2021届巴蜀中学新高考英语美国文化外刊[05]权利法案（含注解与翻译）

2021届巴蜀中学新高考英语 美国文化外刊[05] （含翻译与重点词汇短语注解） What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? Answer: The Bill of Rights 我们称前十条宪法修正案为？ 答案：“权利法案”。 Explanation:  While the Constitution was being written, many people argued that it did not actually protect the rights (or freedoms) of citizens or protect citizens from having the government take away their rights. 在撰写宪法期间，很多人争辩说宪法实际上没有保护公民的权利或保护公民的权利不被政府剥夺。 Because of this, immediately after the Constitution was ratified (or approved) in 1789, the First Congress proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution that would protect civil rights (or the rights that citizens have to social and political freedom and equality, and having the same opportunities as all other citizens). 正因如此，1789年宪法通过后没多久，首届国会就提出了12项保护公民权利的宪法修正案（或者说保护公民的社会和政治自由和平等的权利，人人享有同等机会的权利）。 ratify/ˈrætɪfaɪ/  verb (-ies, -ied) [with obj.] sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid 签署, 正式批准, 认可（条约, 合同, 协定 Ten of these Amendments were approved, and they became known as the Bill of Rights. 其中十项修正案获得通过，它们就是现在我们所熟知的“权利法案”。 "Bill" is an old word meaning a list, so the Bill of Rights is a list of a citizen's basic rights. “Bill”是古语“清单”的意思，因此“权利法案”就是一份公民的基本权利清单。 The Bill of Rights includes a lot of rights and freedoms that are part of what it means to be an American. “权利法案”包括很多作为美国公民享有的权利和自由。 For example, it protects our freedom of speech-the right of people to say what they want. 例如，宪法保护我们的言论自由——人民有权自由发表言论。 It also guarantees (or gives people the right to) freedom of religion, meaning that people can decide which religion they want to follow, or if they want to follow any at all. 它还确保宗教自由，即人民可以自由选择他们想信仰的宗教，也可以选择不信仰任何宗教。 The Bill of Rights says that Americans have a right to trial by jury, meaning that when they go to court, a small group of citizens decides whether a person has done something against the law, instead of having just one person, the judge (or the head of the court), decide. “权利法案”规定美国人拥有由陪审团审判的权利，