【美国精神】第49期

Explanation:

  People who come to live in the United States as resident aliens (or people who can live and work in the United States but are not citizens) can do almost everything that American citizens can do, but there are two important differences. Only U.S. citizens can vote and serve on a jury¹.

  In most countries, the right (or freedom) to vote is only for citizens. It makes sense that only the people who officially belong to a country should have the right to vote there. Serving on a jury, though, is not a right that is talked about as much as voting.

  In the United States, all people have the right to a trial by jury. A trial is a lawsuit² or a case heard (or argued and discussed) in a court. If someone says that you have done something illegal (or against the law), you can argue about it in a court. This is your trial. The people who decide whether you are guilty (or that you have committed a crime) are the jury. The jury is the small group of people who will listen to the whole trial and then make a decision about whether or not you are guilty. They bring their decision back to the judge (or the person who manages the trial and courtroom) and he or she decides what your punishment will be (or how much money you will have to pay or how long you will be in jail for what you have done).

  American citizens have the responsibility to serve on a jury. We call this jury duty and it begins when you get a letter in the mail summoning³ you (or telling you to come) to jury duty. Then you go to the court on the date stated (or written) in the letter. Many other people who were also summoned⁴ go to the court that same day. If you are selected for jury duty, then you have to watch the whole trial. Employers (or the people or company that you work for) give their employees time off (or permission to not come to work) for jury duty. Usually jury duty lasts only a few days, but if you are put on a very long and difficult trial, it can last weeks or even months.

  Since people in most states are paid only a very small amount of money by the court to be on jury duty, some people try to avoid (or not serve on) jury duty. But if everyone avoided jury duty, we wouldn’t have enough people to decide cases. So serving on a jury is an important duty (or responsibility).

 

问题：

What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?

Answer:

• Serve on a jury

• Vote

1 jury   

n.陪审团，评委会；adj.临时用的；vt.挑选

参考例句：

• These twelve men are believed to compose the jury.据信，陪审团是由这12人组成的。
• The members of the jury were discharged from their duties.陪审员们被解除了职务。

2 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

3 summoning   

传唤( summon的现在分词 )； 召唤； 传讯（出庭）； 鼓起（勇气）

参考例句：

• The sudden summoning of the Cabinet underlines the seriousness of the situation. 内阁会议的突然召开，突出了局势的严重性。
• Summoning all his courage, he crossed to Broadway and up to the Broadway Central hotel. 他鼓足勇气，来到百老汇大街，朝百老汇中央旅馆走去。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 summoned   

传唤( summon的过去式和过去分词 )； 召唤； 传讯（出庭）； 鼓起（勇气）

参考例句：

• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。
• The students were summoned in turn to be interviewed. 学生依次被召入进行口试。