法官深入理解日常用语的意义

短语讲解：

1. Thirteen years ago, U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was embroiled in a sex scandal, famously answered a grand jury question by saying, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.

embroil in使(自己或某人)卷入，使牵连
例句：He embroiled himself in their argument.
他使自己卷入了他们的争论。
depend on取决于, 随…而定
It depends on the weather.
那要看天气如何而定。

2. But seeking such ultra-careful interpretations of ordinary words in legal settings may be catching on.

catch on 理解; 变得流行
例句：It took me a long time to catch on to the directions.
我花了很久才弄明白说明书的意思。

3. In courtrooms across the country, judges themselves are digging deep into the meaning of everyday words.

dig into调查, 刻苦钻研
例句：The detectives are digging into this whole business.
侦探们彻底地调查了整个事件。

4. And judges in lower courts have thumbed through dictionaries to ponder the best definition of the words “now,” “any,” and “if.”

thumb through翻查
例句：He thumbed through the book again to look for the bookmark.
他又翻了一遍书,想找到那张书签。

5. J. Gordon Christy, a Mississippi College School of Law professor, grumbles that “We are treated to the truly absurd spectacle of august justices and judges arguing over which unreliable dictionary and which unreliable dictionary definition should be deemed authoritative.”

argue over就…争论〔辩论〕
例句：They are arguing vociferously over who should pay the bill.
他们为谁该付账单大声争吵。

6. In 1995, for instance, Justice Clarence Thomas consulted dictionaries published in 1773, 1789, and 1796 to try to determine exactly what the framers of the U.S. Constitution meant by the word “commerce.”

for instance例如, 比如
例句：You cannot rely on her; for instance, she arrived an hour late for an important meeting yesterday.
她这人靠不住, 例如昨天一个重要会议, 她迟到了一个小时。

7. One of two things appears to be at work.

appear to似乎，好像
例句：She appeared not to have heard what he had said.
她似乎没有听见他的话。