賴德女士的離奇行為的英語美文及翻譯

On 6 November 31-year-old actress Winona Ryder was convicted of shoplifting ,500 worth of clothing and accessories from the posh Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills. Her reasons for attempting to steal the goods, despite being one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood, remain unclear; she may, like the troubled young people she often plays, merely have been doing it for kicks.

Today"s cartoon by Mike Peters makes fun of Ms Ryder"s recent escapade. He imagines Ryder in the witness box,swheresthe court clerk is administering the oath on the Bible that is customary before a person gives testimony. The words of the oath are: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" Before the clerk gets very far, he must ask Ms Ryder to return the Bible, which he notices she is slipping under her jacket.

In reality Ryder never testified at the trial. The prosecuting attorney cannot question the accused, as the US Constitution forbids self-incrimination. If, however, the defense attorney chooses to put the accused on the stand (i.e. to speak in her own defense), then the prosecutor gets a turn to ask questions. Thus the legal counsel for the accused often prefers to keep his client off the stand, so as to rule out any possibility of damaging cross-examination.

11月6日，美國31歲的女影星薇諾娜-賴德被判偷竊罪——在貝佛利山莊豪華的薩克斯第五大道商店偷竊了價值5500美元的`服裝以及與之相搭配的飾物。作為好萊塢收入最高的影星之一的賴德，她的偷竊動機尚不清楚;或許，正如她經常飾演的那些問題青少年一樣，只是為了尋求刺激。

這幅由麥克-皮特斯創作的漫畫嘲諷了賴德女士的離奇行為。他想像賴德站在證人席上，法院書記員正授命她憑藉聖經給予的精神力量宣誓，這是證人給出證詞前的一種儀式。書記員要説的誓詞是：在上帝的幫助下，你能發誓説實話、説出全部的實話、沒有任何假話嗎?但還沒等這位書記員把話説完，他就不得不要求賴德女士把聖經還給他，因為他注意到她正在把聖經往衣服下面掖呢。

實際上，賴德在審判中從未為自己作證。檢察官不可以詢問被告，因為美國憲法禁止“自證其罪”。但是，如果被告的律師選擇了將被告推上證人席(也就是説讓她為自己辯護)，那麼檢察官就有機會提問。因此，被告的律師往往不願意讓他的當事人走上證人席為自己辯護，以避免對被告有害的交叉詢問(即檢察官提問)的任何可能性。