- What are two Cabinet-level positions?
Answer:
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Secretary of Commerce
- Secretary of Defense
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Energy
- Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Secretary of Homeland Security
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Secretary of Interior
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of Transportation
- Secretary of Treasury
- Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs
- Secretary of Labor
- Attorney General
Explanation:The U.S. Cabinet (or the group of people who advise the president, giving him or her ideas, advice, and information) has grown a lot over time. Under our first president, George Washington, the Cabinet had only four members: the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, and Attorney General. Today, the Cabinet has 15 members. However, not all 15 are equally important. Some have much more power than others.
The four most important Cabinet members are the same ones that George Washington had, although their titles (or the names of their jobs) have changed a little bit. These four most important members are known as the “Big Four” and are the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General.
The Secretary of State is responsible for foreign affairs (or relationships between the United States and other countries). The Secretary of State negotiates (or discusses) international agreements and gives instructions to U.S. ambassadors (or official representatives of the United States in other countries).
The Secretary of the Treasury mostly works with finance, economics, and money. He or she recommends what the president should do to keep the U.S. economy strong. The Secretary’s signature is on all of the United States’ monetary bills (or paper money).
The Secretary of Defense, who used to be known as the Secretary of War, works with the military (or the people and organizations who fight to protect the United States).
Finally, the last member of the Big Four, the Attorney General, serves as the United States’ most important lawyer, making sure that laws are enforced (or applied). When the United States needs to be represented in-person in court, the Attorney General is responsible for stating the government’s position. The Attorney General is the only member of the U.S. Cabinet who does not have the title of “secretary.”
- 什么是两个内阁级别的职位?
回答：
农业部长
商务部长
国防部长
教育部长
能源部长
卫生及公共服务部部长
国土安全部部长
住房和城市发展部长
内政部长
国务卿
交通部长
财政部长
退伍军人事务部长
劳工部长
总检察长
解释:美国内阁(或群人建议总统,让他或她的想法,建议,和信息)已经成长很多。在我们的第一任总统乔治·华盛顿的领导下，内阁只有四名成员:国务卿、财政部长、战争部长和司法部长。今天，内阁有15名成员。然而，并不是所有的15个都同等重要。有些人的权力比其他人大得多。
四位最重要的内阁成员都是乔治·华盛顿的内阁成员，尽管他们的头衔(或职位名称)发生了一点变化。这四个最重要的成员被称为“四大”，分别是国务卿、财政部长、国防部长和司法部长。
国务卿负责外交事务(或美国与其他国家的关系)。国务卿谈判(或讨论)国际协议，并向美国大使(或美国在其他国家的官方代表)发出指示。
财政部长主要与金融、经济和货币打交道。他或她建议总统应该做什么来保持美国经济的强劲。部长的签名印在美国所有的货币(或纸币)上。
国防部长，过去被称为战争部长，与军队(或为保护美国而战的人民和组织)合作。
最后，四大中的最后一员，司法部长，是美国最重要的律师，负责确保法律的执行(或适用)。当美国需要被人代表亲自出庭时，总检察长负责陈述政府的立场。总检察长是美国内阁中唯一没有“部长”头衔的人。
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- What does the judicial branch do?
Answer:
Reviews laws
Explains laws
Resolves disputes (disagreements)
Decides if a law goes against the Constitution
Explanation:The U.S. government has three branches (or parts): the executive branch which makes sure that people follow laws, the legislative branch which makes new laws, and the judicial branch which interprets laws (or decides what the laws mean and how they should be applied). Normally the executive and legislative branches can work together without any trouble. The legislative branch makes new laws and the executive branch enforces them. However, sometimes people don’t agree on what the laws mean. They think the laws are unclear or unconstitutional (or not in agreement with the U.S. Constitution). When that happens, someone needs to be able to say what the law really means and that is exactly what the judicial branch does. The judicial branch comprises (or is made up of) many courts. A court is a place where legal decisions are made, especially about whether or not someone has broken a law or what that law really means in the first place. When the Constitution created the judicial branch, it created the Supreme Court, which is the highest and most important court in the country. Since then, Congress has created many lower courts (or less powerful courts) that hear cases (or decide on legal issues) in many special areas. These lower courts include the tax courts, which decide whether or not people and businesses are evading (or not paying) taxes, and the bankruptcy courts, which decide whether people and businesses can declare bankruptcy (or not pay back the money they owe to other people and organizations because they don’t have any money left). The judicial branch needs to have many different courts because there are too many cases to send all of them to the Supreme Court. The Department of Justice is a very large part of the U.S. government that tries to get justice (or fairness in the law) for all Americans. The Department also tries to prevent and control crime (or things like murders (killings) and theft) to make the United States safer. The Department of Justice is not part of the judicial branch, however. It is part of the executive branch of the national government.
- 司法部门做什么?
答:
审查法律
解释法律
解决争端(分歧)
决定一项法律是否违反宪法
解释:
美国政府有三个部门(或部分):确保人们遵守法律的行政部门，制定新法律的立法部门，以及解释法律的司法部门(或决定法律的含义和应用方法)。通常，行政部门和立法部门可以毫无困难地合作。立法部门制定新法律，行政部门执行新法律。然而，有时人们不同意法律的含义。他们认为这些法律不明确或违宪(或与美国宪法不一致)。当这种情况发生时，需要有人能够说出法律的真正含义，而这正是司法部门的职责所在。司法部门由许多法院组成。法院是一个做出法律决定的地方，尤其是关于某人是否触犯了法律，或者法律最初的真正含义。当宪法设立司法部门时，它设立了最高法院，这是国家最高和最重要的法院。从那时起，国会设立了许多下级法院(或权力较小的法院)，在许多特殊领域审理案件(或就法律问题作出决定)。这些下级法院包括税务法院，它决定个人和企业是否逃税(或不纳税);破产法院，它决定个人和企业是否可以宣布破产(或不偿还欠其他人和组织的钱，因为他们没有任何钱剩下)。司法部门需要有许多不同的法院，因为有太多的案件要提交给最高法院。司法部是美国政府的一个非常大的部门，它试图为所有美国人争取正义(或法律上的公平)。该部门还试图预防和控制犯罪(或像谋杀和盗窃这样的事情)，以使美国更安全。然而，司法部不是司法部门的一部分。它是国家政府行政部门的一部分。
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- What is the highest court in the United States?
Answer:The Supreme Court
Explanation:Everybody makes mistakes, but what happens if it is a judge (or a person who makes legal decisions in a court)? Imagine that you are in a lawsuit (or a problem or argument that has to be talked about in court) and the judge rules (or decides) against you, but you still think that you are right. Your next step is an appeal, which is an official document asking a higher, more important court to rule on your lawsuit. And if that appeal fails (or doesn’t work), you might make another appeal to an even higher court. Eventually, however, there are no higher courts because you have arrived at the Supreme Court, which is often called “the highest (or most important) court in the United States.”
The Supreme Court doesn’t agree to rule on all cases (or lawsuits). The Supreme Court receives more than 7,000 petitions (or requests to rule on a case) each year, but it accepts fewer than 100 of them. That is because the Supreme Court has limited time and people to do the work, and it wants to use them to rule on only the most important cases. In particular, it wants to rule on cases that are related to how federal laws are interpreted (or understood), especially when they are related to the U.S. Constitution (or the country’s most important legal document).
The Supreme Court’s cases are very far-reaching, meaning that they have a lot of influence in American culture and law. Some of their cases are well known to most Americans. For example, one famous case known as Brown v. Board of Education made it illegal to have separate schools for white students and black students. Another famous case known as Roe v. Wade made abortions (the practice of ending a pregnancy so the baby is never born) legal.
The Supreme Court meets in the Supreme Court Building in the center of Washington, DC. The building is sometimes called the “Temple of Justice” where a temple is a holy place that people build for their gods.
- 美国最高法院是什么?
答:最高法院
解释:
每个人都会犯错，但如果是法官(或在法庭上做出法律决定的人)会怎么样呢?假设你在一场官司中(或在法庭上必须讨论的一个问题或争论中)，法官做出了不利于你的裁决(或决定)，但你仍然认为自己是对的。你的下一步是上诉，这是一个官方文件要求更高，更重要的法院对你的诉讼裁决。如果上诉失败(或无效)，你可能会再次上诉到更高的法院。然而，最终没有更高一级的法院，因为你已经到了最高法院，它通常被称为“美国最高(或最重要)的法院”。
最高法院不同意对所有案件(或诉讼)做出裁决。最高法院每年收到7000多份请愿书(或案件裁决请求)，但它只受理不到100份。这是因为最高法院有有限的时间和人员来做这项工作，它想用他们来裁决最重要的案件。特别地，它想要裁决那些与联邦法律如何解释(或理解)有关的案件，特别是当它们与美国宪法(或国家最重要的法律文件)有关的时候。
最高法院的案件影响深远，这意味着它们对美国文化和法律有很大的影响。他们的一些案例为大多数美国人所熟知。例如，著名的布朗诉教育委员会案规定，白人学生和黑人学生分校是非法的。另一个著名的案例是“罗伊诉韦德案”(Roe v. Wade)，该案件认定堕胎(即终止妊娠，使婴儿永远不能出生)合法。
最高法院在华盛顿特区中心的最高法院大楼举行会议。这座建筑有时被称为“正义之庙”，这里的寺庙是人们为他们的神建造的圣地。
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- How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
Answer: Nine (9)
Explanation:The Supreme Court, which is the most important court in the United States, has changed in many ways since it was first founded (or created) in 1790. When the Supreme Court first began, there were only six justices (or the judges who work on the Supreme Court). This number changed six times, but since 1869 there have always been nine justices.
Supreme Court justices are appointed (or given their positions by people who work in politics). First they are nominated, which is when the president selects or picks them and says that this is the person who should get the job. Then they are rejected or accepted by the U.S. Senate. Justices are not rejected very often. In fact, only 12 nominees have ever been rejected as Supreme Court justices. All the others have been confirmed (or approved when at least half of the Senate members voted for them). The leader of these nine justices is called the Chief Justice; the other eight are called Associate Justices.
When justices are confirmed (or approved), then they are appointed for life, meaning that once they become a justice they can never be forced to leave. Also, their salary (or the amount of money they make each year) can never be reduced (or made less). Because of this, the justices never have to worry about losing their jobs or losing money if they vote the wrong way or make a decision the president or other people don’t like. This is a good thing, because it means that they can rule (or make legal decisions) based on their beliefs and not to please the current president.
Because the justices serve (or work in this public job) for life, the Supreme Court has a very low turnover rate. The turnover rate is how often old people leave and new people take their place in an organization. Most of the justices serve (or work) for many, many years, often until they die or decide that they want to retire (or stop working to enjoy their old age). Since 1790, there have been only 16 Chief Justices and 97 Associate Justices. On average (or typically), they serve 15 years. Because of this, the Supreme Court has a lot of continuity (or consistency over time).
- 最高法院有多少法官?
答:九个
解释:
最高法院是美国最重要的法院，自1790年成立以来，在许多方面都发生了变化。最高法院刚成立时，只有6名法官(或在最高法院工作的法官)。这个数字改变了6次，但自1869年以来，一直是9位大法官。
最高法院法官是由政界人士任命的。首先，他们被提名，也就是总统选择他们，并说他们应该得到这份工作的时候。然后他们被美国参议院拒绝或接受。法官不经常被拒绝。事实上，只有12名被提名者被最高法院法官拒绝。其他的都已经得到确认(或至少有一半的参议院成员投票支持)。这九名大法官的领袖被称为首席大法官;其他八人被称为助理法官。
当大法官被确认(或批准)后，他们将被终身任命，这意味着一旦他们成为大法官，他们就永远不会被迫离开。此外，他们的工资(或他们每年挣的钱)永远不会减少。正因为如此，如果他们投错了票，或做出了总统或其他人不喜欢的决定，法官们永远不必担心失去工作或失去金钱。这是一件好事，因为这意味着他们可以根据自己的信仰进行统治(或做出法律决定)，而不是取悦现任总统。
因为大法官是终身任职的，所以最高法院的人员流动率非常低。离职率是指老员工离职和新员工就职的频率。大多数大法官任职(或工作)多年，通常直到他们去世或决定退休(或停止工作以享受晚年)。自1790年以来，只有16位首席大法官和97位副大法官。平均而言，他们要服务15年。正因为如此，最高法院有很多连续性(或随着时间的推移的一致性)。
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- Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?
Answer:John Roberts (John G. Roberts, Jr.)
Explanation:The Supreme Court is the highest (or most important) court in the United States, so it makes sense that the leader of the Supreme Court, known as the Chief Justice, is the highest (or most important) judge in the U.S. government.
The Chief Justice has all the same responsibilities as the Associate Justices for hearing cases (or listening to lawsuits and stating a legal opinion). However, the Chief Justice also has many other responsibilities.
When the nine justices of the Supreme Court discuss (or talk about) cases, the Chief Justice must lead the discussion. The Chief Justice speaks first, and this gives him or her the power to influence (or affect) the discussion. The Chief Justice also makes the agenda (or plan for what will be discussed) for each weekly meeting where the justices decide which cases they are going to hear.
When the justices vote on a case, the Chief Justice’s vote is equal to (or has the same importance as) the other eight votes. However, the Chief Justice gets to decide who will write the court’s opinion (or a written document explaining what the court decided and why). Because the Chief Justice knows each justice’s writing style and opinions, he or she can pick the one who will write an opinion that describes the case as he or she would want it to be described. That is an important way for the Chief Justice to influence the work of the Supreme Court, since lawyers and other judges often go back to read the Supreme Court’s opinions and use them to make other legal decisions later.
When the U.S. president is inaugurated (or first begins working as the president), the Chief Justice states the oath (or promises that are made before entering a public office) that the new president must repeat.
The Chief Justice also must preside over (or lead) impeachment trials for the U.S. president. An impeachment trial happens when the members of Congress believe that the president is doing his or her job very poorly or has done something very wrong and want to vote to have the job of president taken away from him or her.
- 谁是美国的首席大法官?
答:约翰·罗伯茨
解释:
最高法院是美国最高的(或最重要的)法院，所以最高法院的领导人，即首席大法官，是美国政府中最高的(或最重要的)法官是有道理的。
首席大法官与副大法官在审理案件(或听取诉讼并陈述法律意见)方面负有同样的责任。然而，首席大法官还有许多其他职责。
当最高法院的九位大法官讨论案件时，首席大法官必须引导讨论。首席大法官首先发言，这赋予他或她影响(或影响)讨论的权力。首席大法官还为每周一次的例会制定议程(或讨论内容的计划)，大法官们将在会上决定他们将审理哪些案件。
当大法官们对一个案件进行投票时，首席大法官的投票与其他八票相等(或同等重要)。然而，首席大法官将决定由谁来撰写法院的意见(或解释法院裁决的内容和理由的书面文件)。因为首席大法官了解每一位大法官的写作风格和观点，所以他或她可以挑选一位大法官，让他或她按照自己希望的方式来撰写对案件的描述。这是首席大法官影响最高法院工作的一个重要途径，因为律师和其他法官经常回过头来阅读最高法院的意见，然后用它们来做出其他法律决定。
在美国总统宣誓就职(或首次以总统的身份就职)时，首席大法官宣布新总统必须重复的誓言(或在进入公职之前所作的承诺)。
首席大法官还必须主持弹劾美国总统的审判。弹劾审判发生在国会议员认为总统的工作做得很糟糕，或者做了一些非常错误的事情，想要投票剥夺他或她的总统职位的时候。
