Unit 6：Death and Justice 课文加翻译.docx

Unit 6：Death and Justice How Capital Punishment Affirms Life 死亡与司法死刑如何肯定生命Last December a man named Robert Lee Willie, who had been convicted of raping and murdering an eighteen-year-old woman, was executed in the Louisiana state prison. In a statement issued several minutes before his death, Mr. Willie said: “Killing people is wrong… It makes no difference whether it’s citizens, countries, or governments. Killing is wrong.” Two weeks later in South Carolina, an admitted killer named Joseph Carl Shaw was put to death for murdering two teenagers. In an appeal to the governor for clemency, Mr. Shaw wrote: “Killing was wrong when I did it. Killing was wrong when you do it. I hope you have the courage and moral strength to stop the killing.”去年12月，一个名叫罗伯特.李.威利的罪犯在路易斯安那州的监狱中被处决，罪名是强奸和谋杀一名18岁的女子。在其死亡前几分钟发表的一份声明中，威利先生说：“杀人是错误的... ... 无论是公民、国家，还是政府，都没有区别。杀人是不对的”。两周后在南卡罗来纳州，一个名为约瑟夫.卡尔.肖的杀人犯因为杀害两名青少年被处死。在上诉到州长请求宽恕时，肖先生说：“当我杀人时杀人是错误的。当你杀人时杀人也是错误的。我希望你有勇气和道德力量来阻止杀戮。”.It is a curiosity of modern life that we find ourselves being lectured on morality by cold-blooded killers. Mr. Willie previously had been convicted of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and the murders of a Louisiana deputy and a man from Missouri. Mr. Shaw committed another murder a week before the two for which he was executed, and admitted mutilating the body of the fourteen-year-old girl he killed. I can’t help wondering what prompted these murderers to speak out against killing as they entered the death-house door. Did their newfound reverence for life stem from the realization that they were about to lose their own? 冷血的杀人犯对我们进行道德说教，这真是现代社会的一件奇事。威利先生之前已经犯有恶性强奸罪、恶性绑架罪和谋杀一名路易斯安那州副州长和一名密苏里州人的谋杀罪。肖先生在杀害致其被处死的两个人的一周前，还进行了另一起谋杀，他承认肢解了他所杀害的14岁女孩的身体。我不禁要问，是什么原因促使这些凶手在走入鬼门关的时候发表反对杀人的言论。他们重新发现对生命的尊重是源于意识到即将失去自己的生命了吗？.Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm this fact. Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of these murderers, they might well have stayed their