美国国家公共电台 NPR An Accident On The Moon, Young Lawyers To The Rescue

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Thinkers from all over the world are meeting next week to argue a hypothetical case. They're lawyers. And the case concerns a traffic accident on the moon. It's the international Space Law Moot¹ Court finals, and law students from South Africa, Greece, India and Mississippi are competing. NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports.

REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE²: When Alexia Boggs was applying to law school, she considered all the big fields - estate law, tax law. She chose space. Why?

ALEXIA BOGGS: Originally I was looking for a field of law where none of my family could ever seek my help.

HERSHER: Space law isn't that developed yet. It's based on international law, but there's only been a handful of cases actually set in space. So there's a lot that's still up in the air.

BOGGS: Here on Earth, obviously, different countries have different laws for, like, if I crash into you with my car. What happens if I do that to you in space?

HERSHER: The point of the Space Law Moot Court Competition is job training for law students and helping³ space law experts think about possible future situations.

BOGGS: These competitions sort of imagine realistic problems that could happen in the future and how liability is apportioned⁴ and decided⁵ and who's responsible.

HERSHER: What? Just because it's in space doesn't mean there isn't boring legal jargon⁶, which brings us to this year's case.

BOGGS: There are two countries, Perovsk and Titan. They're bordering countries. They share a common language and a common history.

HERSHER: Both have space programs, but they have very different reasons for being in space. Titan is doing science experiments on the moon. Their attitude is...

BOGGS: This is for all of humankind.

HERSHER: Perovsk is all about industry. They start a lunar mining operation, which annoys Titan.

BOGGS: So they go with their rover to see if they're contaminating the lunar atmosphere. And they collide.

HERSHER: With a piece of mining equipment. It's a lunar traffic accident.

BOGGS: Now everyone's upset.

HERSHER: Perovsk sues Titan over the damaged equipment. Titan accuses Perovsk of breaking the law by polluting the moon. The answer - who should pay for what and why - is not clear. Rovers don't really carry insurance. And who has the right to use or pollute the moon anyway? Not only is it unclear what the specific laws would be to solve this dispute, but not everyone agrees on the overall goals of being in space in the first place.

BOGGS: It's sort of hard to not say anything controversial in space law because everyone has a different opinion about what space law should do. Should it help us here on Earth with resources? Or should we be sort of more romantic about space? We go and we share and we learn and we explore.

HERSHER: This is what Boggs likes about space law - the ambiguity⁷ - which is good because the way the Moot Court Competition works, she and her teammates have to argue both sides. Of course, this case is hypothetical, but the issues are relevant now. Commercial space flight is happening. More countries are launching satellites. SpaceX says it hopes to launch people next year. And that means Boggs' employment future looks bright. Andrea Harrington is the Ole Miss coach and a space law liability expert. In the future, she says...

ANDREA HARRINGTON: I think there's going to be a lot more people traveling on private spacecraft than government spacecraft.

HERSHER: One thing private space companies hate, especially when they're trying difficult things - legal uncertainty⁸.

HARRINGTON: It's hard to get investors⁹ to want to put their money into an activity when it's unclear that is still going to be legal and still going to be possible to license¹⁰ and partake in moving forward in the future.

HERSHER: As for whether she thinks the Ole Miss team will win the competition...

HARRINGTON: I hope so. But I think there's no way to predict that going in.

HERSHER: Spoken like a true lawyer.

HARRINGTON: (Laughter).

HERSHER: Rebecca Hersher, NPR News.

1 moot   

v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会

参考例句：

• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point.那个在董事会上提出讨论的问题仍未决的。
• The oil versus nuclear equation is largely moot.石油和核能之间的关系还很有争议。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 apportioned   

vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They apportioned the land among members of the family. 他们把土地分给了家中各人。
• The group leader apportioned them the duties for the week. 组长给他们分派了这星期的任务。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

7 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

8 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。