全新版大学进阶英语3课文及翻译Unit-6-The-Lawyer-&-DuPont.docxVIP

全新版大学进阶英语综合教程 第3册课文及翻译 The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare By Nathaniel Rich 1 Rob Bilott received a call from a cattle farmer. The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, W. Va., said that his cows were dying left and right. He believed that the DuPont chemical company, which until recently operated a site in Parkersburg, was responsible. Tennant had tried to seek help locally, but DuPont just about owned the entire town. He had been spurned not only by Parkersburg’s lawyers but also by its politicians, journalists, doctors and veterinarians. He reached out to Bilott because he knew the latter’s grandmother. 2 He did not understand, however, that Bilott was not the right kind of environmental lawyer. Bilott worked almost exclusively for large corporate clients. His specialty was defending chemical companies. Several times, Bilott had even worked on cases with DuPont lawyers. Nevertheless, as a favor to his grandmother, he agreed to meet the farmer. 3 During the meeting, Wilbur Tennant explained that he and his four siblings had run the cattle farm since their father abandoned them as children. In the early ’80s, his brother Jim sold 66 acres to DuPont, which wanted a landfill for waste from its factory near Parkersburg. 4 DuPont named the plot Dry Run Landfill after the creek that ran through it. The same creek flowed down to a pasture where the Tennants grazed their cows. Not long after the sale, the cattle began to act deranged. 5 Tennant showed Bilott photographs of cows with stringy tails, malformed hooves and red, receded eyes; cows suffering constant diarrhea, staggering bowlegged like drunks. 6 Bilott decided right away to take the Tennant case. It was, to him, the right thing to do. 7 Bilott filed a federal suit against DuPont in the summer of 1999 in the Southern District of West Virginia. In response, DuPont and the E.P.A. commissioned a study of the property. Their report did not find DuPont responsible for the cattle’s health problems.