Extra Passage泛读三.doc

Extra Passage 1 Imagine a classroom where the instructors speak a foreign language and the students can’t take notes, turn to a textbook, or ask any questions. Yet at the end of the final exam, one participation may face life in jail or even death. That’s the task handed to American juniors, briefly thrown together to decide accused criminals’ fate. In “ A Trial by Jury” ，Princeton history professor D. Graham Burnett offers a rare glimpse inside jury deliberations at a New York murder trial where he served as foreman last year. According to the prosecutor, the case seems clear-cut; a sexual encounter between two men went awry. The defendant stabbed his victim 26 times, but claims he acted in self-defense, killing a man who was attempting to rape him. Burnett opens with a graphic description of the crime. He then introduces the characters and walks readers through the 10-day trial. You hear the testimony of witnesses dressed in drag and find yourself put off by a growling prosecutor and the judge’s indifference. Most of the drama, though, comes during four days and three nights of deliberations. Once retreated in the jury room, confusion reigns. Most jurors don’t understand the charges or the meaning of self-defense. Uninterested juror seem more concerned about missing appointments. On the third day, one juror runs to bathroom in tears after exchanging curses. By the final day, nearly, every cries. Though he’s no more familiar with the law than the other jurors, who include a vacuum-cleaner repairman and a software developer, it’s fitting that Burnett is a teacher. For us, he serves as a patient instructor, illustrating with his experience just what a remarkable and sometimes remarkably strange duty serving on a jury can be. For many citizens, jury duty is their first exposure to our justice system. Jurors discover first hand the gap between law and justice. They face two flawed versions of the same event, offered by witnesses they may not beli