大学英语精读第3册 第1课 课后阅读

Passage
Read the following article, and the do Exercises A B and C.
Words to Know
Justice 司法
Await wait for
Shot 开枪;射击
Insurance 保险
Cabin 小屋
And Smith, the disabled cop, will limp away to a cabin in Tennessee, knowing that all he got was the shaft.
But for some reason this angered the federal magistrate. He griped that Smith's lawyer was just harassing Rudman and his lawyer. (4)So in what seems like an unusual ruling, he told the insurance company to write out a check to him, the magistrate. Then he, the magistrate, could write out a personal check to Rudman, the ex-gunman. And that would settle the affair. The checks could be written at any moment.
While in prison, Rudman developed a thirst for knowledge and went to the prison library. He read law books, and then filed a federal suit against the policemen. He said they attacked him and that he shot only in self-defence. And they beat him so badly that they broke one of his fingers. This ,he said, deprived him of his civil rights, and he asked for $ 150,000 in damages.
3. If you shaft some body who is already down, no one will trust you any more.
4. The shaft of love has struck him all of a sudden.
5. There might be something wrong with the shaft of the engine.
Smith spent a week in the hospital and six weeks at home. But by 1981 he had to have further surgery on his hand. And month later, he suffered a stroke. The doctors said the blood clot could have been the result of the bullet wounds.
Smith's lawyer went before a federal magistrate who is handing this matter and filed legal papers that would force the insurance company to give the $6,000 to Smith instead of Rudman. That does make a certain amount of sense, since Rudman, the exgunman, does owe Smith, the ex-cop $35,000.
One day in 1979, he was informed that a man was firing a gun in front of an apartment complex. The man had quarreled with his girlfriend and had fired a gun into the air to scare away people who were interfering. Then he dragged her into his apartment.
His marriage suffered and ended in divorce. That, too he says was the result of the shooting.
Rudman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a total of six years in prison for the robbery and the shooting of Smith.
Smith and his partner hurried there, knocked, and told him to let the girl go. But the man threatened that if they came in, he would blow their rear quarters off. When they kicked the door open, the man shot twice, Smith was hit in the hand and leg. Then the man threw down his gun and surrendered.
READING ACTIVTTY
Skill: Basic Reading Skill III
How do Use d 2 we have suggested using context clues and word part clues to help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. But when those methods don't work, you have to use the dictionary. A dictionary is like any other tool: you must familiarize yourself with it and learn how to use it before it begins to work well for you. We would advise you to use an all English dictionary, as it provides you with word definitions often impossible to learn in other ways, Here is an example of the dictionary entry for the word "shaft".
When the magistrate, James T.Balog, was asked about this check-writing arrangement, he said he could not discuss it since the case is still pending. (5)But if he goes ahead with it, Rudman will get the money.
But he served less than half of that. He was out in 27 months. ()So that amounts to about a year for shooting and possibly disabling a cop, and a year for robbing a jewelry store.
A jury agreed with Smith. They later awarded him $ 35,000 damages from Rudman, But Smith hasn't seen a nickel of the money.
It turned out that Rosemont's insurance company decided that fighting Rudman's civil rights suit wasn't worth the legal expense. So the company offered Rudman a $6,000 settlement. (3)Being no dummy, he quickly accepted. Not many guys shoot a cop and pocket $6,000 for their efforts.
Justice Gets Its Shot at Policeman
Mike Royko
Joel Smith is in poor health and he is thinking of retiring to a quiet cabin in Tennessee. But a few years ago he was strong and he liked his job as a cop in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont.
When Smith heard about the law suit, he was outraged at Rudman's gall. So Smith sued Rudman for shooting him.
"It wasn't that I was after money. I just wanted to make sure that he was found guilty again in the civil suit."
Now let's see if you can decide which of the definitions from the above entry best fits the "shaft" in each of the sentences below and what part of speech it is.
()He was Kerry Rudman, 33, and no stranger to trouble. At the time of the shooting, he was awaiting trial for robbing a jewelry store in a suburban shopping mall.
Legal 法律(上)的,合法的, 法定的
Scare frighten
Expense cost in money, time or effort
Interfere 干涉
Partner 伙伴合伙人
Surrender 投降
Settlement 解决;清偿;支付
1. The accident took place when the miners had just gone down the shaft.
2. There seemed to be a shaft of light in the far distance. None of us could tell what it was.