????????????????????? （2011年9月中級口譯聽力音頻）

Spot Dictation

In America there are no nobles or men of letters, and the common folk mistrust the wealthy; Consequently lawyers form the highest political class and the most cultivated circle of society. They have therefore nothing to gain by innovation, which adds a conservative interest to their natural taste for public order. If I were asked where I place the American aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation that it is not composed of the rich, who are united together by no common tie, but that it occupies the judicial bench and the bar.

When I started researching this topic, I found an interesting website “Legal Reform Now”. As the name suggests, this website is devoted to legal reform and it is definitely concerned about the dominance of lawyers in American government. There I read an article by a political science professor from the university of Wisconsin. One observation the UW article confirms is that the legal profession is the dominant profession of the people re-elect to public office. For example, about half our representatives and two-thirds of our senators are lawyers. No other profession comes close to having the same the number of people in political office. Effectively, lawyers form our nation’s most powerful organized political constituency in America. Lawyers make our laws and lawyers interpret our laws. When judges are appointed, the American bar association is the only professional organization that is consulted to rate the fitness of potential judicial appointees. Our nation has been in existence for over 200 years and lawyers have been this nation’s aristocracy since its formation. Our system works, but do we really want to have a single profession in charge of our nation? Specifically, do we want to have the legal profession in charge? Next time you vote, that’s something to think about.

評析：這篇文章是關(guān)于律師在美國的地位。律師組成了美國最高政治階層，以及社會最具有教養(yǎng)的圈子。緊接著作者提到了律師在美國政府中占據(jù)統(tǒng)治地位，且自建國以來一直如此。因此律師就成了美國的“貴族”。最后作者提出問題“我們真的想讓律師這個職業(yè)來管理我們的國家嗎？”，呼吁選民在下次的選舉投票中三思。

這篇聽力材料政治色彩強，材料中的部分單詞可能會給考生帶來聽辨和拼寫的難度。難度較大。

cultivated adj 有教養(yǎng)的

innovation n.創(chuàng)新

conservative adj. 保守的

be composed of 由…組成

bench the bar 法官和律師

dominance n 統(tǒng)治地位

representatives n.眾議員

senator n 參議員

aristocracy n 貴族
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