考研人数逐年增加，竞争之激烈使得我们不得不加急复习的日程。众所周知，阅读理解占据了考研英语二100分试卷的一半分值，而考研英语阅读文章大多来自英美国家的主流报刊杂志，所以如果能在日常就多多阅读这些文章，对以后读懂文章做对题目来说会大有裨益。
学习步骤如下：
1.不看汉语译文自己看一遍短文做理解
2.看汉语译文比对自己理解的意思与之出入
3.强化记忆重点单词（以记忆其汉语意思为主）
Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, 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. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.
短文翻译
许多美国人认为陪审团制度是基本民主价值观的具体体现,它包括以下几个原则:所有符合最低年龄和文化程度要求的公民都平等享有担任陪审员的权利；陪审员应从代表社会各阶层的人中随机挑选；任何公民都不应因种族、宗教、性别或民族出身而被剥夺担任陪审员的权利；被告人有权接受同龄人的审判；判决应代表社会的良知,而不仅仅是法律条文。陪审团制度也是现存的直接民主而非代议制民主的最佳范例。在直接民主中,公民可以轮流自治,而不是选举代表替他们管理。
核心单词一览
真题练习
*一定要做题哦
36. From the principles of the U.S. 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] judgment should consider the opinion of the public
题目解析
36.【解析】第一段首句直接提出了美国的陪审团制度中的原则，其中倒数第三句：“that verdicts should … letter of the law.”中的 verdicts 和 D 项中的 judgment 是同义词，opinion of the public 和原文中的 conscious of the community 属于同义替换，因此 D 项为正确答案，强调了法律的判决应该考虑公民自身的意见。原文第一段提到了“minimal qualifications of age and literacy”，说明有文化程度的要求，而并非 A 项中提到的有无文化的人都可以为陪审团服务，故A项错误。同样，这一原则也表明对年龄有最低的限制。同样地， C 项将原文中“最低年龄要求”换成了“没有年龄限制”，故不选C项。文中还提到被告的同龄人有权利审判他们的同龄人，其中“are entitled to” 意为“被赋予……的权利”，表达肯定含义。而 B 项中的 “are immune from”意思是“对……免疫，不受……的影响”，表达否定含义，与原文信息相反。
