The Foreman's Position

康鶴彪

同學們，法庭“莊重而威嚴”，容不得半點含糊。然而，在國外，一次法庭上的審判，卻出現了下面的笑話：

A judge in a small city was hearing a drunk-driving case and the defendant， who had both a record and a reputation for driving under the influence， demanded a jury trial. It was nearly 4 pm and getting a jury would take time， so the judge called a recess and went out in the hall looking to impanel anyone available for jury duty. He found a dozen lawyers in the main lobby and told them that they were a jury.

The lawyers thought this would be a novel experience and so followed the judge back to the courtroom. The trial was over in about 10 minutes and it was very clear that the defendant was guilty. The jury went into the jury-room， the judge started getting ready to go home， and everyone waited.

After nearly three hours， the judge was totally out of patience and sent the bailiff into the jury-room to see what was holding up the verdict. When the bailiff returned， the judge said， “Well ， have they got a verdict yet？”

The bailiff shook his head and said， “Verdict？ Hell， they’re still doing nominating speeches for the foreman’s position！”

同學們，如果你不能完全明白，不要緊，看看下面的譯文，你能get了嗎？其實，這是一個“冷笑話”而已。在我們的現實生活中，是不是也有這樣的笑話？

參考譯文：

在一個小城市，一位法官正在審理一起酒后駕車案件。被告不僅有過酒后駕車的記錄，而且聲譽也不是太好，現在只是缺少一個陪審團作出裁決。因為已經接近下午四點，找個陪審團來會耽誤很多時間，因此，法官宣布休庭后，就到外面隨便挑選了一些人來充當陪審團。剛一出門，他就發現大廳剛好有12個律師，便請求他們充當陪審團。

聽了法官的話，這些律師們認為這將會是一次新奇的經歷，因此，便跟隨法官回到了法庭。不到10分鐘，案子就已接近尾聲，因為被告明顯是有罪的。陪審團回到陪審室進行商議，法官就等著宣布結果，準備回家。每個人都在等待著最后的判決。

大概過了3個小時，法官已經徹底失去了耐心，便派法警去看看判決為什么耽誤了這么久。當法警回來后，法官問他：“怎么樣？他們是否作出了最后的判決？”

法警搖搖頭說：“判決？天啊，他們為了推選陪審團主席，還在進行演講呢！”

（作者單位：江蘇省泰州市姜堰區第四中學）