现代大学英语精读第三册课件

1、现代大学英语精读第三册 05b（在线收听）Text Twelve Angry Men (Part One)by Reginald RoseCharactersNarratorForeman (Juror No. 1)Jurors No. 2 No. 12Narrator: The scene is a jury room in a criminal court. Twelve men walk into the room. They are the jury for the trial of a boy charged with murdering his father.Foreman: OK

2、, gentlemen. Now you fellows can handle this any way you want. We can discuss it first and then vote on it. Thats one way. And we can vote on it right now.No. 4: I think its customary to take a preliminary vote.No. 7: Yes, lets vote. Maybe we can all get out of here.Foreman: OK. Of course we know th

3、at we have a first-degree murder charge here. And if we vote the accused guilty, weve got to send him to the chair. Anyone doesnt want to vote? OK, those voting guilty, please raise your hands. . Nine . ten . eleven. OK. Not guilty? (No. 8 raises his hand.) One. OK, eleven guilty, one not guilty. No

4、w we know where we are.No. 3: (To No. 8) You really think hes innocent?No. 8: I dont know.No. 3: Well, you sat in court with the rest of us. You heard what we did. The kid is a dangerous killer.No. 8: Hes 18 years old.No. 3: Thats old enough. He stabbed his own father. Four inches into the chest. Th

5、ey proved it in a dozen different ways in court. Would you like me to list them for you?No. 8: No.No. 10: Then what DO you want?No. 8: I just want to talk.No. 10: May I ask you something? Do you believe his story?No. 8: I dont know. Maybe I dont.No. 7: Then how come you vote not guilty?No. 8: There

6、were eleven votes for guilty. Its not easy to send the boy off to die without talking about it first.No. 7: Who says its easy? What? Just because I voted fast? I honestly think the guys guilty. Couldnt change my mind if you talked for a hundred years.No. 8: I dont want to change your mind. I just wa

7、nt to talk for a while. Look, this kids been kicked around all his life. You know, born in a slum, his mother dead since he was 9, lived a year and a half in an orphanage when his father was serving a jail term for forgery. He is a wild angry kid. You know why? Because hes been hit on the head by so

8、mebody once a day every day. I just think we owe him a few words. Thats all.No. 10: We dont owe him a thing. He got a fair trial, didnt he? What do you think that trial cost? Hes lucky he got it. Listen, we are all grown-ups here. Youre not going to tell me that were supposed to believe this kid, kn

9、owing what he is! Listen, Ive lived among them all my life. You cant believe a word they say.No. 9: What a terrible thing for a man to believe. Since when is dishonesty a group characteristic?No. 10: Now look here.Foreman: Listen, we have a job to do. Lets do it. Now perhaps the gentleman down there

10、 whos disagreeing with us could let us know what hes thinking, and we might be able to show him where hes mixed up.No. 12: Well, it seems to me that its up to the group of us to convince this gentleman that he is wrong and we are right. Maybe, if we each of us talk for a couple of minutes just to .

11、well, just a quick idea.Foreman: No, no. Thats a good one. Suppose we go once around the table. (Turns to No. 2) I guess you are the first.No. 2: Well, eh . Its hard to put into words. I just think hes guilty. I mean nobody proved otherwise.No. 8: Nobody has to prove otherwise. Innocent until proven

12、 guilty. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defendant doesnt have to open his mouth.No. 2: Oh, sure, I know that. What I meant was . I just think hes guilty. I mean somebody saw him do it.No. 3: OK, heres what I think. And I have no personal feelings about this. I just want to talk about

13、 facts. Number One: The old man who lives downstairs under the room where the killing took place. At ten minutes after twelve, he heard a loud noise. He said it sounded like a fight. Then he heard the kid yell out, Im going to kill you! A second later, he heard the body hit the floor. He ran to the

14、door, opened it up, and saw the kid running down the stairs and out of the house. He called the police. They came and found the old man dead with a knife in his chest. The coroner fixed the time of death at around midnight. Now these are facts. You cant refute facts. The kids guilty. Im just as sent

15、imental as the next fellow. I know hes only eighteen. But hes still got to pay for what he did.No. 4: Its obvious to me, anyway, that the boys story was flimsy. He claimed that he was at the movies during the time of the killing. But only one hour later, he couldnt remember the names of the films he

16、 saw or who played in them.No. 10: And listen, what about the woman across the street? If her testimony dont prove hes guilty, then nothing does.No. 11: Thats right. She was the one who actually saw the killing take place.No. 10: Wait a minute. Heres the woman, whos lying in bed. She cant sleep. She

17、 looks out of the window. And right across the street, she sees the kid stick his knife into his fathers chest. Look, shes known the kid all his life. And she swore she saw him do it.No. 8: Through the windows of a passing el train.No. 3: They proved in court that at night if you look through the wi

18、ndows of an el train when the lights are out, you can see whats happening on the other side.No. 8: Id like to ask you something. You dont believe the boys story. How come you believe the womans? Shes one of THEM, too, isnt she?No. 10: (Walking towards No. 8 threateningly) Youre a pretty smart fellow

19、, arent you?(Voices of people trying to stop them from fighting.)Foreman: Now, take it easy, gentlemen. Were not getting anywhere fighting. Whose turn is it?No. 6: (To No. 5) Its your turn.No. 5: Can I pass it?Foreman: Thats your privilege. How about the next gentleman?No. 6: Oh, well, I dont know.

20、I started to be convinced early on in the case . You see, I was looking for a motive. If you dont have a motive, you dont have a case, right? Anyway, that testimony from those people across the hall was very powerful. They said something about a fight and an argument between the old man and the son

21、at around 7 oclock that night.No. 9: I think it was 8 oclock.No 8: Thats right. They heard an argument. Then they heard the father hit the boy twice. Then they saw the boy run out of the house. What did that prove?No. 6: Well, it doesnt exactly prove anything. Its just part of the picture.No. 8: You

22、 said you are looking for a motive. I dont think it was a very strong motive. This boy has been hit so many times that violence is practically a normal state of affairs with him. I just cant see two slaps in the face would have provoked him into committing murder.No. 4: It may have been two too many

23、. Everyone has a breaking point.Foreman: (To No. 7) OK. How about you?No. 7: I think were wasting our time. Now look at the kids record? At 10, he was in childrens court. At 15, he was in reform school. Hes been arrested for mugging, picked up for knife-fighting. This is a real fine boy.No. 8: Ever

24、since he was 5 years old, his father beat him up regularly with his fist.No. 7: So would I. A kid like that!No. 4: I think were missing the point here. This boy lets say hes the product of a broken home and a filthy neighborhood. We cant help that. Were here to decide if hes innocent or guilty, and

25、not the reason why he grew up the way he did. He was born in the slums. And all slums are breeding-grounds for criminals. I know that. And so do you. It is no secret children from slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society.No. 10: Now you can say that again. Kids brought up in these backgroun

26、ds are real trash. I dont want any part of them.No. 5: Now listen. Ive lived in a slum all my life. I played in a backyard that was filled with garbage. Maybe you can still smell it on me.No. 10: Now listen, sonny.No. 12: Come on, he didnt mean you. Lets stop being so sensitive.Foreman: OK. Lets sto

27、p arguing. (He turns to No. 8.) Its your turn.No. 8: All right. I dont have anything brilliant. I only know as much as you do. According to the testimony, the boy looks guilty. Maybe he is. I sat in court for six days, listening while the evidence spilled out. I began to get a peculiar feeling that

28、the defense counselor wasnt conducting a thorough enough cross-examination. He let too many things go by, little things.No. 10: What little things? Listen, when these fellows dont ask those questions, its because they know the answers already.No. 8: Maybe. But its also possible for a lawyer to be ju

29、st plain stupid, isnt it? I kept putting myself in the kids place. If I was on trial for my life, Id want my lawyer to tear the prosecutors evidence to shreds. Look, there was one alleged eyewitness to this killing. And someone else claimed that he heard the killer run out of the room afterwards. Su

30、pposing they were wrong?No. 12: What do you mean? Supposing they were wrong. You can suppose there were no witnesses at all.No. 8: Could they be wrong? They are only people. People make mistakes.No. 12: Come on. This is not an exact science.No. 8: Thats right. It isnt.No. 3: OK, lets get to the poin

31、t. What about the switch blade they found in the old guys chest, the knife this fine boy admitted buying on the night of the killing. Lets talk about it.No. 8: All right, lets talk about it. Lets get it in here. Id like to see it again. Mr. Foreman?(The foreman tells the guard to bring in the knife.

32、)No. 4: The knife is pretty strong evidence, dont you think?No. 8: I do.No. 4: Good! Now suppose we take these facts one at a time. One, the boy admitted going out of the house at 8 oclock on the night of the murder, after being hit several times by his father. Two, he went directly to a neighborhoo

33、d junk shop and bought one of those switch knives. Three, he met some friends of his in front of the tavern at around 8:45. Am I right so far?No. 8: Yes, you are.No. 4: He talked to his friends for about an hour, leaving at 9:45. During this time, they saw the switch knife. Four, they identified the

34、 death weapon in court as that very knife. Five, he arrived home at about 10 oclock. Now this is where the stories offered by the state and the boy begin to diverge slightly. He claimed that he went to a movie at about 11:30, returning home at 3:10 to find his father dead and himself arrested. Now w

35、hat happened to the switch knife? He claimed that it fell through a hole in his pocket on his way to the movie theater sometime between 11:30 and 3:30. Now these are the details, gentlemen. I think its clear that the boy never went to the movies that night. No one in the house saw him leave after 11

36、:30. No one at the theater identified him. He couldnt even remember the names of the movies he saw. What actually happened is this: the boy stayed home, had another fight with his father, stabbed him to death, and left the house at 10 minutes after 12. Now, are you going to tell me that this knife f

37、ell through a hole in the boys pocket, someone picked it up off the street, went to the boys home, and stabbed his father with it?No. 8: Im just saying that its possible that the boy lost the knife, and somebody else killed his father with a similar knife.No. 4: Take a look at that knife. Its a very

38、 unusual knife. Ive never seen one like it. Arent you asking us to accept a pretty incredible coincidence?(No. 8 calmly pulls out a switch knife out of his pocket, flicks it open, and jams it into the table right next to the first one. Everyone is amazed because the two knives look exactly the same.

39、)No. 4: Where did you get it?No. 8: I bought that in a little pawnshop just two blocks from the boys house.No. 3: You pulled a real bright trick. Now suppose you tell me what it proves. Maybe there are 10 knives like that. So what? The discovery of the age or something?Foreman: OK, fellows, lets tak

40、e our seats. Theres no point standing.No. 3: There are still 11 of us here who think hes guilty.No. 10: Right. What do you think youre going to accomplish? Youre not going to change anybodys mind. So if you want to hang this jury, go ahead. The kid will be tried again and still be found guilty, sure

41、 as he was born.No. 8: You are probably right.No. 7: So what are you going to do? You know we could be here all night.No. 9: Its only one night. A boy may die.No. 3: (To No. 8) What about it? You are the only one.No. 8: Ive got a proposition to make to all of you. I want to call for a vote. I want y

42、ou 11 people to vote by secret written ballot. Ill abstain. If there are still 11 votes for guilty, I wont stand alone. Well take the guilty verdict to the judge right now. But if anyone votes not guilty, well stay here and talk it out.(All the other jurors agree. The Foreman passes ballots to them.

43、 They write on them and pass them back to the Foreman.)Foreman: (He begins to read.) Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. (He pauses.) Not guilty. Guilty. Guilty.No. 10: Boy, how do you like that? All right, who was it? I want to know.No. 11: Excuse me, it was supposed to

44、be a secret ballot.No. 3: Secret! What do you mean? There are no secrets in a jury room. I know who it was. (To No. 5) Brother, you really are something. You sat here and voted guilty like the rest of us. And then some golden-voiced preacher started to tear your poor heart out about a poor kid, and

45、so you changed your vote. This is the most sickening . Why dont you drop a quarter in the collection-box?!No. 5: Now listen! You cant talk to me like that. Who do you think you are?No. 4: Now calm down. It doesnt matter. Hes very excitable. Sit down.No. 3: Excitable! You bet Im excitable. Were tryin

46、g to put a guilty man in the chair where he belongs!No. 4: (To No. 5) What made you change your vote?No. 9: He didnt change his vote. 1 did. This gentleman chose to stand alone against us. It takes a lot of courage to stand alone. He gambled for support. And I gave it to him. I respect his motives.

47、Now the boy probably is guilty. But I want to hear more.No. 3: OK. (To No. 8) You down there. The old man who lived downstairs said he heard the kid yell out, Im going to kill you. A second later, he heard the body hit the floor. He ran to the door and saw the kid running down the stairs. What does

48、that mean to you?No. 8: I was wondering how clearly he could have heard the boys voice through the ceiling.No. 10: He didnt hear it through the ceiling. The window was open, remember?No. 4: The woman across the street looked right through the open window into the apartment and saw the boy stab his f

49、ather. Isnt that enough for you?No. 8: No, it isnt.No. 7: Oh boy. How do you like this guy? Its like talking to a dead phone.No. 4: She said she saw the killing through the windows of the moving el train. After 6 cars of the train she saw the killing in the last two cars. She remembered the most ins

50、ignificant details. I dont see how you can argue with that!No. 8: Has anybody any idea how long it takes an elevated train going at normal speed to pass a given point?No. 5: Maybe 10 or 12 seconds?No. 4: All right, 10 seconds. What are you getting at?No. 8: This. It takes a 6-car el train 10 seconds

51、 to pass a given point. Now lets say the given point is the open window of the room where the killing took place. Now, has anyone here ever lived near an el track? I have. When the window is open and the train goes by, the noise is almost unbearable. You couldnt hear yourself think.No. 3: So you cou

52、ldnt hear yourself think. Will you get to the point!No. 8: An el takes ten seconds to pass a given point, or two seconds per car. That el had been going by the old mans window for at least six seconds before the body fell according to the woman. The old man would have had to hear the boy say, Im goi

53、ng to kill you, while the train was roaring by the old mans window. No, it was not possible that he could have heard it.No. 3: Dont talk about matters of seconds! Nobody can be that accurate.No. 8: And I think a testimony that can put a boy in the chair should be that accurate!No. 5: (Whispers to No

54、. 6): I dont think he could have heard it.No. 3: Why should he lie? What has he got to gain?No. 9: Attention, maybe. I looked at him for a very long time. It seemed that his jacket was split. He was a very old man with a torn jacket. He walked very slowly to the stand. He was dragging his left leg,

55、and tried to hide it, because he was ashamed. This is a quiet, frightened, insignificant, old man whos been nothing all his life, whos never had any recognition, whose name never has appeared in the newspapers. Nobody knows. Gentlemen, its a very sad thing to be nothing. A man like that needs to be

56、recognized, to be listened to, to be quoted just once. Very important to him.No. 7: Are you trying to tell us that he lied just so he could be important once?No. 9: No, he wouldnt really lie. But perhaps he made himself believe he heard those words and recognized the boys voice.No. 10: Thats the mos

57、t fantastic story Ive ever heard. How can you make up a thing like that?No. 9: (Low but firm) I speak from experience.No. 7: What!No. 9: Ive done it myself.Text Twelve Angry Men (Part Two)by Reginald RoseForeman: Is there anything else? No. 8: Yes. I think we proved that the old man couldnt have heard the boy yell. Im going to kill you. But supposing he really did hear this phrase, how many times have all of you used it? Probably thousands. We say it every day. T