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The word justice is usually associated with courts of law.
正义这个词常常是同法庭连在一起的
We might say that justice has been done when a man's innocence or guilt
当某人被证据确凿地证明无罪的时候
has been proved beyond doubt.
我们也许会说正义得到了伸张
Justice is part of the complex machinery of the law.
正义是复杂的法律机器的组成部分
Those who seek it undertake an arduous journey
那些寻求正义的人走的是一条崎岖的道路
and can never be sure that they will find it.
从来没有把握他们最终将到正义
Judges, however wise or eminent, are human and can make mistakes.
法官无论如何聪明与有名 毕竟也是人 也会出差错的
There are rare instances
在个别情况下
when justice almost ceases to be an abstract concept.
正义不再是一种抽象概念
Reward or punishment are meted out quite independent of human interference.
奖惩的实施是不受人意志支配的
At such times, justice acts like a living force.
在这种时候 正义像一种有生命的力量行使其职能
When we use a phrase like 'it serves him right',
当我们说他罪有应得这句话的时候
we are, in part, admitting
我们部分承认了
that a certain set of circumstances has enabled justice to act of its own accord.
某种特定的环境使得正义自动地起了作用
When a thief was caught on the premises of a large jewellery store one morning,
一天上午 当一个小偷在一家大型珠宝店里被人抓住的时候
the shop assistants must have found it impossible to resist the temptation to say
店员一定会忍不住说
'it serves him right.'
他罪有应得
The shop was an old converted house with many large,
那是一座老式的 经过改造的房子
disused fireplaces and tall, narrow chimneys.
店里有许多废置不用的大壁炉和又高又窄的烟囱
Towards midday,
快到中午的时候
a girl heard a muffled cry coming from behind one of the walls.
一个女售货员听见从一堵墙里传出一种闷声闷气的叫声
As the cry was repeated several times,
由于这种喊叫声重复了几次
she ran to tell the manager who promptly rang up the fire brigade.
她跑去报告经理 经理当即给消防队挂了电话
The cry had certainly come from one of the chimneys,
喊叫声肯定是从烟囱里传出来的
but as there were so many of them,
然而 因为烟囱太多
the firemen could not be certain which one it was.
消防队员无法确定到底是哪一个
They located the right chimney
他们通过叩击烟囱倾听那人的喊叫声
by tapping at the walls and listening for the man's cries.
而确定了传出声音的那个烟囱
After chipping through a wall which was 18 inches thick,
他们凿透了18英寸厚的墙壁
they found that a man had been trapped in the chimney.
发现有个人卡在烟囱里
As it was extremely narrow, the man was unable to move,
由于烟囱太窄 那人无法动
but the fire fighters were eventually able to free him
消防队员在墙上挖了个大洞
by cutting a huge hole in the wall.
才终于把他解救出来
The sorry-looking, blackened figure that emerged,
那个看来满脸沮丧 浑身漆黑的家伙从烟囱里一出来
admitted at once that he had tried to break into the shop during the night
就承认头天夜里他企图到店里行窍
but had got stuck in the chimney.
但让烟囱卡住了
He had been there for nearly ten hours.
他已经在烟囱里被困了将近10个小时
Justice had been done even before the man was handed over to the police.
甚至在那人还没被送交给警察之前 正义就已得到了伸张
