英语快速阅读方法示例
Passage 1
Handwriting Analysis and Its Limitations
When there's a suspect in a crime and the evidence includes a handwritten note, investigators may call in handwriting experts to see if there's a match. In some cases, it might be the one piece of evidence that gets a suspect charged and eventually convicted. But what if it's a false match? How exactly do experts go about analyzing someone's handwriting'?
In the world of forensic (法庭的) analysis, which includes crime scene investigation, DNA testing, fiber analysis, fingerprint analysis, voice identification and narcotics (催眠的) analysis, to name just a few of the disciplines, handwriting analysis fits into the area of questioned documents. Questioned document examiners (QDEs) analyze documents for signs of alteration, forgery and, when sample documents are available, handwriting or typing comparisons to determine or rule out authorship (and/or tie a document to a specific machine in the case of typing). Handwriting analysis is a tedious and methodical process that relies on extensive knowledge of the way people form letters, which characteristics of letter formation are unique and the physiological processes behind writing -- the ways in which a person's fine-motor skills can affect his or her handwriting and leave clues about the author's identity.
The primary basis of handwriting analysis as a science is that every person in the world has a unique way of writing. When we were all kids in primary school, we learned to write based on a particular copybook -- a style of writing. Which copybook our handwriting is based on depends on when and where we grew up. So at first, we all probably wrote in a similar way to kids of our own age and location. But with the passing of time, those writing characteristics we learned in school -- our style characteristics -- became only the underlying method of our handwriting. We developed individual characteristics that are unique to us and distinguish our handwriting from someone else's. Most of us don't write the way we did in first or second grade. And while two or more people may share a couple of individual characteristics, the chance of those people sharing 20 or 30 individual characteristics is so unlikely that many handwriting analysts would say it's impossible.
First and foremost, handwriting analysts must be able to accurately distinguish between style characteristics and individual characteristics, which takes a lot of training. They can pretty much ignore the style characteristics, which are only useful for determining with a fair degree of certainty which copybook the writer learned from. The individual characteristics are what matter the most in determining authorship.
So the process of handwriting analysis when comparing two documents -- one by a known author, one by an unknown author -- starts not with checking for similarities, which any of us could do with a fair degree of accuracy, hut instead with
checking for differences. It's the differences that initially determine if it's possible that the same person wrote both pieces of text. If there are key differences in enough individual characteristics, and those differences do not appear to be the result of simulation, then the two documents were not written by the same person. Simulation has its own telltale characteristics, which we'll discuss later. However, if the differences don't rule out a match, and there are significant similarities in the individual traits in the two documents, singular authorship becomes a possibility.
Moving from possibility to probability is where the heavy lifting comes in.
While an expert analyst can detect many instances of forgery, a good simulation can be undetectable. One example of a forgery the experts missed is the case of the "lost" Hitler diaries. (Although there's a good reason why they missed it.)
In the 1980s, a man named Konrad Kujau, a supposed collector of Nazi ,memorabilia (大事 记), approached a German publishing company with 60 handwritten journals claimed to be written by Adolf Hitler that had, according to Kujau, just been discovered in the wreckage of an airplane that had left Germany after World War Ⅱ. The texts seemed to be genuine, and Kujau had an apparently good reputation, so the publishing company paid $2.3 million for the lot. The diaries were immediately published in installment form in a German newspaper owned by the same publishing company, and syndication rights were sold to several international publications, including The London Times. It was The Times that requested a professional handwriting analysis to ensure authenticity.
Three international experts in forensic handwriting analysis compared the diaries to exemplars (标本) that were apparently known to be written by Hitler. All agreed that the diaries were written by the same person who wrote the exemplars. The diaries were for real.
It was an analysis of the ink and paper used to write the diaries that revealed them as fakes. An ultraviolet-light examination revealed that the paper contained an ingredient that wasn't used in paper until 1954. Hitler died in 1945. Further forensic tests on the ink showed it had been applied to the paper within the last 12 months. As it turns out, though, the handwriting analysis was in tact Correct -- the person whom written the diaries had also written the exemplars. Kujan, later found out to be an experienced fraud artist, had also forged the exemplars the police were using as comparison documents.
The Hitler diaries debacle (彻底失败) is an extreme case of fraud and expert forgery that spanned every stage of the analysis. And while this level of expertise is seldom found in forgeries, the fact remains that if the investigation had relied on handwriting analysis alone, the "lost Hitler diaries" would now be part of the history books. Some other issues affecting the accuracy of handwriting anal
ysis include: (1) You can't make a meaningful comparison between uppercase (大写的) and lowercase letters. (2) Drags, exhaustion or illness can significantly alter a person's handwriting. (3) The quality of the exemplars determines the quality of a comparison analysis, and good exemplars can be hard to come by.
In the initial comparison work done in the case of John Mark Karr, who confessed in August 2006 to the 1996 murder of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado, the ransom (勒索赎金) note found in the Ramsey house was long enough to be useful as one side of the equation, but finding good exemplars was an issue. In a series of preliminary handwriting analyses, documents expert John Hargett, former head of document analysis at the U.S. Secret Service, compared the ransom note to two exemplars: a yearbook inscription written when Karr was in high school and a job application Karr filled out in Thailand. Hargett found no matches, although the results were inconclusive because the yearbook inscription was written more than 20 years ago and in an artistic writing style, and Kart filled out the Thailand job application in all uppercase letters, while the ransom note was written in both uppercase and lowercase letters. DNA testing later made further handwriting comparisons unnecessary, as Karr's DNA was not a match for the DNA found on JonBenet's body.
Certainly the most significant shortcoming of handwriting analysis as a science is the fact that it is ultimately subjective. This means that its acceptance in the scientific community and as evidence in court has historically been shaky. Only recently, as the training of analysts has become more standardized and certification procedures have been put in place, has handwriting analysis started to gain more acceptance as a reproducible, peer-reviewed scientific process. The results of a handwriting comparison are still not always accepted as evidence in a court case, partly because the science has a few more hurdles to clear, including determining a reliable error rate in analysis and setting standards for the comparison process. The addition of computerized handwriting analysis systems to the process, including the FISH (Forensic Information System for Handwriting) system, which allows examiners to scan in handwritten documents and digitize the comparison process, may speed up the process of general acceptance of handwriting analysis as a science and as expert evidence in court.
1. If getting a handwritten note from crime scene, the police always first match it with that of a former convict's. ____
Y
N
NG
2. Handwriting analysis, involving thorough understanding as how people write letters or characters, is a very exciting process. ____
Y
N
NG
3. The precondition of handwriting analysis is that everyone in the world writes in a different way. ____
Y
N
NG
4. The similarities of two written documents decide basically if the sa
me person has written them. ____
Y
N
NG
5. As for handwriting analysis, it is safe to say that good simulation is sometimes .
【参考答案】：undetectable
【学生得分】：0.9 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词handwriting analysis，good simulation可将答案定位至第七段第一句：While an expert analyst can detect many instances of forgery，a good simulation can be undetectable，据此，空格里可以填入undetectable。
6. Upon the request of The Times, handwriting analysis experts were invited to confirm the of the "Hitler's diaries".
【参考答案】：authenticity
【学生得分】：0.9 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词The Times和Hitler's diaries可将答案定位至第八段最后一句：It was The Times that requested a professional handwriting analysis to ensure authenticity，authenticity即是答案。
7. Actually the three handwriting analysts for the Hitler's diaries were right because the diaries for comparison were faked by .
【参考答案】：the same person
【学生得分】：0.6 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词组handwriting analysts were right可将答案定位至第十段第五句：As it turns out，though，the handwriting analysis was in fact correct——the person who'd written the diaries had also written the exemplars，据此，空格里可以很容易得出题中应该填the same person。
8. From the Hitler's diaries case, we can draw a conclusion that there are some elements hindering handwriting analysis from .
【参考答案】：accuracy/being accurate
【学生得分】：0.6 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词some elements hindering handwriting analysis可将答案定位至倒数第三段第二句，理解句意后可以发现第三句Some other issues affecting the accuracy of handwriting analysis include...中包含有答案accuracy，据此，空格中也可以填入being accurate。
9. In the Karr case, it seems that if there is other way of getting evidence, the handwriting analysis is .
【参考答案】：unnecessary
【学生得分】：0.9 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词In the Karr case可将答案定位至倒数第二段，在此段的最后一句：DNA testing later made further handwriting comparisons unnecessary，as Karr's DNA was not a match for the DNA found on JonBenet's body，分析题意，题目中的other way of getting evidence即可指DNA testing，所以unnecessary就是答案。
10. Hopefully, handwriting analysis can be generally accepted as evidence in court with the appearance of .
【参考答案】：computerized handwriting analysis systems
【学生得分】：0.8 查看得分明细
【题目解析】：由题干关键词generally accepted as evidence可将答案定位至最后一句：The addition of (computerized han
dwriting analysis systems) to the process...may speed up the process of general acceptance of handwriting analysis as a science and as expert evidence in court，括号内部分就是答案。