纯正地道美语 第143期(外教讲解):关于死刑

Professor: That’s all for today’s class. We will continue our lecture on crime and punishment tomorrow.

A: Do you think we should be tougher on crime?

B: Well, it depends on what you mean.

A:For  example, we  could  bring  back  the  death penalty for murder, give longer prison sentences for lesser¹ offences and lock up juvenile² offenders³.

B: Those  really  sound  like  Draconian  measures. Firstly, what  do  you  do  about  miscarriages⁴ of justice if you’ve already put innocent people to death?

A:You’d only use capital punishment if you were absolutely sure that you’d convicted the right person.

B: But, there’ve been many cases of wrongful conviction where people have been imprisoned⁵ for many years. The authorities were sure at the time, but later it was shown that the evidence was unreliable. In some cases, it’d been fabricated by the police.

A: Well,  no system of justice can be perfect, but surely there’s a good case for longer prison sentences to deter⁶ serious crime.

B:I doubt whether they could act as an effective deterrent⁷ while the detection rate is so low.  The best way to prevent crime is to convince people who commit it that they’re going to be caught.  It doesn’t make sense to divert all your resources into the prison system.

A: But if you detect more crimes, you’ll still need prisons. In my reckoning, if we could lock up more juvenile criminals, they’d learn that they couldn’t get away with it. Soft sentences will merely encourage them to do it again.

B: Yes, but remember that prisons are often schools for criminals. To remove crime from society, you really have to tackle its causes.

A: Well, if I were president, I would impose tougher laws and punishment. I would have a peaceful society based on fear of punishment, not consciousness of doing the right thing.

B: You sound like a dictator!

A: Well if it works, why not?
文章大意】对话围绕该如何对犯罪刑罚而进行。A认为应该用严厉的刑法来威慑犯罪的人，比如对谋杀罪判以死刑，延长监禁时间等。B认为，如果那样做，一旦有误判，将会造成难以挽回的后果
 

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

4 miscarriages   

流产( miscarriage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Miscarriages are usually caused by abnormal chromosome patterns in the fetus. 流产通常是因为胎儿的染色体异常造成的。
• Criminals go unpunishedareconvicted and are miscarriages of justice. 罪犯会逍遥法外，法律会伤及无辜，审判不公时有发生。

5 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

6 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

7 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。