词汇大师-- One Way to Try to Silence a Critic

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: What do you call a lawsuit¹ that appears to be intended to suppress public speech?
RS: To critics it's a SLAPP -- a strategic lawsuit against public participation². University of Denver law professor George Pring, co-author of the book "SLAPPs: Getting Sued For Speaking Out," explains.

　　GEORGE PRING: "The First Amendment³ of the United States Constitution, like most of the constitutions around the world, or the majority, guarantees its people a right of free speech or freedom of expression. The one thing that the United States Constitution does, that many other countries' do not do, is to guarantee your right to speak your views to your government officials."
RS: "Could you give us an example?"
GEORGE PRING: "A very common example is people will go to a city council zoning hearing and speak out against a new development. People will go to a school board meeting and criticize a bad teacher. People will write a letter to the mayor, to the governor reporting graft⁴ and corruption⁵."
AA: "What gets people sued for doing that?"
GEORGE PRING: "What we discovered in the nineteen eighties was that people were suddenly getting sued for millions of dollars. So that the opponents -- whether it's the real estate developer or the bad teacher or the person accused of graft and corruption, instead of meeting them in that same public forum⁶, instead tries to suppress that communication to government by filing a very scary, big multi-million dollar lawsuit, which we found has no chance of winning. But what doesn't win in court often wins in the real world."
RS: "Well, what are their grounds for this lawsuit?"
AA: "Or is it based on accusations⁷ of, what, of slander⁸, defamation⁹?"
GEORGE PRING: "Thirty-five to forty percent of SLAPPs -- strategic lawsuits¹⁰ against public participation in government -- are filed based on defamation, libel, slander. A generic¹¹, you know, personal injury claim. Another big group of them are filed for so-called business interference, interference with a contract.
"The average running time to get these cases dismissed, we found, was three years. About the only way SLAPP victims lose is by giving up, ultimately. Almost all of the cases, ninety-five, ninety-some percent of them are dismissed at least at the first trial level or at the next appeals level."
RS: "Well, what remedies do you suggest that would bring both parties to the table to agree to stop these kinds of lawsuits?"
GEORGE PRING: "Kick them out of court quickly. More than half of the states in the United States since we published our book on SLAPPs in nineteen ninety-six, more than half of the states have adopted anti-SLAPP laws along the lines of our model that we put in the book. And right now the United States Congress is considering an anti-SLAPP bill that probably will pass within a year or so."
AA: Law professor George Pring estimates that hundreds of thousands of SLAPPs have been filed in the last forty years. He can't be sure. "SLAPPers don't file their lawsuits under S," he says. The lawsuits are camouflaged¹².
RS: Nor can he say just how successful state laws designed to identify SLAPPs have been in reducing them.
GEORGE PRING: "New York State has adopted one of the weakest, least protective SLAPP laws -- and New York attorneys tell us SLAPPs have gone way down. California has adopted one of the strongest, most protective anti-SLAPP laws. As far as we can tell there are more SLAPPs filed in California now. They get dismissed quicker.
"But what we do know is that with this sudden, huge change in the way Americans communicate, with all of the social networking ways to express yourself, oftentimes they get sued now in a SLAPP-type way because of what they put online.
RS: And that will be our topic next time with University of Denver law professor George Pring. That's WORDMASTER for this week. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 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。

2 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

7 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

8 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

9 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

10 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

11 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

12 camouflaged   

v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰

参考例句：

• We camouflaged in the bushes and no one saw us. 我们隐藏在灌木丛中没有被人发现。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They camouflaged in bushes. 他们隐蔽在灌木丛中。 来自《简明英汉词典》