BBC News Review 特朗普法律裁决

From BBC Learning English. This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this program, trump given legal protection by Supreme Court.

Hello, I'm Neil, and I'm Ben.

And in this program, we look at one big new

story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

And you can find the headlines and the vocabulary from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our website, bbc learning english dot com.

So, neil, let's hear more about the story.

OK, so the US Supreme Court has said that Donald Trump cannot be punished for official actions he committed as president.

Official actions mean work he did as part of his job when he was president.

And Trump has been charged in four criminal cases, including attempting to change the results of the 2020 US Presidential election.

But this new ruling means that some of the things he was charged with are now likely to be seen as official action, so he may not be prosecuted for them.

That means he may not face the legal consequences, e.g.

jail. Now, we have a headline here that describes what has happened.

It's from BBC news. Trump asks for conviction to be overturned after immunity ruling.

So that headline again, from BBC news.

Trump asks for conviction to be overturned after immunity ruling.

So Trump wants his conviction to be overturned.

That means he wants the crime he's been found guilty of to be dismissed and any others that he may be found guilty of in future.

And this headline tells us that theres been a new immunity ruling for us presidents.

And we are interested in immunity, yes birth.

This word immunity is one that we've heard a lot in recent years with the covid pandemic, and it's used related to health.

So, e.g., if you have immunity from a disease, it means that you can't get it, you are protected from it.

And immunity is also used in a legal sense.

So Trump has been given presidential immunity, and that means that he is protected for any official acts that were related to his main constitutional duties when he was the president.

Yeah. So after this ruling, even if he did something that's illegal for other Americans, it can't be considered illegal if he did it in part of his role or his job as president.

And we should add that all US presidents have been given immunity, so any ex presidents, the current US president, in any future US presidents, will be protected by this law.

So let's look at this word immunity and how we use it.

There are some interesting preposition use.

So we say that you can have immunity against or from a disease, but a person is given immunity from prosecution.

That's in the legal sense. So we've looked at immunity, which is protection from legal action, e.g.

she was given immunity from prosecution after confessing the names of other gang members.

This is learning English from the news.

Our podcast about the news headlines.

Today, we're talking about the Supreme court's ruling about US presidents and the law.

Now, the story is ongoing. Trump, who is a Republican, is running for president at the moment, against the current US president, democrat, joe Biden.

And this legal ruling means that if Trump returns to the White House as president, there are unlikely to be any legal checks on his official actions.

This is something that some people are very worried about, and we have a headline about this from Vox.

The headline is, the Supreme court's Trump Immunity Decision is a blueprint for dictatorship.

And that again, from Fox The Supreme court's Trump Immunity Decision is a blueprint for dictatorship, right?

So this headline says, the Decision is a blueprint for dictatorship.

Now, dictatorship is a government run by a leader who has complete power and hasn't been democratically elected.

We're looking at this word blueprint, though, beth.

Now, literally, a blueprint is a type of blue paper that has technical designs on it.

So it's a plan that shows how something could be achieved, like a building.

Yes? So a blueprint is a plan.

And that is the sense that we have in this metaphorical use in this headline.

So the headline is saying that this ruling is creating a way for there to be problems in the future in the US.

Now, blueprint here is used in the context of a negative plan, but it can be used in

a neutral or a positive way as well.

So you could say that a company have made an agreement with staff, and that agreement provides a blueprint to increase wages.

So we looked at blueprint a plan to achieve something, e.g.

this scientific study provides the blueprint for a new cancer treatment.

This is learning English from the news, from BBC, learning English.

We're talking about the Supreme Court ruling, which might help Donald Trump avoid prosecution.

So we know from our last headline that some people think this decision is a very negative thing that will lead to problems, but others have said they think the decision is right now.

The US Chief Justice, that is the most powerful judge of the Supreme Court, said that presidents need immunity for official actions because the threat of criminal prosecution might influence their decision making as president.

So we have a headline about this, and this is from The Independent Biden warns Trump can do whatever he pleases if elected as Republicans.

Relish Supreme Court Immunity ruling. So that headline, again, from the Independent Biden, warns Trump can do whatever he pleases if elected as Republicans Relish Supreme Court Immunity Ruling.

And the word we're looking at is relish.

Best I know a word relish.

It's a kind of source that you put on your burger, e.g.

tomato and onion. Relish makes it taste really delicious.

It does. Now, that is the noun, and it might help you to understand this meaning, because if you add relish to your burger, then it makes you enjoy your burger more.

Now, relish here is a verb, and it means to really like or enjoy something.

OK, so the headline means that Republicans are enjoying the fact that Trump has been given immunity.

They relish it exactly. Now, we use this verb relish in a lot of different ways, usually about actions or abstract nouns.

So you might relish a challenge or relish an idea or the thought of something.

Talking of challenges, I'm going mountain climbing this weekend.

Beth, I think it might be quite difficult.

But I relish a challenge like this, particularly an outdoor challenge.

Good luck. Well, it's a lovely, sunny day, so I am relishing the thought of going out to enjoy the sunshine at lunch.

I might come with you. So we've looked at relish, which means to like or enjoy something.

So, e.g., my university has courses in Peru.

I relish the thought of studying Spanish for a year.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

Will be back next week with another news story.

And if you've enjoyed this program, you can find other episodes of Learning English From The News on our websites.

Don't forget, you can find us on social media.

Look for BBC Learning English. Goodbye for now.

扫码查看听力音频