othing secretive about the ombudsman's work for his correspondence is open to public inspection. if a citizen's complaint is justified, the ombudsman will act on his behalf. the action he takes varies according to the nature of the complaint. he may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to parliament that a law the altered. the following case is a typical example of the ombudsman's work.

a foreigner living in a swedish village wrote to the ombudsman complaining that he had been ill-treated by the police, simply because he was a foreigner. the ombudsman immediately wrote to the chief of police in the district asking him to send a record of the case. there was nothing in the record to show that the foreigner's complaint was justified and the chief of police strongly denied the accusation. it was impossible for the ombudsman to take action, but when he received a similar complaint from another foreigner in the same village, he immediately sent one of his layers to investigate the matter. the lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly with foreigners on several occasions. the fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners could not be recorded in the official files. it was only possible for the ombudsman to find this out by sending one of his representatives to check the facts. the policeman in question was severely reprimanded and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he would prosecuted. the ombudsman's prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant practice which might have gone unnoticed.

new words and expressions 生词和短语

evolve

v. 逐渐形成

high-handed

adj. 高压的，专横的

incompetent

adj. 不够格的，不称职的

over-zealously

adv. 过分热情地

safeguard

v. 保护

parliamentary

adj. 国会的

qalified

adj. 合格的

grievance

n. 不平，冤屈

justiteombudsman

n. （瑞典的）司法特派员

ombudsman

n. （瑞典和英国的）司法特派员

secretive

adj. 保密的

correspondence

n. 来往信件

alter

v. 改变

accusation

n. 谴责，指控

ascertain

v. 查出，查明

prejudiced

adj. 有偏见的，不公平的

prompt

adj. 即时的

参考译文

斯堪的纳维亚半岛各国实行开明的社会政策，受到全世界的推崇。在瑞典，已逐渐形成了一种完善的制度以保护每个公民不受专横的和不称职的政府官员的欺压。由于这种制度行之有效，已被其他国家采纳。

是瑞典人首先认识到政府工作人员如文职人员、警官、卫生稽查员、税务人员等等也会犯错误或者自以为在为公众服务而把事情做过了头。早在1809年，瑞典论会就建立一个保护公民利益的制度。议会内有一个代表各政党利益的委员会，由它委派一位称职的人选专门调查个人对国家的意见。此人官衔为“司法特派员”，但瑞典人一般管他叫“j.o.”，即“司法特派员”。司法特派员不受任何政治压力的制约。他听取社会各阶层的各种大小意见，并进行调查。由于意见均需用书面形式提出，司法特派员每年平均收到1,200封信。他有8位律师作他的助手协助工作，每封信都详细批阅。司法特派员的工作没有什么秘密可言，他的信件是公开的，供公众监督。如果公民的意见正确，司法特派员便为他伸张正义。司法特员采取的行动因意见的性质不同而有所不同。他可以善意地批评某位官员，也可以甚至向议会提议修改某项法律。下述事件是司法特派员工作的一个典型例子。

一个住在瑞典乡村的外国人写信给司法特派员，抱怨说他受到警察的虐待，原因就是因为他是个外国人。司法特派员立即写信给当地警察局长，请他寄送与此事有关的材料。材料中没有任何文字记载证明外国人所说的情况符合事实，警察局长矢口否认这一指控。司法特派员难以处理。但是，当他又收到住在同一村庄的另一个外国人写的一封内容类似的投诉信时，他立即派出一位律师前去调查。律师证实有个警察确实多次粗鲁地对待外国人。警察歧视外国人的事在官方档案中不可能加以记载，司法特派员只有派他的代表去核对事实才能了解真相。当事的警察受到严厉的斥责，并被告知，如果再有人投诉他，他将受到起诉。司法特派员及时采取的行动，迅速制止了这一起不愉快的事件，不然这件事可能因未得到人们注意而不了了之。

lesson 54

instinct or cleverness?

是本能还是机智

listen to the tape then answer the question below.

听录音，然后回答以下问题。

was the writer successful in protecting his peach tree? why not?

we have been brought up to fear insects. we regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. we continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. they sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat ageist our lighted windows. we live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths. reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears. knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. no matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. at the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating. we enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. we enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence. who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle?

last summer i spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. the tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. i am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. during the summer, i noticed tat the leaves of the tree were beg