GRE阅读真题之“宪法第十四修正案“

GRE阅读真题之“宪法第十四修正案“。本期带大家分析一篇有关美国历史的文章。本文主要介绍宪法第十四修正案的起因和实施。

“The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, prohibits state governments from denying citizens the “equal protection of the laws.” 首句介绍第十四修正案禁止州政府剥夺公民的“法律的平等保护”。Although precisely what the framers of the amendment meant by this equal protection clause remains unclear, all interpreters agree that the framers’ immediate objective was to provide a constitutional warrant for the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed the citizenship of all persons born in the United States and subject to United States jurisdiction. 本句主要描述了第十四修正案的提出是为了给民权法案（Civil Rights Act）提供宪法依据。This declaration, which was echoed in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, was designed primarily to counter the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Black people in the United States could be denied citizenship. 本句告诉我们民权法案的提出是为了反对最 高法院在Dred Scott 控告 Sandford一案的判决，最 高法院认为可以拒绝黑人的公民身份。 The act was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson, who argued that the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, did not provide Congress with the authority to extend citizenship and equal protection to the freed slaves. 民权法案遭到了总统的反对，因为总统认为第十三修正案只说了废奴，并没有给国会权限去承认自由黑人的公民身份。 Although Congress promptly overrode Johnson’s veto, supporters of the act sought to ensure its constitutional foundations with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. 尽管国会推翻了总统的否决，民权法案的支持者认为需要确保该法案有宪法的支持，随即提出了第十四修正案。

本段是全文最 难的部分，因为这段全是各种事实信息的堆积，把各个历史事件串联了起来，而且并没有按时间顺序，导致我们很难去理解清楚事情的先后顺序。

全段读完后，再和大家一起整理一下本段告诉我们的各个历史事件，希望同学们可以直接把这个流程当作常识记忆：

- 第十三修正案 （废奴）

- Dred Scott 诉Sandford案 （最 高法院认为即便自由的黑人也不是《美国宪法》中所指的公民）

- 1866《民权法案》（宣布任何在美国出生的人都是公民）

- 总统否定了《民权法案》 （总统认为国会没有权力把第十三修正案延伸到赋予自由的黑人公民权）

- 国会推翻了总统的否定

- 《民权法案》的支持者寻求宪法保护，提出第十四修正案

The broad language of the amendment strongly suggests that its framers were proposing to write into the Constitution not a laundry list of specific civil rights but a principle of equal citizenship that forbids organized society from treating any individual as a member of an inferior class. 修正案的宽泛语言并没有在列举民权细则，而是提出公民平等原则，禁止社会将任何个人视为低等阶级的成员。 Yet for the first eight decades of the amendment’s existence, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the amendment betrayed this ideal of equality. 但是在修正案提出后的80年，最 高法院对法条的解读违背了平等的初衷。In the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, for example, the Court invented the “state action” limitation, which asserts that “private” decisions by owners of public accommodations and other commercial business to segregate their facilities are insulated from the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. 例如法院作出“state action” limitation，一些企业家可以不受第十四修正案的制约。

本段结构是很简单的，首句提出立法本意，第二句Yet明显体现出在实施过程中对于初心的违背，第三句举例无需细看，只要知道在体现修正案实施不起来即可。

After the Second World War, a judicial climate more hospitable to equal protection claims culminated in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated schools violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Two doctrines embraced by the Supreme Court during this period extended the amendment’s reach. 二战后，司法氛围更倾向于平等保护。两条原则延伸了第十四修正案的适用范围。First, the Court required especially strict scrutiny of legislation that employed a “suspect classification,” meaning discrimination against a group on grounds that could be construed as racial. This doctrine has broadened the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to other, nonracial forms of discrimination, for while some justices have refused to find any legislative classification other than race to be constitutionally disfavored, most have been receptive to arguments that at least some nonracial discriminations, sexual discrimination in particular, are “suspect” and deserve this heightened scrutiny by the courts. 第 一条是严格监督歧视行为，而且不仅是种族歧视。 Second, the Court relaxed the state action limitation on the Fourteenth Amendment, bringing new forms of private conduct within the amendment’ s reach. 第二条是 放宽state action limitation，也就是使得个人行为受到第十四修正案的监督。

最 后一段的结构也非常清楚，主要就是告诉我们二战以后第十四修正案的实施终于回归本意，并且有了更大的适用范围。

1. Which of the following best describes the main idea of the passage?

A. By presenting a list of specific rights, framers of the Fourteenth Amendment were attempting to provide a constitutional basis for broad judicial protection of the principle of equal citizenship

B. Only after the Supreme Court adopted the suspect classification approach to reviewing potentially discrimination legislation was the applicability of the Fourteenth Amendment extended to include sexual discrimination

C. Not until after the Second World War did the Supreme Court begin to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment in a manner consistent with the principle of equal citizenship that it express.

D. Interpreters of the Fourteenth Amendment have yet to reach consensus with regard to what its framers meant by the equal protection clause

E. Although the reluctance of judges to extend the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment to nonracial discrimination has betrayed the principle of equal citizenship, the Supreme Court’s use of the state action limitation to insulate private activity from the amendment’s reach has been more harmful.

答案：C

解析：A错在By presenting a list of specific rights和原文描述相反；B错在范围太小，性别歧视只是第三段的细节；D只对应了首段细节；E和原文矛盾，extend the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment to nonracial discrimination并没有违背初心。

2. The author’s position regarding the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment would be most seriously undermined if which of the following were true?

A. The framers had anticipated state action limitations as they are described in the passage.

B. The framers had merely sought to prevent discriminatory acts by federal officials.

C. The framers were concerned that the civil rights act of 1866 would be overturned by the Supreme Court.

D. The framers were aware that the phrase “equal protection of the laws”had broad implications.

E. The framers believed that racial as well as non-racial forms of discrimination were unacceptable.

答案：B

解析：这是一道阅读里的逻辑题。我们依然要去找文章中的前提结论。可以找到前提是“第十四修正案的提出” 结论是“是为了要从宪法层面争取全体公民的平等保护。“非常明显的果因结构，最 常见的削弱角度提出他因。B提出了立法者可能只是为了避免部分官员的歧视行为，明显异于”保护所有人“，他因削弱。

3. The author implies that the Fourteenth Amendment might not have been enacted if

A. congress’ authority with regard to legislating civil rights had not been challenged

B. the framers has anticipated the Supreme Courts ruling in Brown v. Board of Education

C. the framers had believed that it would be used in deciding cases of discrimination involving non-racial groups

D. most state governments had been willing to protect citizens’ civil rights

E. its essential elements had not been implicit in the Thirteenth Amendment

答案：A

解析：从我们分析首段后得出的流程可以看出来，是总统先出来反对了民权法案，立法者们才考虑要从宪法层面保护公民权利。可以对比推理出如果总统没有跳出来反对，就不需要有第十四修正案了。

4. Which of the following can be inferred about the second of the two doctrines (highlighted sentence) of the passage?

A. It caused some justice to rule that all types of discrimination are prohibited by the Constitution.

B. It shifted the focus of the Supreme Court from racial to nonracial discrimination.

C. It narrowed the concern of the Supreme Court to legislation that employed a suspect classification.

D. It caused legislators who were writing new legislation to reject language that could be construed as permitting racial discrimination.

E. It made it more difficult for commercial business to practice racial discrimination.

答案：E

解析：题目问的是最 后一句话，最 后一句话是在说放宽各州的限制，使得个人行为受到第十四修正案的制约和监督。所以私人公司企业不能像第二段说到的那样继续有歧视行为了。