密歇根新闻广播 无知并不是优点 美国民众应时刻关注政府变化

Ten days from now we will have a new President, and in time he will name a new justice to the Supreme¹ Court, and eventually a nominee² is likely to be confirmed.

I teach college students, mostly seniors and graduates, journalism³ history and law. And sometime after the new justice takes office, one will ask me when they'll have to run for reelection. They don't, of course; they are selected for life.

But I've become used to the fact that the vast majority of Americans are grossly ignorant of how their government is supposed to work. For many years, high school students in this state have been required to take and pass a one-semester civics course.

I attended a working-class high school in the 1960s, and recall having to learn the difference between the state and federal court systems and the strong mayor and city manager forms of government. But as far as I can tell, whatever kids learn in civics these days passes through many of them rather like a stone through a goose.

You might think, if you live in a well-educated household, that these are just anecdotes⁴ from someone who, after all, teaches, in Detroit. But there's plenty of evidence that we face an alarming tide of national ignorance. A survey of American adults by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 found that more than one third were unable to name any one of the three branches of the government.

Many thought a close Supreme Court decision was sent back to Congress for reconsideration, and most didn't know which party controlled either the House or Senate.

When I read this, I had the same thought I had on Election Night, that of Benjamin Franklin emerging from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and being asked by a woman what form of government our leaders had given us. “A republic, if you can keep it,” he said. To his great credit, State Representative Pete Lucido, a Republican from Macomb County, has done something about this. The one group of adults I've found to be the best informed are immigrants who have taken the test to become U.S. citizens.

Lucido managed to get a bill passed last session that will require high school teachers to cover the same material that immigrants must know to pass the citizenship⁵ test they have to take.

Students are going to need to know the same material covered in the one hundred questions on the citizenship exam. Actually, would-be citizens are only asked a random⁶ ten questions, but they must answer orally and get at least six right.

Lucido's bill was signed into law with little fanfare⁷ last week by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, and the media barely noticed. Actually, I think we should have made a big deal out of this.

There's a quote from President John Adams inscribed⁸ over a fireplace in the state dining room of the White House, which says in part, “May none but the wise men ever rule under this roof.” There was a lot of concern during the last presidential campaign as to whether one of the candidates knew enough about how our government functions.

Maybe if our citizens knew more, we'd have a little less to fear.

1 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。

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

4 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

7 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

8 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》