Неличные формы глагола. Артикль. Гоголь О.В. - 50 стр.

responsibility to accept and appear on a jury. Jurors are called for vary-
                                                                                           January                              February
ing periods of time according to state law, usually for two weeks. If
they are workers, employers have to excuse them from their work.              The first day of January is New       February 14th is Saint Valentine’s
There may be occasions, however, when one may be excused because              Year’s Day. This federal holiday      Day. Saint Valentine’s Day began
of a specific work or home situation, but exceptions are not always           celebrates the beginning of each      in Europe and has been celebrated
granted.                                                                      New Year. People in the U.S.          for hundreds of years. In the U.S.
                                                                              sometimes spend this day watch-       today, we remember friends and
At a trial, the jury listens to both the defense and the prosecution. They    ing college football games and        sweethearts with cards called val-
hear the testimony of witnesses and the arguments of lawyers on both          parades. On the third Monday in       entines, flowers, chocolates or
sides of the case. They are presented with evidence, either concrete or       January, we celebrate Martin Lu-      small gifts. We celebrate Presi-
circumstantial, and the judge presiding over the case gives them final        ther King, Jr.’s birthday as a fed-   dents’ Day on the 3rd Monday of
directions to follow in helping them to make a decision. The decision,        eral holiday. Martin Luther King,     February as a federal holiday
however, is completely theirs. Jury verdicts represent the common             Jr. worked to change laws so that     commemorating the birthdays of
sense judgments of ordinary people. Critics of the system claim that          all people in the U.S. would be       George Washington and Abraham
clever lawyers often use shrewd psychology to influence a jury. When          treated fairly. He worked for         Lincoln. We call George Wash-
the time comes for them to deliberate the verdict, they are ushered into      change in the 1950s and 60s when      ington “the father of our country”
a closed room where they decide if the defendant is guilty or innocent.       many states had laws separating       because he was the American
This is painstaking and may take a long time because a jury’s decision        black and white people. Martin        general in the Revolutionary War
must be unanimous.                                                            Luther King taught people to use      who led us to victory against Eng-
All twelve members must be in agreement for a verdict to be given.            peaceful demonstrations to change     land. He was elected our first
Should one member of the jury persist and refuse to go along with the         laws, instead of violence. Many       president. Abraham Lincoln was
other eleven, the situation is called a hung jury. At this point a new jury   laws were changed because of his      our 16th president. He kept our
might have to be selected and the entire process repeated. Recently,          work.                                 country together during the Civil
however, some states allow majority verdicts in some cases, since                                                   War when the Southern states
unanimous decisions can become difficult and troublesome. The jury                                                  wanted to form a separate country.
system has its merits and demerits, and there are those who oppose it                                               Lincoln freed the slaves with the
while others are its staunch defenders. The bottom line in the argument                                             Emancipation Proclamation.
is whether or not a man should be judged by his own peers who them-                        March                                   April
selves share equal limitations and inherent prejudices. Some legal ex-
perts do not believe that they system works well and in many cases ju-        March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day.      Holidays in the spring are celebra-
ries are being used less and less. Some feel that the jury often takes too    This holiday comes from Ireland.      tions of the rebirth of life. Pass-
much time to decide a case or the jurors themselves are not totally ob-       People wear 3-leaf shamrocks          over is a Jewish holiday cele-
jective. True judgment, some believe, belongs only in the hands of            because St. Patrick used them to      brated between March 13th and
those who have studied all the nuances of the law and who are profes-         explain the Christian Trinity.        April 11th. Easter is a Christian
sionally qualified to judge. Yet, others may go one step further and say      Many people celebrate this holi-      holiday that is celebrated on a
that men should only be judged by God                                         day by wearing shamrocks or           Sunday between March 22nd and
                                                                              green clothing in honor of St.        April 25th. Christians celebrate the

                                    99                                                                          100