth of rivers which flow into tideless
seas, even when they are nor triangular in shape. The Mississippi delta, for example,
is not shaped at all like the Greek delta, as you will see if you look at a map.6 、 英译汉
Before arrest. Some communities are using mediation and arbitration centers for
resolving family and neighborhood disputes. For instance, the Citizens Dispute
Settlement Project in Columbus, Ohio, uses law students to do this. The project is
credited with lowering the number of minor arrests and assaults by 22 percent. San
Francisco's Delancey Street Foundation has a residential center where drug addicts
are sent for counseling. Erie, Pa., offers similar help to inebriates.
Before trial. Citations and summonses, similar to traffic tickets, are given for
certain misdemeanors, such as disorderly conduct. The offender is allowed to pay a
fine, rather than go to jail. Some courts are using non-bail release which relies on a
third party or a court-appointed supervisor to ensure an accused's appearance at
trial.
During a trial. Some cities are using weekend and night courts to handle the
large number of arrests that occur over weekends. Without such off-hour court
sessions, jails are frequently filled to capacity over weekends. In place of prison,
some communities require Violators to pay compensation to victims in larceny,
burglary, and auto theft cases. Some judges sentence minor offenders to perform
some kind of community service. Georgia, which handles 85 percent of its
misdemeanors and 15 percent of its felony convictions in this manner, has lowered
its county jail population by a daily average of 66 percent.
7 、 英译汉
Like most creatures on earth, humans come equipped with a circadian clock, a
roughly 24-hour internal timer that keeps our sleep patterns in sync with our planet.
At least until genetics, age and our personal habits get in the way. Even though the
average adult needs eight hours of sleep per night, there are “short-sleepers,” who
need far less, and morning people, who, research shows, often come from families of
other morning people. Then there’s the rest of us, who rely on alarm clocks.
For those who fantasize about greeting the dawn, there is hope. Sleep experts
say that with a little discipline (well, actually, a lot of discipline), most people can
reset their circadian clocks. But it’s not as simple as forcing yourself to go to bed
earlier (you can’t make a wide-awake brain sleep). It requires inducing a sort of jet
lag without leaving your time zone. And sticking it out until your body clock resets
itself. And then not resetting it again.
To start, move up your wake-up time by 20 minutes a day. If you regularly rise at
8 a.m., but really want to get moving at 6 a.m., set the alarm for 7：40 on Monday.
The next day, set it for 7：20 and so on. Then, after you wake up, don’t linger in
bed. Hit yourself with light. In theory, you’ll gradually get sleepy about 20 minutes
earlier each night, and you can facilitate the transition by avoiding extra light
exposure from computers or televisions as you near bedtime.
But recalibrating your inner clock requires more commitment than many people
care to give. For some, it’s almost impossible. Very early risers and longtime night
owls have a hard time ever changing. Night-shift workers also struggle because they
don’t get the environmental and social cues that help adjust the circadian clock.8 、 英译汉
How does an earthquake start?
What makes an earthquake happen? The rock of the earth’s crust (地壳) may
have a “fault”, a kind of break in the surface. The blocks which make up the earth
move, and sometimes this may cause the sides of the fault to move up and down or
lengthways (纵向地) against each other. When one piece of rock starts to rub on
another with great force, a lot of energy is used. This energy is changed into
vibrations (振动) and it is these vibrations that we feel as an earthquake. The
vibrations can travel thousands of kilometers and so an earthquake in Turkey may be
felt in Greece.
What to do during an earthquake?
At school
As soon as the earthquake starts, students should get under the desks
immediately and wait until the teacher tells them it is safe to come out. The teacher
should, at the same time, go immediately to the teacher’s desk, get underneath
(在……下面) it and stay there till the danger is over. Students must not argue with the
teacher or question instructions.
As soon as the tremors (震动) stop, all students should walk towards the exit and
go straight to the school playground or any open space such as a square or a park.
They must wait there until the teacher tells them it is sale to go.
At home
If you are at home when the earthquake occurs, get immediately under the table
in the living room or kitchen. Choose the biggest and strongest table you can find.
You must not go anywhere near the window and don’t go out onto the balcony (阳
台). Once the tremors have stopped, you can come out from under the table, but you
must leave the building straight away. You should walk down the stairs and should
not use the lift—there may be a power cut as a result of the earthquake and you
could find yourself trapped inside the lift for hours.
In the street
If you are in the street when the earthquake takes place, do not stand near
buildings, fences or walls—move away as quickly as possible and try to find a large
open space to wait in. Standing under trees could also be dangerous.
