I have only once been in trouble with the law．The whole process of being arreste

I have only once been in trouble with the law．The whole process of being arrested and taken to courtwas a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now． What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary （随意的） circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent （随后的） fate in court．

It happened in February about twelve years ago．I had left school a couple of months before that andwas not due to go to university until the following October．I was still living at home at the time．

One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London nearwhere I lived．I was looking for a temporary job so that Icould save up some money to go traveling．As it was afine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows,strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me．It must have been this obvious ainilessness that ledto my downfall．

It was about half past eleven when it happened．I was just walking out of the local library, havingunsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across theroad with the obvious intention of talking to me．Ithought he was going to ask me the time．Instead, hesaid he was a police officer and he was arresting me．At first I thought it was some kind of joke．

But then another policeman appeared, this time inuniform, and I was left in no doubt．

'But what for? " I asked．

‘Wandering with intent to commit an arrestableoffence,' he said．

‘What offence?' I asked．

'Theft,' he said．

'Theft of what?' I asked．

'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a perfectly straightface too!

'Oh,' I said．

It turned out there had been a lot of petty thefts inthe area, particularly that of stealing milk bottles from doorsteps．

Then I made my big mistake．At the time I was nineteen, had long untidy hair, andregarded myself as pan of the sixties' 'youth counterculture'．As a result, I wanted to appear cool and unconcernedwith the incident, so I said, 'How long have you been following me?  inthe most casual and conversational tone I could manage．I thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with thissort of situation, and it confirmed them in their belief that I was athoroughly disreputable （品行不端的） character．

         A fewminutes later a police car arrived．

         'Getin the back,' they said．'Put your hands on the back of the frontseat and don't move them．'

         Theygot in on either side of me．It wasn't funny any more．

         Atthe police station they questioned me for several hours．I continued to try to look worldly and familiar withthe situation．When they asked me what I had been doing, Itold them I'd been looking for a job．'Aha,' Icould see them thinking, 'unemployed'．

Eventually, I was officially charged and told toreport to Richmond Magistrates' Court the following Monday．Then they let me go．

I wanted to conduct my own defense in court, but assoon as my father found out what had happened, he hired a very good solicitor （律师）．We went along that Monday armed with all kinds ofwitnesses, including my English teacher from school as a character witness．But he was never called on to give evidence．My 'trial' didn't get that far．The magistrate （法官） dismissedthe case after fifteen minutes．1 was free．The poor police had never stood a chance．The solicitor even succeeded in getting costs awardedagainst the police．

And so I do not have a criminal record．But what was most shocking at the time was the thingsmy release from the charge so clearly depended on．I hadthe 'right' accent, respectable middle-class parents in court, reliablewitnesses, and I could obviously afford a very good solicitor．Given the obscure nature of the charge．I feel sure that if I had come from a differentbackground, and had really been unemployed, there is every chance that I wouldhave been found guilty．While asking for costs to be awarded, mysolicitor's case quite obviously revolved （回转） aroundthe fact that I had a 'brilliant academic record'．

Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of thepolicemen who had arrested me was gloomily complaining to my mother thatanother youngster had been turned against the police． 'You could have been a bit more helpful when wearrested you,' he said to me reproachfully （责备地） ．

What did he mean? Probably that I should have lookedoutraged （暴怒）and said something like, 'Look here, do youknow who you're talking to? I am a highly successful student with a brilliantacademic record．How dare you arrest me!' Then they,probably, would have apologized perhaps even taken off their caps, and let meon my way．

1.Judgingfrom the first paragraph, the writer's attitude towards his story is _______．

A．angry                                         B．sad      

C．amused                                     D．more than just one of the above

2.Thefirst man who came up to him was ______．

A．a uniformedpoliceman                 B．a policeman in plainclothes

C．not apoliceman                          D．a good joker

3.Thecourt never asked the author's English teacher to give evidence because _______．

A．the time for the trialwas limited to fifteen minutes only

B． the author wanted toconduct his own defense in court

C．the case was dismissedbefore the trial reached that stage

D．he was found to beunqualified as a character witness

4.Theauthor believes that he would most probably have been declared guilty if_______．

A．the magistrate had beenless gentle

B．he had really been out ofwork

C．he had been born in alower—class family

D．both B and C

5.Inthe opinion of one of the policeman who had arrested the author, the wholething might not have occurred if ______．

A．he had protested stronglyat the time

B．he had begged to be allowedto go home

C．he hadn't wanderedaimlessly

D．he had tried to look cool

6.Wecan see from the passage that the author ______．

A．has broken the law onlyonce

B．has never broken the law

C．has broken the law onmore than one occasion

D．once broke the lawwithout knowing it

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.D

5.A

6.B

【解析】

试题