（2011年9月中级口译听力音频）
（本文不包括阅读部分答案）

Spot Dictation

In America there are no nobles or men of letters, and the common folk mistrust the wealthy; Consequently lawyers form the highest political class and the most cultivated circle of society. They have therefore nothing to gain by innovation, which adds a conservative interest to their natural taste for public order. If I were asked where I place the American aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation that it is not composed of the rich, who are united together by no common tie, but that it occupies the judicial bench and the bar.

When I started researching this topic, I found an interesting website “Legal Reform Now”. As the name suggests, this website is devoted to legal reform and it is definitely concerned about the dominance of lawyers in American government. There I read an article by a political science professor from the university of Wisconsin. One observation the UW article confirms is that the legal profession is the dominant profession of the people re-elect to public office. For example, about half our representatives and two-thirds of our senators are lawyers. No other profession comes close to having the same the number of people in political office. Effectively, lawyers form our nation’s most powerful organized political constituency in America. Lawyers make our laws and lawyers interpret our laws. When judges are appointed, the American bar association is the only professional organization that is consulted to rate the fitness of potential judicial appointees. Our nation has been in existence for over 200 years and lawyers have been this nation’s aristocracy since its formation. Our system works, but do we really want to have a single profession in charge of our nation? Specifically, do we want to have the legal profession in charge? Next time you vote, that’s something to think about.

评析：这篇文章是关于律师在美国的地位。律师组成了美国最高政治阶层，以及社会最具有教养的圈子。紧接着作者提到了律师在美国政府中占据统治地位，且自建国以来一直如此。因此律师就成了美国的“贵族”。最后作者提出问题“我们真的想让律师这个职业来管理我们的国家吗？”，呼吁选民在下次的选举投票中三思。

这篇听力材料政治色彩强，材料中的部分单词可能会给考生带来听辨和拼写的难度。难度较大。

cultivated adj 有教养的

innovation n.创新

conservative adj. 保守的

be composed of 由…组成

bench the bar 法官和律师

dominance n 统治地位

representatives n.众议员

senator n 参议员

aristocracy n 贵族