1) Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries; that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion, sex, or national origin; that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers; and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.
2) But as recently as in 1986, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals. In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character. Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of strauder v. West Virginia, the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.
3) The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century. Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898, it was not until the 1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty. Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personally asked to have their names included on the jury list. This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.
4) In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury. This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level. The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.
36.From the principles of the US jury system, we learn that ______
[A] both literate and illiterate people can serve on juries
[B] defendants are immune from trial by their peers
[C] no age limit should be imposed for jury service
[D] judgment should consider the opinion of the public
37.The practice of selecting so-called elite jurors prior to 1968 showed_____
[A] the inadequacy of antidiscrimination laws
[B] the prevalent discrimination against certain races
[C] the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures
[D] the arrogance common among the Supreme Court justices
38.Even in the 1960s, women were seldom on the jury list in some states because_____
[A] they were automatically banned by state laws
[B] they fell far short of the required qualifications
[C] they were supposed to perform domestic duties
[D] they tended to evade public engagement
39.After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed，_______.
[A] sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished
[B] educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors
[C] jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community
[D] states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system
40.in discussing the US jury system, the text centers on_______.
[A] its nature and problems
[B] its characteristics and tradition
[C] its problems and their solutions
[D] its tradition and development
答案解析：
36.选项[D]正确。
根据题干关键词the principles of the US jury system定位至段①句。句中由including the principles that引出对美国陪审团制度五原则的逐个解释。其中最后一条原则提到，“判决应该体现社会良知，而不仅仅是法律条文”。由此可推知，社会公众的意见是法庭裁决需要考虑的因素，选项[D]正确。
37.选项[A]正确。
根据题干关键词selecting so-called elite jurors定位至第二段③句。句中指出“虽然早在1880年的斯特劳德诉西弗吉尼亚州案中，美国法院已经禁止陪审员选拔中的种族歧视，但是挑选所谓的精英陪审员的做法仍然为逃避这一规定及其它反歧视法律提供了捷径。”句中“这一规定”，指的是1800年案件中反种族歧视的规定，即:既然不允许在选举中实行种族歧视，但是毕竟黑人中符合“精英”要求的人比较少，所以精英选举实际上会产生种族歧视，但在法律上却避开了堂而皇之的(intentional)”限制黑人”的说法,侧面说明，反歧视法律仍有漏洞。因此选项[A]为正确项。
38.选项[C]正确。
根据题干关键词seldom on the jury list定位至第三段③④句。本题问及女性在20世纪60年代几乎无法成为陪审员的原因，③句呈现了这一事实,④句紧接着指出“这种做法的理由是因为有论断认为“女性应留在家中”，“这种做法”回指③句中将女性自动排除在候选名单之外的做法，也就是说，陪审团名单中没有女性，是因为“女性应留在家中”的观点。结合上下文可知，选项[C]正确。
39.选项[B]正确。
根据题干定位最后一段。最后段①②句中提 到Jury Selection and Service Act的通过和影响。②句提到"这一法案废除了对联邦陪审员的特殊教育要求”，由此可推知。对联邦陪审员的教育要求没那么严格了，与[B]选项同义,因此[B]为正确项。
40.选项[D]正确。
这是一道全文主旨题.需结合全文进行分析。文章段概括介绍了美国陪审团制度的五个原则和优点，第二、三、四段从历史角度,照应现有的原则，分别介绍了这些原则是怎样一步一步成熟完善而来,因此整体主要介绍了美国陪审制度的历史和发展,因此选项[D]正确。
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