365个英语简短小故事-194. Jury Service in California

To serve on a California jury, you must be a U.S. citizen. You must be selected to serve; juror names are selected from state identification cards, driver’s licenses¹, and voting rolls. If selected, you will receive in your mail an envelope marked Jury Summons. Call the 800 phone number to find out the first day of your service. If that date is inconvenient² for you, you can change it to a later date. You cannot serve more than once every 12 months.

If you are mentally disabled or are a full-time³ caregiver, you may be excused from service. If you have no reasonable means of transportation to court, you might be excused. If you are a full-time student or teacher, you won’t be excused. If you are a breast-feeding mom, you can postpone⁴ your service. If you are dead, your family must provide proof of death.

To serve on a jury, you must be able to read and understand basic English. Your age doesn’t matter, as long as you are at least 18 years old. Once you’re 70, you can say that you’re too sick to serve; you don’t need a doctor’s excuse. If you’re younger than 70, you need a doctor’s note confirming that you are ill. Blind people, deaf people, and people in wheelchairs can be required to serve on a jury.

You will not get paid very much for your service--$15 a day. Also, the state will reimburse⁵ you 34 cents for each mile that you drive in your car (one way only). Some employers will pay your salary while you serve; some won’t. If you own a business, you might be away from it for one to four weeks, occasionally even longer. You could lose a lot of money if you do most of the work for your business. But the judge won’t excuse you unless you can demonstrate extreme financial hardship. Parking for jurors is always free.

 

1 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

2 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

3 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

4 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

5 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。