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--- lesson 35 Justice was done |
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--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. |
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--- The word 'justice' is given two different meanings in the text. What is the distinction between them? |
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The word justice is usually associated with courts of law.^“ |
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We might say that justice has been done when a man's innocence or guilt has been proved beyond doubt. |
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Justice is part of the complex machinery of the law. |
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Those who seek it undertake an arduous journey and can never be sure that they will find it. |
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Judges, however wise or eminent, are human and can make mistakes. |
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There are rare instances when justice almost ceases to be an abstract concept. |
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Reward or punishment are meted out quite independent of human interference. |
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At such times, justice acts like a living force. |
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When we use a phrase like 'it serves him right', |
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we are, in part, admitting that a certain set of circumstances has enabled justice to act of its own accord. |
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When a thief was caught on the premises of a large jewellery store one morning, |
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the shop assistants must have found it impossible to resist the temptation to say 'it serves him right.' |
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The shop was an old converted house with many large, disused fireplaces and tall, narrow chimneys. |
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Towards midday, a girl heard a muffled cry coming from behind one of the walls. |
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As the cry was repeated several times, she ran to tell the manager who promptly rang up the fire brigade. |
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The cry had certainly come from one of the chimneys, |
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but as there were so many of them, the fire fighters could not be certain which one it was. |
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They located the right chimney by tapping at the walls and listening for the man's cries. |
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After chipping through a wall which was eighteen inches thick, they found that a man had been trapped in the chimney. |
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As it was extremely narrow, the man was unable to move, |
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but the fire fighters were eventually able to free him by cutting a huge hole in the wall. |
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The sorry-looking, blackened figure that emerged, admitted at once that he had tried to break into the shop during the night but had got stuck in the chimney. |
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He had been there for nearly ten hours. |
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Justice had been done even before the man was handed over to the police. |
