1999年阅读真题精解(2011-05-30 10:22:15)转载标签：黄涛考研真题答案教育分类：阅读篇1999 Text 1It's a rough world out there. Step outside and you could break a leg slipping on your doormat. Light up the stove and you could burn down the house. Luckily, if the doormat or stove failed to warn of coming disaster, a successful lawsuit might compensate you for your troubles. Or so the thinking has gone since the early 1980s, when juries began holding more companies liable for their customers' misfortunes.外面是一个危险的世界。
如果你走出去，可能会滑倒在门垫上，摔伤一条腿。
如果你点燃炉灶，可能会把房子烧掉。
但是假如门垫或炉灶上没有警示语告诉你可能发生的危害，那么你或许可以就自己所受的伤害通过法律诉讼，成功地获得赔偿。
大约自80年代初以来人们就不再（guangxian注：此处“不再”二字应删除！）这样认为了，当时陪审团已开始认为更多的公司应对其顾客所遭受的不幸负责。
Feeling threatened, companies responded by writing ever-longer warning labels, trying to anticipate every possible accident. Today, stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn, among other things, that you might — surprise! — fall off. The label on a child's Batman cape cautions that the toy "does not enable user to fly."公司因此感到了威胁，便做出了反应，写出越来越长的警示标识语，力图预先标明种种可能发生的事故。
现在，梯子上警告标签有几英寸长，除了警告你其他可能发生的意外情况外，还警告你可能会摔下来，简直是莫名其妙！印在儿童蝙蝠侠披风上的标识语竟然也告诫说，本玩具“无法让用户飞行”。
虽然警示语常常是合理而必要的，如对药物副作用而产生的危险的警示语，并且很多是州或联邦法规所要求的，但是当消费者受伤，这些警示语能否真正保护制造商和销售商使之免于责任，这还很难说。
被受伤的消费者告上法庭的公司中，大约一半的情况是公司败诉。
现在看来这种趋势正在转变。
尽管个人伤害的指控一如既往地继续着，但有些法庭已开始站到被告一方，特别是在处理那些有警示语也无法避免伤害的案件时。
五月份，伊利诺斯州的Shutt体育公司总裁朱利·尼蒙斯就成功地打赢了这样一场官司。
一名橄榄球队员戴着该公司的头盔在一场比赛中受伤瘫痪，遂将该公司告上法庭。
公司总裁朱利·尼蒙斯说：“他成了瘫痪，我们非常难过，但头盔的设计不是为了预防这类伤害的。
”陪审团也认为造成该运动员受伤的是这项运动本身的危险性，而不是头盔。
与此同时，美国法学会——该学会由一群举足轻重的法官、律师、学者所组成——签署了新的民事侵害法纲要，宣布公司不必警示顾客那些显而易见的危险，或者给顾客列出一份冗长的可能造成的危险的清单。
康奈尔大学法学院一位参与起草新纲要的教授说，“重要的信息会淹没在细枝末节的汪洋之中”。
如果该法律团体的这一适中的目的能够实现，产品上提供的警示信息实际上是用来保护消费者利益的，而不是为了避免公司承担法律责任的。
While warnings are often appropriate and necessary —the dangers of drug interactions, for example — and many are required by state or federal regulations, it isn't clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured. About 50 percent of the companies lose when injured customers take them to court.Now the tide appears to be turning. As personal injury claims continue as before, some courts are beginning to side with defendants, especially in cases where a warning label probably wouldn't have changed anything. In May, Julie Nimmons, president of Schutt Sports in Illinois, successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet. "We're really sorry he has become paralyzed, but helmets aren't designed to prevent those kinds of injuries," says Nimmons. The jury agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the reason for the athlete's injury. At the same time, the American Law Institute —a group of judges, lawyers, and academics whose recommendations carry substantial weight — issued new guidelines for tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones. "Important information can get buried in a sea of trivialities," says a law professor at Cornell Law School who helped draft the new guidelines. If the moderate end of the legal community has its way, the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability.51. What were things like in 1980s when accidents happened?[A] Customers might be relieved of their disasters through lawsuits.[B] Injured customers could expect protection from the legal system.[C] Companies would avoid being sued by providing new warnings.[D] Juries tended to find fault with the compensations companies promised.52. Manufacturers as mentioned in the passage tend to ________.[A] satisfy customers by writing long warnings on products[B] become honest in describing the inadequacies of their products[C] make the best use of labels to avoid legal liability[D] feel obliged to view customers' safety as their first concern53. The case of Schutt helmet demonstrated that ________.[A] some injury claims were no longer supported by law[B] helmets were not designed to prevent injuries[C] p roduct labels would eventually be discarded[D] some sports games might lose popularity with athletes54. The author's attitude towards the issue seems to be ________.[A] biased [B] indifferent [C] puzzling [D] objective核心词汇1. rough 粗糙的，不平坦的；粗野的；tough 艰巨的；艰难的2. step 走3. slip 滑到4. light up 点燃5. burn down 烧毁6. fail to 没有7. lawsuit=suit 起诉；诉讼8. compensate for 为…作出补偿9. jury 陪审团10. hold sb. liable for 让…对…负责11. misfortune 不幸12. respond 做出反应13. warning labels 警告标识14. caution 警告15. while 尽管，而，当…时候16. appropriate 合适的17. interaction相互作用18. regulation 规则19. claim 索赔20. side with 支持21. defendant 被告；22. involving 涉及到23. paralyze 瘫痪24. nature 本质；by nature 天性25. carry substantial weight 具有相当的分量26. issue 发布了；发行了27. bombard with 大量提供28. a sea of 大量的29. trivialities 琐事30. end 目的31. have one’s way 得以实现32. legal liability 法律责任33. misfortune难句精解①While warnings are often appropriate and necessary —the dangers of drug interactions, for example —and many are required by state or federal regulations, it isn't clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured.▲在这个主从复合句中，前一个分句是由while引导的让步从句，这个从句由两个并列句组成，中间用and连接。