Supplementary Reading 法律英语 读物.doc

Supplementary Reading Part One The framers of the Constitution had several clear-cut objectives in mind. They set these down with remarkable clarity（清楚 明晣） in a 52-word, six-point preamble（序，绪言，前言） to the principal document. “We the people of the United States , in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice（正义）, insure domestic tranquility（平静，安静，安宁） , provided for（为。。提供生活费，为。。作准备，规定，养）the common defense (国防）, promote（促进，推进） the general welfare （公共福利）, and secure（安全的，牢固的，安心的） the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity（后代，后世子孙） ,do ordain（任命，授予，命令，判定） and establish this Constitution for the United States of American” The problem of building a “more perfect Union”was the obvious issue facing the 13 states in 1787. It was quite clear that almost any union would be more nearly perfect than that which exited under the Articles of Confederation.（结盟，联盟） But devising（想出，设计，遗赠给，图谋，遗赠的财产，） another structure to replace it involved（复杂难懂的，与他人有密切关系 的。表明，牵涉） critical choices.（关健的选择） All the states were covetous（贪婪的，垂涎的，爱财的。） of the sovereign powers（最高权力） they had exercised since the breakaway （脱离的， 分离出支的，逃脱，背弃）from England 11 years earlier. Balancing “states’ rights ‘ with the needs of a central government was no easy task. The makers of the Constitution accomplished（熟练的，完成的，有修养的。）it by letting the states keep all the powers necessary to regulate the daily lives of their people, provided that（假若，设若） these powers did not conflict with （倾轧，冲突）the needs and welfare of the nation as a whole. This division of authority is essentially（本质上，根本上，本来） the same today. The power of each state over local affairs（地方事务） --in matters such as business organization（企业组织） , work condition（工况） ,marriage and divorce（离婚）, local taxation（课税，征税，） ,and ordinary police powers --is so fully recognized and accepted that two neighboring states frequently have widely differing laws on the same subject. Ingenious （灵巧的。精巧的有天才的，聪明的）though the constitutional arrangement was , t