unit1abrushwiththelaw课文翻译大学英语三
感恩的歌曲-苏紫紫作品
Unit 1 A Brush with the Law
A young man
finds that strolling along the streets without an
obvious purpose can
lead to trouble with the
law. One misunderstanding leads to another until
eventually
he must appear in court for trial……
I have only once been in trouble
with the law. The whole process of being arrested
and taken to court was a rather unpleasant
experience at the time, but it makes a
good
story now. What makes it rather disturbing was the
arbitrary circumstances both
of my arrest and
my subsequent fate in court.
In happened in
February about twelve years ago. I had left school
a couple of
months before that and was not due
to go to university until the following October.
I was still living at home at the time.
One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of
London near where I lived. I was looking
for a
temporary job so that I could save up some money
to go travelling. As it was
a fine day and I
was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in
shop windows,
strolling in the park, and
sometimes just stopping and looking around me. It
must
have been this obvious aimlessness that
led to my downfall.
It was about half past
eleven when it happened. I was just walking out of
the
local library, having unsuccessfully
sought employment there, when I saw a man
walking across the road with the obvious
intention of talking to me. I thought he
was
going to ask me the time. Instead, he said he was
a police officer and he was
arresting me. At
first I thought it was some kind of joke. But then
another policeman
appeared, this time in
uniform, and I was left in no doubt.
'But what
for?' I asked.
'What offence?' I asked.
'Theft,' he said.
'Theft of what?' I
asked.
'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a
perfectly straight face too!
'Oh,' I said.
It turned out there had been a lot of petty
thefts in the area, particularly
that of
stealing milk bottles from doorsteps.
Then I
made my big mistake. At the time I was nineteen,
had long untidy hair,
and regarded myself as
part of the sixties' 'youth countercultrue. As a
result, I
want to appear cool and unconcerned
with the incident, so I said, 'How long have
you been following me?' in the most
casual and conversation tone I could manage.
I
thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with
this sort of situation, and it
confirmed them
in their belief that I was a thoroughly
disreputable character.
A few minutes later a
police car arrived.
'Get in the back,they
said. 'Put your hands on the back of the front
seat and
don't move them.'
They got in on
either side of me. I wasn't funny anymore.
At
the police station they questioned me for several
hours. I continued to try
to look worldly and
au fait with the situation. When they asked me
what I had been
doing, I told them I'd been
looking for a job. 'Aha,' I could see them
thinking,
'unemployed'.
Eventually, I was
officially charged and told to report to Richmond
Magistrates'
Court the following Monday. Then
they let me go.
I wanted to conduct my own
defence in court, but as soon as my father found
out
what had happened, he hired a very good
solicitor. We went along that Monday armed
with all kinds of witnesses, including my
English teacher from school as a character
witness. But he was never called on to give
evidence. My 'trial' didn't get that
far. The
magistrate dismissed the case after fifteen
minutes. I was free. The poor
police had never
stood a chance. The solicitor even succeeded in
getting costs
awarded against the police.
And so I do not have a criminal record. But
what was most shocking at the time
was the
things my release from the charge so clearly
depended on. I had the 'right'
accent,
respectable middle-class parents in court,
reliable witnesses, and I could
obviously
afford a very good solicitor. Given the obscure
nature of the charge, I
feel sure that if I
had come from a different background, and had
really been
unemployed, there is every chance
that I would have been found guilty. While asking
for costs to be awarded, my solicitor's case
quite obviously revolved around the
fact that
I had a 'brilliant academic record'.
Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of
the policemen who had arrested
me was gloomily
complaining to my mother that another youngster
had been turned
against the police. 'You could
have been a bit more helpful when we arrested
you,'
he said to me reproachfully.
What
did the mean? Presumably that I should have looked
outraged and said
something like, 'Look here,
do you know who you're talking to? I am a highly
successful student with a brilliant academic
record. How dare you arrest me!' Then
they, presumably, would have
apologized, perhaps even taken off their caps, and
let
me on my way.
法律小冲突
一个年轻人发现，在
街上漫无目的的闲逛也会带来涉及法律上的麻烦。一种误解导致另
一种误解，直到最终他必须在法庭上接
受审判…….
我平生只有一次陷入与法律的冲突。被捕
与被带上法庭的整个经过在当时是一种令人极
不愉快的经历，但现在这却成为一个好故事的素材。尤其令
人恼怒的是我被捕及随后在法庭
上受审期间的种种武断情形。
事情发生在十二年前
的二月，那是我中学毕业已经几个月了，但是要等到十月份才能
上大学，所以当时我仍在家中。
一天上午，我来到离我住地不远的伦敦郊区的里士满，那是我正在找一份临时的工作，
一边攒些钱去旅
游。由于天体晴朗，有没有什么急事，我便悠然自得的看看窗店橱窗，逛逛
公园，有时干脆停下来四处观
望。一定是这种显然无所事事的样子使我倒了霉。
事情发生在十一点半左右，当我在当地图书馆谋之未
成，刚从那里出来，就看见一个
人从马路对面走过来，显然是想跟我说话。我愿意为他是要问我时间。想
不到他说他是警察，
要逮捕我。开始我还以为这是个玩笑。但紧接着又来了一个穿着警服的警察，这下我
无可置
疑了。
“为什么抓我？”我问。
“四处游荡，有作案嫌疑，”他说。
“做什么案？”我又问。
“偷东西，” 他说。
“偷什么”我追问。
“牛奶瓶”他说，表情极端严肃。
“噢，”
事情是这样的，这一带经常发生小偷小摸的案件，尤其是从门前台阶上偷走牛奶瓶。
接着，我
犯了个大错误，那是我才十九岁，留着一头乱蓬蓬的长发，自以为是六十年
代“青年反主流文化”的一员
。因此，我想对此表现出一副冷漠，满不在乎的态度，于是用
一种很随便的无所谓的腔调说：“你们跟我
多久了？”这样一来，我在他们眼里，我是惯于
此种情形的，这又使他们确信我是一个彻头彻尾的坏蛋。
几分钟后来了一辆警车。
“坐到后面去，”他们说：“把手放在椅背上，不许乱动。”他俩分
别坐在我的左右，
这下可不是闹着玩的了。
在警察局，他们审问了我好几个小时。我继续装着
老于世故，对此种事习以为常的样
子。当他们问我一直在干什么事时，我告诉他们我在找
工作。“啊哈”，这下我可看到他们
在想，“无业游民”。
最后，我被正式指控，并得到通知下周一到里士满地方法院受审。他们这才让我走。
我本想在
法庭上自我辩护，但是父亲一弄清事情原委后，就为我请了一位很不错的律师。
就在那个星期一，我们带
着各种证人出庭了，这其中包括我的中学英语教师作为我的平行见
证人。但法庭没有传唤他作证。对我的
“审判”并没有进行到那一步，才开庭十五分钟，法
官就驳回了此案。我被无罪释放。可怜的警察毫无胜
诉的机会。我的律师甚至成功的使警察
承担了诉讼费。
这样， 我没有留下任何犯罪记录。但
当时，最令人震惊的是我被无罪释放所明显依赖
的证据：我有标准的口音，有受人尊重的中产阶级父母来
到法庭，有可靠的证人，还有，很
明显我请得起很好的律师。想到这次指控的含混不清的特点，我敢断定
，我如果出生在一个
不同背景的家庭，并真失了业，则完全可能被判为有罪。当我的律师要求赔偿诉讼费
时，他
的辩词很显然的紧紧围绕着我“学习成绩优异”这一事实。
与此同时，在法庭外面，曾
逮捕我的警察中的一个沮丧的想我的母亲抱怨说，又有一
个小伙子要与警察做对了。他以责备的口气对我
说：“我们抓你的时候，你本可以帮帮忙
的。”
他这话是什么意思？也许是说我因该做出大发
雷霆的样子，并说：“喂，你们知道是
在和谁说话么？我是品学兼优的高材生。你们怎么敢抓我？”那样
的话，他们也许会向我道
歉，可能还会脱帽致意，让我扬长而去。
Unit 1 A Brush with the Law
A young
man finds that strolling along the streets without
an obvious purpose can
lead to trouble with
the law. One misunderstanding leads to another
until eventually
he must appear in court for
trial……
I have only once been in
trouble with the law. The whole process of being
arrested
and taken to court was a rather
unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a
good story now. What makes it rather
disturbing was the arbitrary circumstances both
of my arrest and my subsequent fate in court.
In happened in February about twelve years
ago. I had left school a couple of
months
before that and was not due to go to university
until the following October.
I was still
living at home at the time.
One morning I was
in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I
lived. I was looking
for a temporary job so
that I could save up some money to go travelling.
As it was
a fine day and I was in no hurry, I
was taking my time, looking in shop windows,
strolling in the park, and sometimes just
stopping and looking around me. It must
have
been this obvious aimlessness that led to my
downfall.
It was about half past eleven when
it happened. I was just walking out of the
local library, having unsuccessfully sought
employment there, when I saw a man
walking
across the road with the obvious intention of
talking to me. I thought he
was going to ask
me the time. Instead, he said he was a police
officer and he was
arresting me. At first I
thought it was some kind of joke. But then another
policeman
appeared, this time in uniform, and
I was left in no doubt.
'But what for?' I
asked.
'What offence?' I asked.
'Theft,' he said.
'Theft of what?' I
asked.
'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a
perfectly straight face too!
'Oh,' I said.
It turned out there had been a lot of petty
thefts in the area, particularly
that of
stealing milk bottles from doorsteps.
Then I
made my big mistake. At the time I was nineteen,
had long untidy hair,
and regarded myself as
part of the sixties' 'youth countercultrue. As a
result, I
want to appear cool and unconcerned
with the incident, so I said, 'How long have
you been following me?' in the most
casual and conversation tone I could manage.
I
thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with
this sort of situation, and it
confirmed them
in their belief that I was a thoroughly
disreputable character.
A few minutes later a
police car arrived.
'Get in the back,they
said. 'Put your hands on the back of the front
seat and
don't move them.'
They got in on
either side of me. I wasn't funny anymore.
At
the police station they questioned me for several
hours. I continued to try
to look worldly and
au fait with the situation. When they asked me
what I had been
doing, I told them I'd been
looking for a job. 'Aha,' I could see them
thinking,
'unemployed'.
Eventually, I was
officially charged and told to report to Richmond
Magistrates'
Court the following Monday. Then
they let me go.
I wanted to conduct my own
defence in court, but as soon as my father found
out
what had happened, he hired a very good
solicitor. We went along that Monday armed
with all kinds of witnesses, including my
English teacher from school as a character
witness. But he was never called on to give
evidence. My 'trial' didn't get that
far. The
magistrate dismissed the case after fifteen
minutes. I was free. The poor
police had never
stood a chance. The solicitor even succeeded in
getting costs
awarded against the police.
And so I do not have a criminal record. But
what was most shocking at the time
was the
things my release from the charge so clearly
depended on. I had the 'right'
accent,
respectable middle-class parents in court,
reliable witnesses, and I could
obviously
afford a very good solicitor. Given the obscure
nature of the charge, I
feel sure that if I
had come from a different background, and had
really been
unemployed, there is every chance
that I would have been found guilty. While asking
for costs to be awarded, my solicitor's case
quite obviously revolved around the
fact that
I had a 'brilliant academic record'.
Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of
the policemen who had arrested
me was gloomily
complaining to my mother that another youngster
had been turned
against the police. 'You could
have been a bit more helpful when we arrested
you,'
he said to me reproachfully.
What
did the mean? Presumably that I should have looked
outraged and said
something like, 'Look here,
do you know who you're talking to? I am a highly
successful student with a brilliant academic
record. How dare you arrest me!' Then
they, presumably, would have
apologized, perhaps even taken off their caps, and
let
me on my way.
法律小冲突
一个年轻人发现，在
街上漫无目的的闲逛也会带来涉及法律上的麻烦。一种误解导致另
一种误解，直到最终他必须在法庭上接
受审判…….
我平生只有一次陷入与法律的冲突。被捕
与被带上法庭的整个经过在当时是一种令人极
不愉快的经历，但现在这却成为一个好故事的素材。尤其令
人恼怒的是我被捕及随后在法庭
上受审期间的种种武断情形。
事情发生在十二年前
的二月，那是我中学毕业已经几个月了，但是要等到十月份才能
上大学，所以当时我仍在家中。
一天上午，我来到离我住地不远的伦敦郊区的里士满，那是我正在找一份临时的工作，
一边攒些钱去旅
游。由于天体晴朗，有没有什么急事，我便悠然自得的看看窗店橱窗，逛逛
公园，有时干脆停下来四处观
望。一定是这种显然无所事事的样子使我倒了霉。
事情发生在十一点半左右，当我在当地图书馆谋之未
成，刚从那里出来，就看见一个
人从马路对面走过来，显然是想跟我说话。我愿意为他是要问我时间。想
不到他说他是警察，
要逮捕我。开始我还以为这是个玩笑。但紧接着又来了一个穿着警服的警察，这下我
无可置
疑了。
“为什么抓我？”我问。
“四处游荡，有作案嫌疑，”他说。
“做什么案？”我又问。
“偷东西，” 他说。
“偷什么”我追问。
“牛奶瓶”他说，表情极端严肃。
“噢，”
事情是这样的，这一带经常发生小偷小摸的案件，尤其是从门前台阶上偷走牛奶瓶。
接着，我
犯了个大错误，那是我才十九岁，留着一头乱蓬蓬的长发，自以为是六十年
代“青年反主流文化”的一员
。因此，我想对此表现出一副冷漠，满不在乎的态度，于是用
一种很随便的无所谓的腔调说：“你们跟我
多久了？”这样一来，我在他们眼里，我是惯于
此种情形的，这又使他们确信我是一个彻头彻尾的坏蛋。
几分钟后来了一辆警车。
“坐到后面去，”他们说：“把手放在椅背上，不许乱动。”他俩分
别坐在我的左右，
这下可不是闹着玩的了。
在警察局，他们审问了我好几个小时。我继续装着
老于世故，对此种事习以为常的样
子。当他们问我一直在干什么事时，我告诉他们我在找
工作。“啊哈”，这下我可看到他们
在想，“无业游民”。
最后，我被正式指控，并得到通知下周一到里士满地方法院受审。他们这才让我走。
我本想在
法庭上自我辩护，但是父亲一弄清事情原委后，就为我请了一位很不错的律师。
就在那个星期一，我们带
着各种证人出庭了，这其中包括我的中学英语教师作为我的平行见
证人。但法庭没有传唤他作证。对我的
“审判”并没有进行到那一步，才开庭十五分钟，法
官就驳回了此案。我被无罪释放。可怜的警察毫无胜
诉的机会。我的律师甚至成功的使警察
承担了诉讼费。
这样， 我没有留下任何犯罪记录。但
当时，最令人震惊的是我被无罪释放所明显依赖
的证据：我有标准的口音，有受人尊重的中产阶级父母来
到法庭，有可靠的证人，还有，很
明显我请得起很好的律师。想到这次指控的含混不清的特点，我敢断定
，我如果出生在一个
不同背景的家庭，并真失了业，则完全可能被判为有罪。当我的律师要求赔偿诉讼费
时，他
的辩词很显然的紧紧围绕着我“学习成绩优异”这一事实。
与此同时，在法庭外面，曾
逮捕我的警察中的一个沮丧的想我的母亲抱怨说，又有一
个小伙子要与警察做对了。他以责备的口气对我
说：“我们抓你的时候，你本可以帮帮忙
的。”
他这话是什么意思？也许是说我因该做出大发
雷霆的样子，并说：“喂，你们知道是
在和谁说话么？我是品学兼优的高材生。你们怎么敢抓我？”那样
的话，他们也许会向我道
歉，可能还会脱帽致意，让我扬长而去。