时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(七月)


英语课
By Steve Mort
Hollywood, Florida
20 July 2007
 


A company in the southern U.S. state of Florida is offering a service to help people write their own laws.  For a fee, the Law Store will help members of the public draft legislation and then get it enacted 2 through a referendum.  The Law Store describes its pieces of legislation as McLaws -- a reference to the fast food offered by restaurants such as McDonalds.  But as Steve Mort reports, critics say the service undermines the right of citizens to petition their government.






Margaret Kessler


Margaret Kessler



At a recording 3 studio in the town of Hollywood, Florida, The Law Store's Margaret Kessler records an advertisement that will air on a local radio station. It urges voters to back a law that her company wrote to make it harder for sex offenders 4 to live in certain areas.


It's just one of the pieces of legislation that members of the public have asked The Law Store to draft - and she is now drumming up the support it needs to become law.


"It's the most democratic way of doing things,” says Margaret Kessler of The Law Store. “And we looked at the program and felt that this really is very much the type of democracy that our Founding Fathers had in mind because it gives control of city decisions back to the people that live in a city."


In U.S. cities, such as Miami, local rules often allow people to petition for changes to the law -- and that is where The Law Store comes in.


Kessler's team of lawyers will draw up a law for anyone with few thousand dollars to spend - and then gather the signatures needed to have it put as a referendum for voters to consider in a special election.


The draft is worded carefully so officials can't modify or reject it. Then if enough voters support the measure, it becomes law.


Kessler says members of the public have the power to change election laws or even how much tax they pay. "At the end of the day, it simply comes down to a vote of the people. And if the majority of people want something done, it gets done".






Dario Moreno, political science professor at Florida International University


Dario Moreno, political science professor at Florida International University



But critics accuse The Law Store of doing more harm than good. "I mean, lets face it, this is a publicity 6 stunt 7. It's a way for a lawyer to make a little bit of extra money and it's really not going to help ordinary people," says Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. He says The Law Store is using the system to ram 5 through silly laws in special elections that can cost the taxpayer 8 millions of dollars.


As a result, he says, city governments such as the one in Miami are beginning to take away the public's ability to petition for change on important issues.


"They're abusing one of the important rights that citizens have,” says Marino, “which is the right to petition their government for change and to enact 1 change and to go over the heads of their elected representatives. And if this is abused it will become more difficult to use the initiative process to make positive change."


But back at the recording studio, Margaret Kessler is already recording another advertisement. She says she will press on with her work as long as the rules allow her to, and envisages 9 companies like The Law Store springing up across America.




vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演
  • The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
  • For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 )
  • legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
  • Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
n.录音,记录
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 );犯规者;罪犯;妨害…的人(或事物)
  • Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
  • Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。
(random access memory)随机存取存储器
  • 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存,640K内存则更佳。
n.众所周知,闻名;宣传,广告
  • The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
  • He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事,只当它是一种宣传手法。
n.惊人表演,绝技,特技;vt.阻碍...发育,妨碍...生长
  • Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
  • Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。
n.纳税人
  • The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
  • The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。
想像,设想( envisage的第三人称单数 )
  • The board envisages that there will be a high profit. 董事会预期将会获得高额利润。
  • The paper reviews and envisages the development trend of carbon electrode. 本文对炭电极的发展方向做了回顾与展望。
学英语单词
a team player
amidazotoluene
anti-pollution investment
Azdavay
betsy rosses
blood-thirster
buffer solutions
bullocks
busted a move
car-booter
ceeli
chaldeest
channel of disbursement
chaplet
conferring with
correlating measuring instrument
cosalite
count your blessings
critical edition
de-democratization
Delphinium trichophorum
denisons
departmental stores account
Devitt Committee Report
dimethyl phenyl carbinyl acetate
docking pinc(h)er
Dunning-Kruger effect
Edna May
entotympanic bone (or metatympanic bone)
expelling wind-damp
factor-price differentials
FIATA Forwarders Certificate of Transport
file a brief
football pyramid
Fraunhofer diffraction pattern
gauze screen
Ghent system
Gigantopteris flora
governings
Guaramirim
GWBASIC
hemolysinogen
hilty
Hmar
hydrolytically
in ... arms
in steam
Insurance for Carriage of Passengers by Sea
inward-outward dialing system
ione
iso cost line
jooking
Lark, R.
longitudinal-shear
lunanaut
ma'e
merring
mica packing
Mohr pinchcock
mole neutron
N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole
navigable semicircle
nonservo
Norian Age
operational wastes
optical technology satellite
pagurus angustus
pennings
phylloxerae
polynucleolar
pregnenolone acetylsalicylate
price flexing
quantum sufficit
rankin process
Richard Evelyn Byrd
rose periwinkle
rubbas
s.t.
Salk, Jonas Edward
sanitation departments
saving apparatus
snoopable
solaar
sorg
spike someone's guns
staining solution
standing area
stick packaging
system similarity
tapping floor
tapping table
Te Kuiti
territorial system
to break camp
trophic relation
Tropic of Capricorn
ultramicronized
uncoops
veterans' life insurance
warrant stock
wind signal
zanzotto