雅思阅读真题（Part 2）
法律的重要性：法律如何影响我们生活的方方面面
本篇也叫：法律的重要性、法律重要吗、法律的作用、法律无处不在、法律与生活、法律的意义
Part 2 · 考频：超高频 · 最近考试：2018.1.20
本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 2）《The importance of law》，共 12 题，2018.1.20雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。
文章论述法律的重要性，指出法律几乎影响所有行为，从胚胎到死后，涵盖呼吸的空气、饮食、旅行、家庭关系、财产，甚至海洋和太空。法律日益成为判断行为的标准，识字率提高使公众更易参与塑造法律。法律是双刃剑，可促进或损害人类。文章还以IT技能类比，强调法律理解同样不可或缺，并引用喜剧演员杰里·宋飞的话说明律师的独特作用。
A
The law influences all of us virtually all the time, it governs almost all aspects of our behavior, and even what happens to us when we are no longer alive. It affects us from the embryo onwards. It governs the air we breathe, the food and drink we consume, our travel, family relationships, and our property. It applies at the bottom of the ocean and in space. Each time we examine a label on a food product, engage in work as an employee or employer, travel on the roads, go to school to learn or to teach, stay in a hotel, borrow a library book, create or dissolve a commercial company, play sports, or engage the services of someone for anything from plumbing a sink to planning a city, we are in the world of law.
B
Law has also become much more widely recognised as the standard by which behavior needs to be judged. A very telling development in recent history is the way in which the idea of law has permeated all parts of social life. The universal standard of whether something is socially tolerated is progressively becoming whether it is legal, rather than something that has always been considered acceptable. In earlier times, most people were illiterate. Today, by contrast, a vast number of people can read, and it is becoming easier for people to take an interest in law, and for the general population to help actually shape the law in many countries. However, law is a versatile instrument that can be used equally well for the improvement or the degradation of humanity.
C
This, of course, puts law in a very significant position. In our rapidly developing world, all sorts of skills and knowledge are valuable. Those people, for example, with knowledge of computers, the internet, and communications technology are relied upon by the rest of us. There is now someone with IT skills or an IT help desk in every UK school, every company, every hospital, every local and central government office. Without their knowledge, many parts of commercial and social life today would seize up in minutes. But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed. The American comedian Jerry Seinfeld put it like this, 'We are all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem, the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box.' In other words, the lawyer is the only person who has read and made sense of the rules.
D
The number of laws has never been greater. In the UK alone, about 35 new Acts of Parliament are produced every year, thereby delivering thousands of new rules. The legislative output of the British Parliament has more than doubled in recent times from 1,100 pages a year in the early 1970s,to over 2,500 pages a year today. Between 1997 and 2006,the legislature passed 365 Acts of Parliament and more than 32,000 legally binding statutory instruments. In a system with so much law, lawyers do a great deal not just to vindicate the rights of citizens and organizations but also to help develop the law through legal arguments, some of which are adapted by judges to become laws. Law courts can and do produce new law and revise old law, but they do so having heard the arguments of lawyers.
E
However, despite their important role in developing the rules, lawyers are not universally admired. Anti-lawyer jokes have a long history going back to the ancient Greeks. More recently the son of a famous Hollywood actor was asked at his junior school what his father did for a living, to which he replied,'My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays the lawyer. For balance, though, it Is worth remembering that there are and have been many heroic and revered lawyers such as the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero and Mahatma Gandi, the Indian campaigner for independence.
F
People sometimes make comments that characterise lawyers as professionals whose concerns put personal reward above truth, or who gain financially from misfortune. There are undoubtedly lawyers that would fit that bill, Just as there are some scientists, Journalists and others In that category, But, In general, it is no more Just to say that lawyers are bad because they make a living from people's problems than it is to make the same accusation In respect of nurses or IT consultants, A great many lawyers are involved in public law work, such as that Involving civil liberties, housing and other Issues. Such work Is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service provided by these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication, Moreover, much legal work has nothing to do with conflict or misfortune, but is primarily concerned with drafting documents, Another source of social disaffection for lawyers, and disaffection for the law, is a limited public understanding of how law works and how It could be changed. Greater clarity about these issues, maybe as a result of better public relations, would reduce many aspects of public dissatisfaction with the law.
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答案：the law applies throughout our lives
原文定位：The law influences all of us virtually all the time, it governs almost all aspects of our behavior, and even what happens to us when we are no longer alive. It affects us from the embryo onwards
同义替换：「applies」↔「affects」，「throughout our lives」↔「all the time」
答案：public's increasing ability to influence the law
原文定位：Today, by contrast, a vast number of people can read, and it is becoming easier for people to take an interest in law, and for the general population to help actually shape the law in many countries
同义替换：「public's increasing ability」↔「becoming easier for people」，「influence」↔「help actually shape」
答案：different areas of professional expertise
原文定位：all sorts of skills and knowledge are valuable. Those people, for example, with knowledge of computers;legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed
同义替换：「professional expertise」↔「skills and knowledge」
答案：growth in laws
原文定位：The number of laws has never been greater;In the UK alone, about 35 new Acts of Parliament are produced every year;The legislative output;more than doubled
同义替换：「growth」↔「never been greater」
答案：a negative regard for lawyers
原文定位：lawyers are not universally admired;jokes have a long history;sometimes he plays the lawyer;
答案：reasons why it is unfair to criticize lawyers
原文定位：But, In general, it is no more Just to say that lawyers are bad because they make a living from people's problems than it is to make the same accusation In respect of nurses or IT consultants, A great many lawyers are involved in public law work, such as that Involving civil liberties, housing and other Issues. Such work Is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service provided by these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication
同义替换：「reasons why it is unfair to criticize lawyers」↔「no more Just to say」
答案：Knowledge of the law is as important as having computer skills.,Society could not function effectively without legal experts.
原文定位：But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed;Without their knowledge, many parts of commercial and social life today would seize up in minutes
答案：truth
原文定位：People sometimes make comments that characterise lawyers as professionals whose concerns put personal reward above truth
同义替换：「making money」↔「personal reward」
答案：journalists
原文定位：There are undoubtedly lawyers that would fit that bill, Just as there are some scientists, Journalists and others In that category
答案：nurses
原文定位：it is no more just to say that lawyers are bad because they make a living from people's problems than it is to make the same accusation in respect of nurses or IT consultants
同义替换：「staff」↔「consultants」
答案：dedication
原文定位：Such work Is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service provided by these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication
同义替换：「requires them to have」↔「relies on considerable professional」，「housing or civil liberties」↔「public law work」
答案：documents
原文定位：Moreover, much legal work has nothing to do with conflict or misfortune, but is primarily concerned with drafting documents
同义替换：「writing」↔「drafting」，「rather than dealing with」↔「nothing to do with conflict」