【美国精神】第37期

Explanation:

  The U.S. government has three branches (or parts): the executive branch which makes sure that people follow laws, the legislative¹ branch which makes new laws, and the judicial² branch which interprets laws (or decides what the laws mean and how they should be applied). Normally the executive and legislative branches can work together without any trouble. The legislative branch makes new laws and the executive branch enforces them. However, sometimes people don’t agree on what the laws mean. They think the laws are unclear or unconstitutional (or not in agreement with the U.S. Constitution). When that happens, someone needs to be able to say what the law really means and that is exactly what the judicial branch does.

  The judicial branch comprises (or is made up of) many courts. A court is a place where legal decisions are made, especially about whether or not someone has broken a law or what that law really means in the first place. When the Constitution created the judicial branch, it created the Supreme³ Court, which is the highest and most important court in the country. Since then, Congress has created many lower courts (or less powerful courts) that hear cases (or decide on legal issues) in many special areas. These lower courts include the tax courts, which decide whether or not people and businesses are evading⁴ (or not paying) taxes, and the bankruptcy⁵ courts, which decide whether people and businesses can declare bankruptcy (or not pay back the money they owe to other people and organizations because they don’t have any money left). The judicial branch needs to have many different courts because there are too many cases to send all of them to the Supreme Court.

  The Department of Justice is a very large part of the U.S. government that tries to get justice (or fairness in the law) for all Americans. The Department also tries to prevent and control crime (or things like murders (killings) and theft) to make the United States safer. The Department of Justice is not part of the judicial branch, however. It is part of the executive branch of the national government.

 

问题：

What does the judicial branch do?

Answer:

• Reviews laws

• Explains laws

• Resolves disputes (disagreements)

• Decides if a law goes against the Constitution

1 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

2 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 evading   

逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• Segmentation of a project is one means of evading NEPA. 把某一工程进行分割，是回避《国家环境政策法》的一种手段。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Too many companies, she says, are evading the issue. 她说太多公司都在回避这个问题。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。