Topic Activities

1. Learn the following words:

homicide	убийство
criminal offense	уголовное преступление
cerebral hemorrhage	кровоизлияние в мозг
autopsy	вскрытие
remote	отдаленный
cause	причина
manslaughter	непредумышленное убийство
negligent homicide	случайное убийство
innocent homicide	невинное убийство
justifiable homicide	оправданное убийство
hallmark	отличительная черта
malice	злой умысел
heinous	злостный
murder in the first degree	убийство первой степени
to premeditate	замышлять заранее
deliberate	намеренный
perpetration	совершение
murder in the second degree	убийство второй степени
justification	оправдание
rage	гнев, ярость
rape	изнасилование
robbery	1) ограбление, грабёж с насилием; 2) разбой
burglary	кража со взломом

2. Guess the meaning of the following international words:

serious, criminal, action, result, major, category, to plan, to detonate – detonation, bomb, public, to motivate – motivation, real – realistic – to realize, cerebral.

3. Look through the text and match the underlined English words and expressions with the following Russian equivalents:

самое серьезное из всех преступлений; в абсолютном большин­стве штатов; жертва убийства; преднамеренное убийство; так называемое убийство, совершенное в ходе другого преступления; совершение проступка.

4. Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What is homicide?

2. Which crime does society regard as the most serious of all crimes?

3. Is the killing of an unborn baby a criminal offense in the great majority of states?

4. What are the major categories of homicide?

5. How many are they?

6. What is the hallmark of murder?

7. What is: a) murder in the first degree?

b) murder in the second degree?

Homicide

Our society regards the killing of one human being by another as the most serious of all crimes. In the great majority of states, however, the killing of an unborn child is not a criminal offense. Nor are actions which result in death long after the event. An old rule, that death a year and a day beyond the act said to have caused it was not homicide, has been questioned.

But a man who dies of a cerebral hemorrhage [`hemərıdʒ] five years after he was hit on the head would almost surely not be regarded as
a homicide victim, even if the autopsy showed that the blow may well have been the remote cause of his death.

The major categories of homicide are (1) criminal homicide, which is either murder or manslaughter, (2) negligent homicide and (3) innocent homicide, which is either justifiable [`dʒʌstıˏfaıəbl] homicide or excusable homicide.

Murder. The hallmark of murder is malice: without malice there is no murder. But some murders seem more heinous than others.

Murder in the first degree is either an intended killing that was
a premeditated and deliberate murder planned for its own sake or a so-called felony murder. A felony-murder is one committed during the perpetration of a felony or serious offense, such as arson, rape, robbery or burglary, or as the consequence of a “depraved act” («порочное действие»), such as detonating a bomb in a public place.

Murder in the second degree is a killing also motivated by malice but in which the intent to kill did not exist until just before the killing itself and for which there was no real justification. Suppose a married man falls in love with a blonde beauty and asks his wife for a divorce; she refuses, and he kills her in a rage. He is guilty of murder in the second degree.

Manslaughter and Lesser Killings. Just as there are two categories of murder, so there are two categories of manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing in which there was no intent until just before the act, which was not motivated by malice and for which there was some provocation as when, having been violently assaulted, you respond violently and kill your attacker. Killing a person while resisting his attempt to arrest you unlawfully would be voluntary manslaughter, as would the killing of a wife in the classic situation of a man unexpectedly returning home from a trip and catching her in the act of adultery.

Involuntary manslaughter is a killing in which there is no malice but which might have been avoided. The offense is committed most often during the perpetration of a misdemeanor.

Negligent homicide, or automobile homicide, as it is increasingly called, is a killing resulting from the negligent operation of a passenger vehicle, especially an automobile. If in careless or negligent driving a man kills a pedestrian, the driver of another car or a passenger in his own car, the offense is negligent homicide.

Of course, if someone is driving carefully, within the speed limit, and strikes and kills a pedestrian carelessly crossing against the traffic light, he has committed no offense. The killing is called excusable homicide.

Justifiable homicide is not a crime either. It is a killing that takes place under lawful orders, so to speak: killing of an enemy in wartime, killing of a condemned criminal by a hangman or an executioner. A police officer, or a citizen ordered by him to help catch a suspected criminal, commits no crime if he kills the criminal to prevent escape.

Notes:

misdemeanor – проступок; мисдиминор (категория наименее опас­ных преступлений, граничащих с административными правонару­шениями)

felony – фелония (категория особо тяжких преступлений, по степе­ни опасности находящиеся между государственной изменой и мисдиминором)

5. Match the following English and Russian equivalents:

1) homicide	a) жертва
2) event	b) небрежный
3) cerebral hemorrhage	c) отличительная черта
4) victim	d) непредумышленное убийство
5) autopsy	e) убийство, лишение жизни
6) manslaughter	f) невинный
7) negligent	g) кровоизлияние в мозг
8) innocent	h) объяснимый
9) justifiable	i) событие, происшествие
10) excusable	j) вскрытие трупа
11) hallmark	k) простительный

6. Supply the missing prepositions:

− actions result ___ death;

− to die ___ a cerebral hemorrhage;

− he was hit ___ the head;

− to fall ___ love ___ a blonde;

− to ask a wife ___ a divorce;

− to be guilty ___ murder ___ the first degree.

7. Classify the following words into parts of speech:

manslaughter, hallmark, perpetration, robbery, justification, negligent, excusable, guilty, regards, being, dies, head, victims, showed, intended, categories.

8. Supply the missing words:

1. Actions which (завершаются смертью).

2. A man may die of (кровоизлияния в мозг).

3. The hallmark of murder is (злой умысел).

4. Some murders seem to be (более ужасные) than others

5. The intent to kill (не существовал) and for the murder there was no real (оправдание).

6. He is (виноват в убийстве второй степени)

9. Arrange logically the following sentences:

1. For example, a man who dies of a cerebral hemorrhage five years after he was hit on the head would almost surely not be regarded as a homicide victim.

2. Society regards the killing of one human being by another as the most serious of all crimes.

3. The hallmark of murder is malice: without malice there is no crime.

4. The major categories of homicide are: 1. criminal homicide, which is either murder or manslaughter, 2. negligent homicide and 3. innocent homicide, which is either justifiable homicide or excusable homicide.

SPEAKING

Work with your partner and role-play the conversation by short fragments:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14