Unit 21 　

　　Text
　　
　　A young man finds that strolling along the streets without an obvious purpose can lead to trouble with the law. One misunderstanding leads to another until eventually he must appear in court for trial……

　　A Brush with the Law

　　I have only once been in trouble with the law. The whole process of being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now. What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent fate in court.

　　In happened in February about twelve years ago. I had left school a couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the following October. I was still living at home at the time.

　　One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I lived. I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some money to go travelling. As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me. It must have been this obvious aimlessness that led to my downfall.

　　It was about half past eleven when it happened. I was just walking out of the local library, having unsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across the road with the obvious intention of talking to me. I thought he was going to ask me the time. Instead, he said he was a police officer and he was arresting me. At first I thought it was some kind of joke. But then another policeman appeared, this time in uniform, and I was left in no doubt.

　　'But what for?' I asked.

　　"Wandering with intent to commit an arrestable offence,' he said.

　　'What offence?' I asked.

　　'Theft,' he said.

　　'Theft of what?' I asked.

　　'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a perfectly straight face too!

　　'Oh,' I said.

　　It turned out there had been a lot of petty thefts in the area, particularly that of stealing milk bottles from doorsteps.

　　Then I made my big mistake. At the time I was nineteen, had long untidy hair, and regarded myself as part of the sixties' 'youth countercultrue. As a result, I want to appear cool and unconcerned with the incident, so I said, 'How long have you been following me?' in the most casual and conversation tone I could manage. I thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with this sort of situation, and it confirmed them in their belief that I was a thoroughly disreputable character.
　　A few minutes later a police car arrived.

　　'Get in the back," they said. 'Put your hands on the back of the front seat and don't move them.'

　　They got in on either side of me. I wasn't funny any more.

　　At the police station they questioned me for several hours. I continued to try to look worldly and au fait with the situation. When they asked me what I had been doing, I told them I'd been looking for a job. 'Aha,' I could see them thinking, 'unemployed'.

　　Eventually, I was officially charged and told to report to Richmond Magistrates' Court the following Monday. Then they let me go.

　　I wanted to conduct my own defence in court, but as soon as my father found out what had happened, he hired a very good solicitor. We went along that Monday armed with all kinds of witnesses, including my English teacher from school as a character witness. But he was never called on to give evidence. My 'trial' didn't get that far. The magistrate dismissed the case after fifteen minutes. I was free. The poor police had never stood a chance. The solicitor even succeeded in getting costs awarded against the police.

　　And so I do not have a criminal record. But what was most shocking at the time was the things my release from the charge so clearly depended on. I had the 'right' accent, respectable middle-class parents in court, reliable witnesses, and I could obviously afford a very good solicitor. Given the obscure nature of the charge, I feel sure that if I had come from a different background, and had really been unemployed, there is every chance that I would have been found guilty. While asking for costs to be awarded, my solicitor's case quite obviously revolved around the fact that I had a 'brilliant academic record'.

　　Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of the policemen who had arrested me was gloomily complaining to my mother that another youngster had been turned against the police. 'You could have been a bit more helpful when we arrested you,' he said to me reproachfully.

　　What did the mean? Presumably that I should have looked outraged and said something like, 'Look here, do you know who you're talking to? I am a highly successful student with a brilliant academic record. How dare you arrest me!' Then they, presumably, would have apologized, perhaps even taken off their caps, and let me on my way.

　　NEW WORDS

　　brush
　　n.　brief fight or encounter 小沖突；小接觸

　　process
　　n.　course; method, esp. one used in manufacture 過程；制作法

　　arbitrary
　　a.　based on one's own opinion only, not on reason 任意的；武斷的

　　circumstance
　　n.　(usu. pl.) conditions, facts, etc. connected with an event or person 情況，環(huán)境

　　subsequent
　　a.　following, later 隨后的，接下去的

　　fate
　　n.　what will happen or happened to sb. or sth. 命運

　　due
　　a.　expected; supposed (to) 預(yù)期的；約定的；到期的

　　temporary
　　a.　lasting only for a limited time 暫時的

　　stroll
　　a.　walk at leisure 散步，閑逛

　　obvious
　　a.　easily seen or understood; clear 明顯的，顯而易見的

　　downfall
　　n.　ruin 垮臺；衰落

　　employment
　　n.　one's regular work or occupation; job 職業(yè)；工作

　　wander
　　vi. move about without a purpose 閑逛；漫游

　　commit
　　vt. do (sth. wrong, bad, or unlawful)干（壞事），犯（錯誤、罪）

　　arrestable
　　a.　deserving to be arrested

　　offence (AmE offense)
　　n.　crime; the hurting of feelings; something unpleasant 罪行；冒犯；不愉快的事

　　straight face
　　a face or expression that shows no emotion, humor, or thought 板著的臉
　　petty
　　a.　small; unimportant 小的；不足道的

　　doorstep
　　n.　a step in front of a door

　　regard
　　vt. consider in the stated way 把……看作；把認為(as)

　　counterculture
　　n.　a culture, esp. of the young who oppose the traditional standards and customs of their society 反主流文化

　　unconcerned
　　a.　not worried; untroubled; indifferent 無憂慮的；淡漠的

　　casual
　　a.　careless; informal 漫不經(jīng)心的，隨便的

　　conversational
　　a.　of or commonly used in talking 會話（用）的

　　confirm
　　vt. make certain; support 證實，肯定；確定

　　belief
　　n.　something believed; trust 相信；信念；信仰

　　thoroughly
　　ad. completely; in every way 完全地，徹底地

　　thorough　a.

　　disreputable
　　a.　having or showing a bad character; having a bad name 聲名狼籍的

　　worldly
　　a.　experienced in the ways of society 老于世故的

　　au fait
　　a.　(F) familiar 熟悉的；精通的

　　aha
　　int. a cry of surprise, satisfaction, etc. 啊哈！

　　magistrate
　　n.　civil officer acting as a judge in the lowest courts 地方法官

　　conduct
　　vt. direct the course of; manage 處理；主持；引導(dǎo)；指揮

　　defence (AmE defense)
　　n.　the act of defending in court the person who has been charged 辨護

　　solicitor
　　n.　(esp. in Britain) lawyer who advises clients on legal matters and speaks on their behalf in lower courts （初級）律師

　　witness
　　n.　a person who gives evidence in a court of law; sth. serving as evidence or proof 證人；證據(jù)

　　trial
　　n.　the act or fact of examining and deciding a civil or criminal case by a law court 審判

　　dismiss
　　vt. (of a judge) stop (a court case) 駁回，對……不予受理

　　cost
　　n.　(pl.) the cost of having　a matter settled in a law court. esp. that paid to the winning party by the losing party 訴訟費

　　award
　　vt. give by a decision in court of law; give or grant by　an official decision 判給；授予

　　accent
　　n.　way of speaking typical of the natives or residents of a region, or of any other group 口音；腔調(diào)

　　respectable
　　a.　deserving respect 值得尊敬的

　　reliable
　　a.　that may be relied or depended upon 可靠的，可信賴的

　　given
　　prep. taking into account; if allowed or provided with 考慮到；假定

　　obscure
　　a.　not clearly seen or understood 模糊的；晦澀的

　　guilty
　　a.　having broken a law; showing or feeling that one has done wrong 有罪的；內(nèi)疚的

　　revolve
　　v.　(cause to) go round in a circle （使）旋轉(zhuǎn)

　brilliant
　　a.　causing great admiration or satisfaction; splendid 輝煌的；卓越的

　　courtroom
　　n.　a room where a law court is held 審判室

　　meanwhile
　　ad. during the same period of time 同時

　　gloomily
　　ad. depressedly, dejectedly 憂郁地；沮喪地

　　complain
　　vi. speak in an unhappy, annoyed, dissatisfied way 抱怨

　　complaint　n.
　
　　reproachfully
　　ad. 責(zé)備地

　　presumably
　　ad. probably

　　outrage
　　vt. arouse anger or resentment by injury or insult 引起……的氣憤

　　successful
　　a.　having done what one has tried to do; having gained a high position in life, one's job. etc. 成功的；有成就的

　　apologize
　　vi. say one is sorry 道歉，謝罪

　　apology　n.

　　PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS

　　take sb. to court
　　start an action in law against sb. 對某人提出訴訟

　　a couple of
　　(informal) a small number of, a few, usually two 少數(shù)，幾（個）； 一對

　　save up
　　keep for future use; put money away in the form of savings 儲蓄

　　take one's time
　　do sth. in a leisurely manner; not hurry 慢慢來，不著急

　　at first
　　at the beginning 起先

　　turn out
　　prove to be 結(jié)果；證明是

　　call on
　　ask (sb.) to do sth. esp. formally 要求

　　stand a chance
　　have an opportunity; be likely to do or get sth. 有機會，有希望

　　revolve around
　　have as a center or main subject

　　turn against
　　(cause to) oppose, be hostile to

　　PROPER NAMES

　　Richmond
　　里士滿（英國地名）

　　Richmond Magistrates' Court
　　里士滿地方法院

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