第一段

Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic value, 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.

很多美国人把陪审团制度视作重要的民主价值的切实体现，这包含了所有满足能够胜任陪审团的最低年龄和教育的公民准则，陪审团成员应该从社区的代表机构中随机地被选中的准则，没有公民因为种族、宗教或者原国家来源被否决参加陪审团的权利的准则，被告享有被相同地位的人审判的权利的准则，判决应该代表的是陪审团的良知而非仅仅是法律条文的准则

The jury is also said to be best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy.

陪审团制度可以说是直接民主而非代议民主的生动案例

In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them

在直接民主中，公民轮流管理他们自己而不是通过选举民意代表来管理他们

第二段

But as recently as in 1968, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals.

但在最近的1968年，陪审团的遴选程序与这些民主理想发生了冲突

In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character.

例如，据说在一些州陪审团的职责被更高要求的智商、教育和道德品质限制了

Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of Strauder v. West Virginia, the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.

尽管美国最高法院早在1880年的《黑人权利法案》中禁止故意的种族歧视，但遴选所谓的精英或者特选陪审团的做法给绕开这项法令和其他反歧视法律提供了方便

第三段

The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century.

陪审团制度以往也是很失败的，包括妇女知道二十世纪中叶才进入到陪审团中

Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898, it was until the 1940s that a majority of sates made women eligible for jury duty.

尽管妇女在1898年的犹他州的州陪审团中服务了，但直到二十世纪四十年代大多数州的陪审团才开始让妇女们有资格履行她们的陪审团义务

Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personally asked to have their names included on the jury list

但依然有个别州自动地剥夺了妇女们履行陪审团义务的权利，除非她们个人要求参加陪审团

This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.

这些做法证实了妇女需要待在家里的论调，并使上个世界六十年代的陪审团没有一个妇女

第四段

In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury.

在1968年，美国国会通过了陪审团遴选和服务法，把陪审团制度引导向民主改革的新领域

This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community.

这个法律废除了对联邦陪审员的特殊教育要求，并要求陪审员从整个社区遴选中随机选择产生

In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level.

1975年的路易斯安那州的泰勒案件的判决是标志性的事件，最高法院将陪审团需代表社会各个阶层的需求扩展到了州这一级别

The Tayler decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors

泰勒案同样展示了在陪审团遴选中的性别歧视是违宪的，让各个州在遴选男女陪审员时用同样的标准来进行

regard v.认为，视为                         concrete n.混凝土 a.混凝土的；确实的，具体的

crucial a.关键的，至关重要的         qualification n.资格，达到标准

literacy n.读写能力，识字                 on account of 由于，因为

defendant n.被告                              entitle v.享有...的权利；命名

trial n/v.审判，试验                             verdict v.裁决

conscience n.良心                             the letter of the law 法律的字面意思

take turns to do sth. 轮流做某事

procedure n.手续，程序                     conflict n/v.冲突、抵触

ideal a.完美的，理想的 n理想             superior n.上级，上司 a.更好的，更优秀的

prohibit v.阻止，禁止                         intentional a.故意的，存心的

discrimination n.歧视，偏袒                 elite n.精英 a.精英的

majority n.大多数，大部分                 eligible a.有资格的

justify v.证明...正确；证实                 usher v.引领，带领

abolish v.废除，废止                         landmark n.地标，里程碑

declare v.宣布，宣称                         constitutional a.宪法的

immune a.免疫的，不受影响的，豁免的

inadequacy n.缺点，不足，缺陷         prevalent a.普遍的，盛行的

arrogance n.傲慢，自大                         exempt v.免除，豁免

fall short of sth.  未达到，不符合

characteristic a.典型的，特有的 n.特点，特质

1 From the principles of the US jury system, we learn that ___.

A both literate and illiterate people can serve on juries

B defendants are immune from trial by their peers

C no age limit should be imposed for jury service

D judgement should consider the opinion of the public

从第一段可知有五个准则，分别是：满足最低的年龄和文化教育程度；从能够代表各个社会阶层的社区中随机遴选；不能因为种族、宗教和原国家地来拒绝进入陪审团的资格；被告有被同龄人审判的权利；最终的裁决应该体现陪审团的良心而不是法律的字面意思。故，A、B、C是错误的，D正确

2 The practice of selecting so-called elite jurors prior to 1968 showed ___.

A the inadequacy of antidiscrimination laws

B the prevalent discrimination against  certain races

C the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures

D the arrogance common among the Supreme Court judges

从第二段的最后一句可知，一些所谓的精英陪审团绕过了反歧视法律，即反歧视法律依然存在着缺陷，所以选A

3 Even in the 1960s, women were seldom on the jury list in some states because ___.

A they were automatically banned by state laws

B they fell far short of the required qualifications

C they were supposed to perform domestic duties

D they tended to evade public engagement

从第三段最后一句可知，是妇女需要待在家里导致一些州的陪审团中女性很少，所以选C

4 After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed, ___.

A sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished

B educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors

C jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community

D states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system

从第四段中的Jury Selection and Service Act 可知，该法案废除的是在遴选联邦陪审员时对特殊教育的要求，所以B选项正确。废除性别歧视是在Taylor v. Louisiana法案中废除的，所以A错。联邦级别的陪审团代表了整个社区，而其中的陪审员不能代表整个社区，所以C错。文中只提到在最高法院在Taylor法案中要求州政府使用相同的程序遴选男女陪审员，所以D错

5 In discussing the US jury system, the text centers on ___.

A its nature and problems

B its characteristics and tradition

C its problems and their solutions

D its tradition and development

文章讲述了美国现在的陪审团遴选制度的优点，然后通过历史上的案例来讲述该制度的遴选程序存在哪些问题，如何克服这些问题的，所以突出的主题是发展。因此选D