历年考题阅读精读:关于美国法律行业问题的文章
v 文章原文
All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession---with the possible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.
During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.
There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves today’s average law-school graduate with $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that they have to work fearsomely hard.
Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so.Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.
In fact,allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms’ efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions.
v 单词积累
1. generate v产生;使形成
2. hostility n.敌意 (hostile adj. 有敌意的)
3. ground n.理由、原因
4. inflation n.通货膨胀
5. skyscraper n.摩天大楼
6. nuisance n.妨害行为;讨厌的人或事
7. tort n.侵权
8. implement v.执行、实施
9. guild n.协会
10. opponent n.反对者(oppose v.反对)
11. liberalize v.使自由(liberty n.自由)
12. hinder v.阻碍、打扰
13. aggravate v.激化;使恶化
v 长难句解析
1. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.是
本句主干为there be句型,即:there are few places。where 引导定语从句修饰places。需要注意的是few表示否定意义,意为“没有。”
全句翻译:没有比美国的客户更有理由抱怨的地方了。
2. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.
本句主语为many of them,become是谓语动词,宾语是the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer,意为“妨害诉讼的档案员”,that引导定语从句修饰filer,filer在定语从句中做主语,较短的定语从句翻译要前置。
全句翻译:他们中的大多数人反而变成了使诉讼制度成为代价昂贵的噩梦的妨害诉讼的档案员。
3. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them.
本句主干是由but连接起来的两个并列句,难点在but后面一句话。其主语是the state-level bodies,that govern the profession作为定语从句修饰主语,have been 是谓语,宾语为too conservative,同时implement them又作为to的宾语,构成介宾短语。
全句翻译:明智的想法已经存在很长时间了,但是管理该行业的州级机构过于保守而无法实施它们。
4. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.
本句主干为but连接的两个并列句。But前是there be句型,from within the profession介词短语作定语修饰pressure。But后面句子主干为opponents insisit that……。of change among the regulators 还是介词短语做定语修饰opponents;that引导从句作为insist的宾语。宾语从句内部,主语为keeping outsiders out of a law firm,isolate…from…为固定短语作谓语,lawyers和the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically分别做isolate和from的宾语。
全句翻译:行业内部存在着阻止变革的压力,但监管机构中反对变革的人士坚持认为,将局外人拒之于律师事务所之外,使律师摆脱了赚钱、而不是从道德上为客户服务的压力。
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