Passage Three

Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackson spent five years in prison after a jury wrongly convicted him of raping two women. At Jackson's trial, although two witnesses testified that Jackson was with them in another location at the times of the crimes, he was convicted anyway. Why? The jury believed the testimony of the two victims, who positively identified Jackson as the man who has attacked them. The court eventually freed Jackson after the police found the man who had really committed the crimes. Jackson was similar in appearance to the guilty man. The two women has made a mistake in identity. As a result, Jackson has lost five years of his life.

The two women in this case were eyewitnesses. They clearly saw the man who attacked them, yet they mistakenly identified an innocent person. Similar incidents have occurred before. Eyewitnesses to other crimes have identified the wrong person in a police lineup or in photographs.

Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses sometimes see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a lineup of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs or similar faces. The number of people in the lineup, and whether it is a live lineup or a photograph, may also affect a witness's decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the police ask witnesses also have an effect on them.

Question 33: What do we learn about Bernard Jackson?

Question 34: What led directly to Jackson's sentence?

Question 35: What lesson do we learn from Jackson's case?

【解析】

本篇文章講述了Jackson因?yàn)楸荒繐糇C人誤認(rèn)而被判刑，雖然最后洗清了罪名，但是卻留下了慘痛的記憶。文章接著論述了為什么會(huì)出現(xiàn)這樣的問題。可能是因?yàn)楸缓φ邔?duì)犯罪嫌疑人產(chǎn)生的混淆的記憶，或者在指認(rèn)犯罪嫌疑人的過程中出現(xiàn)了不確定的情況。

雖然總體來說這篇文章難度不大，但是因?yàn)樯婕皩I(yè)知識(shí)，有一些詞匯可能會(huì)成為考生的障礙。例如：testimony: 證人證言；witness: 目擊證人；jury: 陪審團(tuán)；sentence :刑期。如果考生平時(shí)能對(duì)這些單詞有所接觸，這篇文章在理解上就不會(huì)出現(xiàn)太大的問題。