实战口语情景对话 第165期:律师 Lawyers

 Todd: So, Alexandra, you're going to be a lawyer. 托德：那么，亚历山德拉，你要成为律师了。

Alex: Yes, I am. 亚历山德拉：是的。

Todd: Now laywers, unfortunately, often have a bad reputation. Why don't you talk about how lawyers are good for society: Why we need lawyers? 托德：现在很不幸地，律师通常都名声不好。你为什么不谈谈律师对社会的好处：为什么我们需要律师呢？

Alex: Well, first we need lawyers because most of the time a lawyer will try to settle disputes between parties before it gets to a courtroom. Usually you have one side that has a problem and the other side is also aurgueing another point. So usually a lawyer will try to bring the two sides into their offices and to mediate² a dispute before it gets to a courtroom. Another way a lawyer can help a society is usually lawyers can be very expensive, but there are programs out there that help people with less money, not necessarily to get free advice, but they can do it on a sliding scale, or a lawyer can do pro¹ bono work which is free, and can help someone just, sometimes all they need is a letter written to resolve a problem or they just need somebody to go with them to court to explain what is going on, or just explain a lease or some other document for them that doesn't take much time and makes the client feel a lot better and a lot of times lawyers will take up the cause of children. If there is a custody³ dispute or some sort of bad thing that's happening to a child that needs a visit to a courtroom, the lawyer is there to be the lawyer for the child and no one else can influence the decisions that can be made for the child. It's almost like a protection and many other communitites or other sections of society that don't have a voice can get a voice through a lawyer. 亚历山德拉：嗯，首先我们需要律师的理由是，律师大部分时间都在处理各方之间的争议，以避免他们闹上法庭。通常一方指出了问题，而另一方则持有另一种观点。所以基本上，律师会试图把双方带到办公室，调解这个争议，从而避免闹上法庭。律师可以帮助社会的另一点是，通常来说请律师都很昂贵，可是现在有一种程序，可以帮助穷人，未必是得到免费建议，而是根据浮动比例收费，又或者律师可以做无偿的工作，维护公平，有时候人们只需要一封解决问题的信件，或是他们需要有人陪他们去法庭解释事情的来龙去脉，或是解释租赁文件或是其他文件，这样不会占用太多时间，会使客户感觉更舒服，而且律师会花费大量时间在儿童事业上。如果有监护权纠纷，或是其他不好的事情发生在儿童身上，这时就需要上法庭解决，律师会代表儿童，而其他任何人都不能影响儿童的决定。这就像一种保护，许多其他的社会组织和社会部门都不能像律师这样发声。

Todd: OK, great and what kind of lawyer are you going to be? 托德：好的，很好，你想成为哪种律师？

Alex: An aviation lawyer. 亚历山德拉：航空业律师。

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。