【美国精神】第7期

Explanation:

    When the Founding Fathers (or the men who made the U.S. government) wrote the Constitution in 1787, they wanted a government that would grow and change as America grew and changed. Everything they had written seemed like a good idea, but they knew that people might need or want to change parts of the Constitution later. The Founding Fathers wanted their new government to last a long time, and allowing Constitutional Amendments³ was their way to make sure that the government could change to meet the changing country’s needs. The word amendment² comes from the verb to amend¹, which means to change something, so an amendment is a change to the Constitution. Because the Constitution is always changing and being reinterpreted (or read again and understood differently), many people call it a “living document.”

    Amendments are added to the Constitution for many reasons: to overrule (or cancel or undo) a decision made by the Supreme⁴ Court (the highest court of the United States), to change something that was written in the Constitution, or to change something in society. For example, the Nineteenth Amendment changed something very important for half of the country—it gave women the right to vote in 1920. Before then, women were not allowed to vote. This Amendment forced society to change the way it thought about women and it eventually led to other changes and more equal rights for women in the United States.

    A proposed amendment (or one that has been suggested but not yet approved) must be approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Once it is approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives, the amendment must be approved by three-fourths (or 75%) of the states before it can be added to the Constitution. The Constitution says that another way to make amendments is to have another Constitutional Convention (or meeting of the states’ representatives), but this has never been done. The U.S. presidents do not participate in the passage (or approval) of an amendment, but they can tell the public what they think about it.

    Currently, there are 27 amendments to the Constitution. The first 10 are collectively (or as a group) known as the Bill of Rights. The amendments included in the Bill of Rights were added long ago, in 1791. The most recent amendment (Amendment 27) was ratified⁵ (or approved) in 1992.

 

问题：

 How many amendments does the Constitution have?

Answer:

Twenty-seven (27)

1 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

2 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

3 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。