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RohanPavuluri_2020F-_一款应用让自主解决法律问题如虎添翼_-
[SHAPE YOUR FUTURE] 【塑造你的未来】
I'm going to start by telling you a story about Danielle. 让我用丹尼尔的故事来开场,
When she was a senior in college, Danielle's dad passed away, which left her mom with no way to support herself. 丹尼尔的父亲 在她大四那年去世了, 她的母亲无法独自抚养这个家庭,
So Danielle had to drop out of college and pick up three jobs as a barista , a bartender and a car washer . 所以丹尼尔不得不辍学, 同时做咖啡师、酒保 和洗车工三份工作。
Altogether, the three jobs paid Danielle 23,000 dollars per year, which wasn't a whole lot, but it allowed her to feed her mom and keep a roof over their head. 这三份工作加起来 能给丹尼尔 2 万 3 千美金的年收入。 这并不多, 但是她至少可以担负起 她们母女的温饱。
senior:adj.大;级别(或地位)高的;成人的;高级水平的;n.上级;上司;较…年长的人; barista:n.咖啡师;咖啡吧员; bartender:n.酒保,酒吧间销售酒精饮料的人;酒吧侍者; washer:n.[机]垫圈;洗涤器;洗衣人;
And for Danielle, that was enough. 对于丹尼尔来说,这就足够了。
But early one morning when Danielle was driving home from one of her jobs, a deer ran in front of her car. 然而一天早上,当丹尼尔 下班开车回家时, 一只鹿跑到了她的车前,
She swerved off the road and crashed into a barn . 她一头转向路边,撞上了一个谷仓。
And Danielle doesn't remember exactly what happened next, but when she woke up in a hospital a few hours later, a doctor told her that she had damaged her brain stem and C1 vertebrae . 丹尼尔不太记得之后发生了什么, 但几小时后她从医院醒来, 一位医生告诉她, 她伤到了脑干和 C1 椎骨。
swerved:v.突然转向;急转弯;(swerve的过去分词和过去式) barn:n.谷仓;畜棚;车库;靶(核反应截面单位);v.把…贮存入仓; stem:n.花草的茎或梗;高脚酒杯的脚;烟斗柄;词干;v.阻止;封堵;遏止; vertebrae:n.[解剖]椎骨;脊椎;
Now, the good news is that Danielle was going to leave the hospital alive. 好消息是丹尼尔会活着离开医院,
But the bad news is that Danielle had 55,000 dollars in medical bills. 而坏消息则是丹尼尔要付 5 万 5 千美金的医疗费。
Now, Danielle tried so hard for the next two years to try and pay back that debt , but it was impossible. 之后的两年,丹尼尔 花了很大的力气去还债。 然而这是不可能的任务。
It was impossible for Danielle to pay back 55,000 dollars in medical bills, earning just 23,000 dollars per year. 每年只挣 2 万 3 千美金的丹尼尔, 是不可能还清 5 万 5 千美金的医疗费的。
She felt trapped . 她感到陷入了困境,
One freak accident put Danielle on the verge of homelessness , hunger, poverty . 一个意外事故 几乎就要让丹尼尔 无家可归、挨饿、穷困潦倒。
debt:n.债务;借款;罪过; trapped:adj.受困的;受限制的;v.使落入险境;使陷入困境;(trap的过去分词和过去式) freak:n.怪人,怪事;畸形人;反复无常;adj.奇异的,反常的; on the verge of:濒临于;接近于; homelessness:n.无家可归; poverty:n.贫困;困难;缺少;低劣;
And when you're in Danielle's shoes, bankruptcy is a lifeline . 如果你是丹尼尔, 那破产保护就是你的救命稻草。
It's a powerful legal tool that allows you to relieve your debt and re-enter the economy . 这个有力的法律工具 可以解除你的债务 并恢复你的经济能力。
Medical emergency , a job loss, a divorce . 医疗紧急情况、失业、离婚,
These are financial shocks that could happen to any of us. 这些经济打击可能发生在任何人身上。
bankruptcy:n.破产; lifeline:n.生命线;救生索; legal:adj.法律的;合法的;法定的; relieve:v.减轻;缓解;缓和;接替; re-enter:v.再次进入;重返;重操(旧业); economy:n.经济;节约;理财; emergency:n.紧急情况;突发事件;非常时刻;adj.紧急的;备用的; divorce:n.离婚;分离;v.与某人离婚;使分离; financial:adj.金融的;财政的,财务的;
And when you're living paycheck to paycheck and don't have a whole lot of savings , like so many Americans, a financial shock can ruin your life. 而当你像大部分美国人一样, 是一个没什么积蓄的月光族。 一个经济打击就可以毁了你的人生,
Bankruptcy gives you a second chance. 申请破产可以给你 一个重新再来的机会。
But when Danielle went to go find a bankruptcy lawyer, she, like so many others filing for bankruptcy, learned that it was going to cost her 1,500 dollars. 但当丹尼尔去找破产律师时, 就像很多申请破产保护的人一样, 得知司法费用将是 1500 美金。
paycheck:n.工资;薪金;工资支票; savings:n.节省物;节省;节约;储蓄金;存款;(saving的复数) ruin:n.废墟;毁坏;灭亡;v.毁灭;使破产;
She didn't have that kind of money. 她没有这么多钱,
I mean, what a cruel irony . 多么残酷的讽刺啊。
In America, it costs you 1,500 dollars to tell the court that you have no money. 在美国,你需要花 1500 美金去告诉法庭 你没有钱。
When you walk into a court, everyone from the judge to the clerk to the forms themselves will tell you to go find a lawyer, no matter how little money you have. 而当你走上法庭, 法庭上从书记到法官的所有人 都会让你去找个律师, 不管你有多穷。
irony:n.讽刺;反语;具有讽刺意味的事;adj.铁的;似铁的;
One of the great civil rights injustices in America is that we don't have equal rights under the law. 美国公民权利最大的不平等之一 就是法律面前,人并非平等,
What we have is equal rights if you can afford a lawyer. 有了律师的人才平等。
Whether you're evicted from your home in an abusive relationship or need access to bankruptcy, you have no right to a free lawyer in most civil cases. 无论你是因为虐待而被赶出家门, 或是需要申请破产保护。 大部分民事案件涉案人 是没有免费律师的。
civil rights:na.公民权; injustices:n.不公正;不讲道义; afford:v.给予,提供;买得起; evicted:v.驱逐,赶出,逐出;(evict的过去分词和过去式) abusive:adj.辱骂的;滥用的;虐待的;
And because there aren't even close to enough pro bono or legal aid lawyers around, four out of five low-income Americans can't get the legal help they need to access their civil legal rights. 因为自愿选择公益和法律援助的律师 数量远远不够, 每五个低收入的美国人, 就有四个无法行使他们的公民权利 去获得所需的法律援助。
Four years ago, I helped start an organization to fight for new civil right in America, the right to solve your own legal problem when you can't afford a lawyer. 四年前,我参与创立的一个组织 立志于为美国的新公民权利而斗争。 给你即使你没有钱请律师 也可以解决自己的法律问题的权利。
pro bono:adj.无偿服务的;公益性的; legal aid:n.法律援助(政府或某机构向需要帮助的人提供费用,使其能够寻求法律咨询或聘请律师); organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体;
We started with bankruptcy. 我们一开始着手的就是破产
Our nonprofit Upsolve has built an app to help people file for bankruptcy on their own for free. 我们的非盈利公司,Upsolve,做了一个应用 来帮助人们自己免费申请破产保护。
People like Danielle. 面向丹尼尔这样的人,
Our app asks people questions about their finances in language they can understand and then uses this information to help generate their forms. 我们的应用会用简单易懂的语言 问一些个人经济相关的问题, 然后用这些信息来帮助填写法律表格。
nonprofit:adj.非赢利的;不以赢利为目的的; generate:v.产生;引起;
Last year, Danielle used Upsolve to file for bankruptcy on her own for free. 去年,丹尼尔用Upsolve自己免费申请了破产保护。
She got her final letter from the court, relieving all of her medical debt, right after Christmas Day. 圣诞节刚过,法庭就给她发来通知书, 解除了她所有的医疗债务。
Today, Danielle has the highest paying job she's ever had and she's on track to finish her degree. 现在,丹尼尔拿着 她从未有过的最高薪水 并即将完成她的学位。
There are so many opportunities to create a more just legal system by empowering people to solve their own legal problems whenever possible. 要建立一个更公平的法律系统 实在有太多机会, 只要给人们随时可以解决 他们法律问题的权利。
relieving:v.解除,减轻,缓和(不快或痛苦);调剂;使有趣;(relieve的现在分词) track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪; empowering:v.授权;给(某人)…的权力;增加(某人的)自主权;(empower的现在分词)
This is especially true in nonadversarial areas of the law, things like no-asset bankruptcies , uncontested divorces and Social Security disability . 在压制型的法律制度中尤其有效, 比如无形资产破产 无争议的离婚,和社会保障及残障福利。
But there are two main barriers that stand in the way . 但是,有两个主要的阻碍
The first is legal complexity . 第一个是法律的复杂度。
We've designed our forms in courts around lawyers, not regular people. 我们的法庭是设计给律师的, 不是给大众的。
Many legal forms are like modern day literacy tests. 大多数法律表单读起来就像是 现代文学考试。[04:09]
especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; bankruptcies:n.破产;(bankruptcy的复数) uncontested:adj.无竞争的;无异议的;无争议的; Social Security:n.社会保障金(政府定期向贫穷、失业、患病等人发放); disability:n.残疾;无能;无资格;不利条件; barriers:n.障碍;栅栏;篱笆墙(barrier的复数形式); stand in the way:妨碍;阻碍;拖…后腿; complexity:n.复杂性;难以理解的局势 literacy:n.读写能力;精通文学;
When you can't understand them, you can't access your rights. 但只要你读不懂 你就没法行驶你应有的权利。
Every year, poorly designed forms, courts and processes deny millions of Americans their life, their liberty and their property. 就因为不亲民的表单、 法庭系统和法律流程 每年都有数以百万的美国人 丧失他们的人生、自由,以及财产。
Legal complexity is a civil rights injustice. 繁琐的法律就是人权的不公。
To start solving this problem, we need to require basic user testing in courts and reviser assumption in areas of poverty law that everybody will be able to afford a lawyer. 要解决这个问题, 我们得在法庭上进行测试 并且修改贫困法案中 假设大家都有钱请律师的条款。
processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式); deny:v.否定,否认;拒绝给予;拒绝…的要求; liberty:n.自由;许可;冒失; reviser:n.校订者;修正者;检查员;校对员; assumption:n.假定;设想;担任;采取;
A second barrier is a closed culture. 第二个阻碍是封闭的社会和文化。
We've been met with pushback from some folks who believe that you need to go see a lawyer no matter what legal problem you have. 我们也遭到了一些反对。 有些人说不管出了什么事, 你都得去请律师。
Imagine you had to go see a doctor to cure a plain old headache rather than being able to buy Advil at your local pharmacy . 想想如果你普通的头疼老毛病犯了, 但你不能在药房买止痛药, 而是必须去挂号排队看私人医生。
Telling a person who is poor to go find a lawyer when they obviously can't afford one is out of touch , iIntimidating, unfair and wrong. 告诉根本不可能付得起 律师费的穷人去请律师, 就是饮鸩解渴、 骇人听闻、不平不法、荒谬绝伦。
pushback:n.飞机推迟起飞; no matter what:不管什么…; Advil:n.艾德维尔(一种药品布洛芬品牌); pharmacy:n.药房;配药学,药剂学;制药业;一批备用药品; out of touch:失去联系;不来往的;
It's also a racial injustice. 对于一些种族也不公平。
Black and brown communities disproportionately cannot afford the legal fees they need to access their civil legal rights. 绝大多数的黑、棕色人种公民 付不起司法费用, 无法行驶他们的法律权益。
Many legal fees are like modern day poll taxes. 许多司法费用在如今就相当于人头税。
racial:adj.种族的;人种的; communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数) disproportionately:adv.不成比例地; legal fees:律师费;法律费用; poll:n.投票; v.获得(票数); adj.当事人一方作成的;
When you can't afford to pay the fees, you can access your rights. 付不起费用的人就失去了权利。
And we have a decision to make about how open and equal we want our system of justice to be. 我们得做出决定 决定司法系统应该有多公开和平等。
The only way we're ever going to have equal rights in America is if we get rid of the modern day literacy tests and poll taxes that dominate our courts and legal system. 唯一能在美国实现平等权利的途径 就是舍弃当下的繁文缛节, 舍弃控制着法庭和司法系统的人头税。
We need a new civil right in America, the right to solve your own legal problem when you can't afford a lawyer. 我们需要新的人权, 一个就算请不起律师, 也能自己解决法律问题的人权。
Because in America, our rights are supposed to be inalienable , our protections are supposed to be equal, and we all deserve a chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, whether or not we can afford the legal fees. 因为在美国,我们的权利 是不可剥夺的, 我们们该受到平等的保护, 我们也都应该有机会 去追求美好,自由、和幸福的生活。 无论能否跨过司法费用的门槛。
dominate:vt.控制;支配;占优势;在…中占主要地位;vi.占优势;处于支配地位; supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式) inalienable:adj.不可分割的;不可剥夺的;不能让与的; deserve:vi.应受,应得; pursuit:n.追求;追赶;追捕;跟踪; whether or not:是否…;
Thank you. 谢谢！