2014（一）阅读 Text 2 解析

2014（一） Text 2

（1）All around the world，在全世界， lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession律师招致了比其他任何行业的从业人员更多的敌意—with the possible exception of journalism.当然可能新闻业是个例外。 But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.然而没有哪一个国家的客户比美国人有更多的理由来抱怨了。

（2）During the decade before the economic crisis, 在经济危机爆发之前的十年里，spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. 美国人在法律服务上的花费增长速度是通货膨胀的两倍。The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, 这些顶级律师挣到的钱多到可以堆满那些摩天大楼，tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. 诱惑越来越多的学生去就读法律学校成为律师。But most law graduates never get a big-firm job.但是大部分的法律专业的毕业生从来都得不到一份大公司的工作。 Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer 相反，他们中的许多人都成为了那些给他人带来烦恼的诉讼案的提起人that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.然而这些案件使得民事诉讼法律系统成为了一个费用高昂的噩梦。

（3）There are many reasons for this. 对于这个问题可能存在着很多的原因。One is the excessive costs of a legal education.其中之一就是过高的法律教育费用。There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states:在美国的大多数州当中成为一名律师只有一条道路： a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, 在一个与法律无关的学科当中学习四年获得本科学位，then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association然后从美国将近两百所的律师协会所认可的法学院中选择一所进行三年的法律学习 and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. 最后再为了通过法律考试做一个费用昂贵的准备。This leaves today’s average law-school graduate with $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts.而以上的这个过程就给今天的普通的法律专业的毕业生在他们本科的学生贷款的基础上再增加了十万美元的债务。Law-school debt means that many cannot afford to go into government or non-profit work,就读法律学校所产生的这些债务意味着许多人无法去政府或者是非盈利性的机构去工作， and that they have to work fearsomely hard.而且他们要极其努力的工作。

（4）Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers.改革这种体制对于律师和其客户都是有助的。 Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, 合理的建议早就出现了，but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them.但是管理着律师行业的州级机构太过于保守而不能够去实施这些想法。 One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. 一个想法是让人们在本科的时候就开始学习法律。Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school.另外一个合理的想法是让学生就读法学院的时间从三年缩短为两年。 If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, 如果律师行业考试对于将要成为律师的人来说是一种足够严格的考试的话，those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so.那些有能力提前参加考试的人就应该被允许这样做。 Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.那些不需要额外培训的学生就能够因此而减少三分之一的债务。

（5）The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. 费用高昂的原因是法律行业严格的类似于行业协会的所有权结构。Except in the District of Columbia,除了哥伦比亚特区之外，non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm.非律师是不能够在一家法律公司当中拥有任何股份的。 This keeps fees high and innovation slow.这就使得费用一直高昂而改革一直缓慢。 There is pressure for change from within the profession, 律师行业的内部也存在着变革的压力but opponents of change among the regulators insist that然而在管理层中反对改革的人却坚持认为 keeping outsiders out of a law firm将非律师排除在律师事务所之外 isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money 能够使律师们免于受到挣钱的压力 rather than serve clients ethically.从而使他们更有职业道德的去服务客户。

（6）In fact, 事实上，allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers,允许非律师拥有律师事务所的股份，将能够降低费用也改善对于客户的服务， by encouraging law firms to use technology鼓励律师事务所去运用技术 and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms’ efficiency. 并且雇佣一些职业经理人专注于改善公司的经营效率。After all,毕竟，other countries, such as Australia and Britain,其他的诸如澳大利亚和英国这些国家， have started liberalizing their legal professions. 已经开始去解放他们的法律行业。America should follow.美国也应该这么做。