Bush spent $8 million, but hasn't settled with his lawyers
Few lawyers did more to help George W. Bush become president than Barry Richard. As Bush's quarterback in the Florida courts during last fall's bruising recount, the white-maned Tallahassee, Fla., litigator became a familiar figure to TV audiences. He got the GOP equivalent of rock-star treatment when he came to Washington last January for Bush's Inauguration. At one ball, recalls law partner Fred Baggett, a heavyset Texas woman lifted Richard off the floor and planted a big kiss on his cheek, exclaiming, "I love you for giving us our president!"
But Richard has discovered that the Bushies' gratitude has its limits. More than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 2000 election, he and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, are still owed more than $800,000 in legal fees. The firm, which sent 39 lawyers and 13 paralegals into court battles all over the state, is one of a dozen that have so far been stiffed. The estimated total tab: more than $2 million. The situation, NEWSWEEK has learned, has gotten increasingly sticky. While lawyers complain privately about foot dragging (Richard says he's not among them), Bush advisers are griping about "astronomical" bills--including one from a litigator who charged for more than 24 hours of work in a single day. "What you've got here is a bunch of rich lawyers bellyaching," says one former Bush campaign official. "Yet these guys got huge in-kind contributions to their reputations out of this."
The lawyers were supposed to get their money from the Bush Recount Committee, a fund-raising vehicle set up when the Florida fight began. A nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money, the committee and its chief fund-raiser, Texas oilman (and now Commerce secretary) Don Evans, swiftly collected $8.3 million--more than twice the $3.9 million Al Gore's recount committee raised to pay its lawyers. To avoid charges that the recount was being bankrolled by special interests, the Bushies imposed a $5,000 cap on individual donations, a PR gesture they now regret. After paying off caterers, air charters and the army of GOP Hill types who came to Florida as "observers," the "kitty ran dry," says one source.
The Bush camp says it intends to pay up. But Ben Ginsberg, the former chief campaign counsel who has inherited the mess, hasn't yet figured out how. As for the law firms, they are taking pains not to alienate their deadbeat clients, for fear of damaging their burgeoning Washington lobbying practices. Greenberg Traurig now represents electric power companies, drug manufacturers and Internet gambling interests willing to pay big money for access to policymakers. Whether Richard and company collect or not, that $800,000 could end up being a smart investment.
By Michael Isikoff hn Barry Newsweek; 04/23/2001, Vol. 137 Issue 17, p28, 2/3p, 1c
注(1)：本文選自Newsweek; 04/23/2001, Vol. 137 Issue 17, p28, 2/3p, 1c
注(2)：本文習題命題模仿對象是1995年真題text 3(1，2，3，5題)，第4題模仿1995年真題text 4 的第1題。
1. The word “quarterback” (Line 2, Para. 2) most probably means ______________.
[A] supporter
[B] counsel
[C] assistant
[D] adviser
2. The main problem Richard is facing now is __________________.
[A] the ingratitude of the Bushies
[B] the complaints of his law partners
[C] the unpaid bills
[D] Bush advisers’ criticism
3. From the passage we can infer that _____________.
[A] Lawyers also benefited a lot from working for the Bush Camp.
[B] Al Gore lost the recount case because his Recount Committee raised far fewer funds than that of Bush’s.
[C] Texan women are all very proud of having Bush as their president.
[D] The Bushies intend to become deadbeat clients because it does no harm to their relationship with law firms.
4. According to the passage, the Bush Recount Committee ________________.
[A] spent all the raised money to pay its lawyers.
[B] had got most of its funds from individuals.
[C] could have raised more money if they hadn’t imposed a cap on individual donations.
[D] had to pay the bills of the army for their help in Bush’s election.
5. We can learn from the last paragraph that _________________.
[A] The Bush camp also owes electrical power companies and drug manufacturers a lot of money.
[B] Richard and his company have invested their legal fees to expand their business.
[C] Greenberg Traurig works for electric power companies, drug manufacturers and Internet gambling interests.
[D] Law firms don’t want to lose influential clients even if they don’t pay off their legal fees.
答案：BCACD
篇章剖析
本文說明文，採用提出問題——分析問題的寫作模式。在第一段，作者介紹了Barry Richard，這個幫助布什贏得選舉的重要人物。第二段則說明了他和他的法律公司所面臨的問題：布什重新計票委員會尚未支付他們的律師費。第三段介紹了布什重新計票委員會的工作及其資金使用情況。第四段則分析說明即使該法律公司收不回律師費，他們仍然需要維持和這種客戶的關係。
詞彙註釋
quarterback n. [橄欖球] 四分衛；關鍵人物；智囊
bruising adj. 困難的；令人不快的
mane n. （人的）長頭髮；鬃毛
Tallahassee n. 塔拉哈西[美國佛羅里達州首府]
litigator n. 訴訟律師
GOP Grand Old Party 大老黨（美國共和黨的別稱）
paralegal n. 律師的專職助手，律師幫辦
stiff v. [美俚]不肯給 ... 小賬，讓...空手而去;失信沒給予或供給（擔保的或期望的東西）
astronomical adj. 龐大無法估計的
bellyache v. 發（不該發的）牢騷，抱怨
nebulous adj. 含糊的，模糊的；曖昧的
bankroll v. 爲…提供資金承擔（如企業風險）的花費
PR 公共關係 （public relation）
caterer n. 包辦伙食的人；籌備文娛節目的人
deadbeat n. <俗>賴債不還的人，遊手好閒者
burgeon v. （迅速）成長，發展
難句突破：
1.A nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money, the committee and its chief fund-raiser, Texas oilman (and now Commerce secretary) Don Evans, swiftly collected $8.3 million--more than twice the $3.9 million Al Gore's recount committee raised to pay its lawyers.
主體句式：the committee and its chief fund-raiser… swiftly collected …
結構分析：本句是個包含同位語和附近說明的長句。a nebulous entity not legally required to disclose how it spent its money 是委員會的同位語，起到補充說明的作用，而破折號之後的成分也是對句子的補充說明。
句子譯文：法律不要求這個性質模糊的機構透露其使用資金的情況。該委員會和它的主要籌資人，得克薩斯州石油商（現商務祕書）唐伊萬斯很快就籌集了830萬美元——是艾爾戈爾重新計票委員會所籌集的390萬美元資金的兩倍還多，並用這筆錢來支付律師費用。
題目分析：
1. 答案是B，屬猜詞題。 根據上下文，Richard作爲訴訟律師爲布什在佛羅里達法庭的成功立下了汗馬功勞。quarterback原義是橄欖球比賽中的四分衛，是球賽中的關鍵人物，這裏則是指在法庭中爲布什效力的辯護律師，是在法庭中勝訴的關鍵人物。counsel有辯護律師的.意義，詞義最爲接近。
2. 答案是C，屬事實細節題。文章第二段提到了布什陣營向Richard的公司拖欠的鉅額律師費以及由此引發的抱怨和布什競選班子的辯解，可見其面臨的主要問題是賬單未付清的問題。
3. 答案是A，屬推理判斷題。這從第二段引用布什競選班子成員的話："Yet these guys got huge in-kind contributions to their reputations out of this.”和最後一段that $800,000 could end up being a smart investment兩句中可以看出律師事務所和律師們都從其爲布什陣營的服務中獲益非淺。
4. 答案是C，屬推理判斷題。文章第三段提到布什重新計票委員會設置了個人捐助的上限(imposed a $5,000 cap on individual donations)，併爲此後悔。在第三段結尾處講到在付完各種費用後，他們的資金已經所剩無幾(the "kitty ran dry")，由此可以推斷出答案C。
5. 答案是D，屬推理判斷題。從最後一段As for the law firms, they are taking pains not to alienate their deadbeat clients, for fear of damaging their burgeoning Washington lobbying practices.來看，爲了華盛頓的業務，律師事務所還不得不拉攏賴賬的客戶。所以答案D是正確的。
參考譯文：
佛羅里達的一份未支付的賬單
布什花了八百萬美元，但還沒有結清律師費
爲了幫助喬治W布什成爲總統，巴里理查德作了比大多數律師都要多的工作。作爲在去年秋天那場難解難分的重新計票風波中布什的法庭辯護律師，這位佛羅里達州塔拉哈西市的訴訟律師成了電視觀衆熟悉的人物。去年一月他到華盛頓參加布什就職典禮的時候，得到了共和黨對待搖滾歌星的待遇。據他的律師合夥人弗萊德巴格特回憶，在一場舞會中，一位體格壯實的得克薩斯婦女將理查德舉了起來，在他臉上重重地吻了一下，並且大聲說道：“你成就了我們的總統，我愛你！”
但理查德發現布什們的感激是有限的。在美國最高法院裁定2000年選舉最終獲勝者四個多月後，他和他的“格林伯格特里格”公司仍然被拖欠了超過 80萬美元的法律服務費。他的公司將39名律師和13名律師助手派往全州各地參與法庭辯論，現在和其他十幾家公司一樣沒有收到勞務費。估計拖欠費用總計已經超過了200萬美元。據《新聞週刊》瞭解，現在這種局面已經變得越來越困難。雖然律師們私下對拖延付費頗有微詞（理查德說他沒有抱怨過），布什的顧問手裏還有一大把“天文數字”的賬單---包括一位訴訟律師開出的每天超過24小時工作費的賬單。“在這裏的都是些收入不菲還抱怨個不停的律師。”一位前布什競選班子的官員說道，“可是這些人還從這項工作中得到了提高他們聲望的巨大實惠。”
這些律師應該從布什重新計票委員會那裏拿到他們的報酬。該委員會成立於佛羅里達之爭開始的時候，其主要工作就是籌集資金。法律不要求這個性質模糊的機構透露其使用資金的情況。該委員會和它的主要籌資人，得克薩斯州石油商（現商務祕書）唐伊萬斯很快就籌集了830萬美元---是艾爾戈爾重新計票委員會所籌集的390萬美元資金的兩倍還多，並用這筆錢來支付律師費用。爲了避免被指控其重新計票工作獲得特殊利益集團的資助，布什班子對個人捐款設置 5000美元的上限，現在他們正爲這種公關姿態後悔不已。在付清了包辦伙食人，包租飛機的人以及到佛羅里達“觀察”助陣的共和黨議員團的帳單之後，“籌集的資金已經所剩無幾”，一位知情人說道。
布什陣營說他們想要付清賬單。但前競選顧問本金斯伯格面對着接手的一團糟局面還沒有理出頭緒。至於那些法律事務所，他們正在盡力不疏遠那些賴賬的客戶，以免損害他們在華盛頓剛剛起步的院外遊說業務。“格林伯格特里格”公司代表着那些願意出巨資來接近政策制定者的電力公司，藥品製造商和互聯網xx行業。不論理查德及其公司能不能收回法律服務費，那80萬美元都是一筆精明的投資。
