梅拉尼娅·特朗普控告《每日邮报》,要求其索赔一亿五千万美金的损失费,原因是《每日邮报》对身为共和党总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普妻子的她造成了声誉影响,诽谤她在上世纪九十年代做过应召女郎,并大肆造谣。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识:
hinge on决定于……
Slovenian斯洛维尼亚的[sləu'vi:niən]
escort陪同
retraction撤回,撤销;收回[rɪ'trækʃən]
allegation指控; 宣称; 陈词,陈述[ælɪ'geɪʃ(ə)n]
circuit巡回['sɜːkɪt]
eponymous使得名的,齐名的[ɪ'pɒnɪməs]
wrestler摔跤选手,搏斗者['reslə]
amendment修正案;改善;改正[ə'men(d)m(ə)nt]
libel诽谤罪;诋毁;毁坏名誉的东西['laɪb(ə)l]
allegedly依其申述;据说,据称[ə'ledʒɪdlɪ]
defamatory诽谤的;中伤的;破坏名誉的[dɪ'fæmət(ə)rɪ]
malice恶意;怨恨;预谋['mælɪs]
reckless disregard不计后果的漠视
plaintiff原告['pleɪntɪf]
delegate委派…为代表[ˈdɛlɪˌɡeɪt; -ɡɪt; (for v.,) ˈdɛlɪˌɡeɪt]
catastrophic灾难的;悲惨的;灾难性的,毁灭性的[kætə'strɒfɪk]
阅读马上开始,建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间,对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
The Daily Mail's hopes of avoiding an expensive bill from its legal battle with the wife of US presidential candidate Donald Trump are likely to rest on whether Melania Trump is considered a public or a private figure under US law.
Mrs Trump launched a suit against Associated Newspapers, the British parent company of the Daily Mail and Mail Online, late on Thursday over an August 20 article citing a Slovenian magazine's report that a modelling agency, which employed her in the 1990s, had also served as an escort service.
The Mail retracted the story in Friday's print edition and online. But it also insisted that the intention of the story had been to point out how the allegations “could impact the US presidential election even if they are untrue”.
Despite the retraction, Mrs Trump's lawyer Charles Harder said she would press ahead with the lawsuit, filed at the state circuit court in Montgomery County, Maryland. He added that she would be seeking $150m in damages.
Mr Harder successfully brought Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media for posting portions of a sex tape on its eponymous website. The retired wrestler, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was awarded $140m in damages. The payout prompted Gawker's sale to Univision and the closure of the website.
Under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, a public figure suing a newspaper for libel has to prove that the allegedly defamatory article was published with what is known as “actual malice”.
“Actual malice has to be something published in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of what was published,” said Jerome Barron, law professor at George Washington University. “In other words, can the plaintiff show that they didn't care whether it was true or false?”
In contrast, anyone considered a private person under US law, only has to prove that what was published was false.
The article at the centre of the dispute was published by the Daily Mail, first in its UK printed edition and subsequently on Mail Online, about a month after Mrs Trump addressed delegates at the Republican party convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
Floyd Abrams, a partner at the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel said he had no doubt that Mrs Trump's appearance at the convention meant she would be seen as a public figure.
He also questioned why Mrs Trump had chosen to sue for libel in the US and not the UK.
“It's far, far easier to win a libel case in the UK than in America, even allowing for recent changes to UK legislation,” he said. “One possible explanation is that she is seeking to achieve maximum publicity in the US for the case.”
People at the Daily Mail told the Financial Times that the publisher had already committed to publishing a retraction before the case was filed in Maryland on Thursday.
Mr Abrams added the retraction could help reduce any future damages were the newspaper group to lose the case.
But even if Mrs Trump were to be awarded the full amount, it would not be catastrophic to DMGT's business model, people familiar with the company said. The $150m figure would represent around one-third of the media company's annual profit and around 5 per cent of its annual revenues.
“The Daily Mail is much more able to survive something like this as an established funded business rather than a start-up like Gawker,” said Alice Enders, an analyst with Enders.
请根据你所读到的文章内容,完成以下自测题目:
A.$120m
B.$140m
C.$150m
D.$155m
答案 (1)
A.reckless disregard of the truth
B.not consider party's feeling
C.falsity of what was published
D.not care whether it was true or false
答案 (2)
A.on Thursday
B.two months after Mrs Trump addressed delegates
C.about a month after Mrs Trump addressed delegates
D.not mentioned
答案 (3)
A.achieve maximum publicity in the US
B.easier to win a libel case in America
C.UK legislation has changed
D.no influence in the US
答案 (4)
(1) 答案:C.$150m解释:特朗普夫人要求索赔一亿五千万美金。
(2) 答案:B.not consider party's feeling解释:实际恶意的伤害是指不计后果的漠视事件的真实性,不真实的报道事件,以及根本不考虑所报道的文章是真实的还是虚构的。
(3) 答案:C.about a month after Mrs Trump addressed delegates解释:在八月二十日,每日邮报发表了一篇诋毁特朗普夫人的文章,是其在共和党全国大会上发表演讲后的一个月左右。
(4) 答案:A.achieve maximum publicity in the US解释:特朗普夫人选择在美国控告每日邮报的诽谤罪而不是在英国,是因为其想在美国达到最大的公开宣传效果。