YUKI SAT AT the prosecution¹ table between Nicky Gaines and Len Parisi, waiting for court to convene². It was Friday. The jurors had deliberated for three days, and word had come down late last night that they’d arrived at their verdict. Yuki wondered if the jurors had rushed their decision so they could have a weekend free of responsibility and tension. And if so, would that be good or bad for the People?

  She felt overcaffeinated because she was. She’d been swigging coffee since six this morning and hadn’t slept more than two hours the night before.

  “You okay?” she asked her second chair. Nicky was breathing through his mouth, the odor of VapoRub coming off him in waves.

  “I’m good,” he said. “You?”

  “Peachy.”

  To Yuki’s right, Red Dog was writing a memo³ on a legal pad. He appeared blasé, carefree, a mountain of calm. It was an act. In fact, Parisi was a volcano resting between explosions. Across the aisle⁴, L. Diana Davis looked fresh, powdered, and coiffed. She put a mothering arm around her client’s frail⁵ shoulders.

  And then, at nine on the dot, the bailiff, a sinewy⁶ man in a green uniform, called out, “All rise.” Yuki stood, then sat back down as the judge took the bench. Nicky coughed into his handkerchief. Parisi capped his pen and put it in his breast pocket. Yuki clasped her hands in front of her, swung her head to the right as the door to the jury room opened and the jurors entered the courtroom.

  The twelve men and women were wearing church clothes today, hair combed and sprayed into place, men in jacket and tie, the women sparkling with jewelry⁷.

  The foreperson, a woman named Maria Martinez, was about thirty, Yuki’s age, a sociology teacher and mother of two. Yuki couldn’t see Martinez coming out in favor of a prostitute who would let a boy die, then cover up the fact with a body dump.

点击收听单词发音  

1 prosecution
n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营
参考例句：
The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。 He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

2 convene
v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合
参考例句：
The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。 Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

3 memo
n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章
参考例句：
Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？ Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

4 aisle
n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道
参考例句：
The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。 The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

5 frail
adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的
参考例句：
Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。 She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

6 sinewy
adj.多腱的，强壮有力的
参考例句：
When muscles are exercised often and properly,they keep the arms firm and sinewy.如果能经常正确地锻炼肌肉的话，双臂就会一直结实而强健。 His hard hands and sinewy sunburned limbs told of labor and endurance.他粗糙的双手，被太阳哂得发黑的健壮四肢,均表明他十分辛勤，非常耐劳。

7 jewelry
n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝
参考例句：
The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。 Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

8 flicked
（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）
参考例句：
She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。 I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

9 rebuke
v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise
参考例句：
He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。 Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

10 defendant
n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的
参考例句：
The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。 The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

11 tampering
v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄
参考例句：
Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》 As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

12 exclamations
n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词
参考例句：
The visitors broke into exclamations of wonder when they saw the magnificent Great Wall. 看到雄伟的长城，游客们惊叹不已。 来自《简明英汉词典》 After the will has been read out, angry exclamations aroused. 遗嘱宣读完之后，激起一片愤怒的喊声。 来自辞典例句

13 punctuated
v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物
参考例句：
Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。 The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 physically
adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律
参考例句：
He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。 Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

15 abruptly
adv.突然地，出其不意地
参考例句：
He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。 I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。