美国一个车牌引发的“血案”_BEC初级作文

美国一个车牌引发的“血案”

Many of the first plates were entirely personalised - crude homemade efforts, cobbled together from wood, roof tiles and even leather.

很多第一批车牌都是完全个性化的——它们是粗糙的手工制品，用木头、瓦片甚至是皮革拼在一起。

Jump forward to 2017 and license plates brought in $17.6m in revenue for the Texas state authorities - drawn from two distinct types of plates.

时间转到2017年时，两种类型的车牌每年给德克萨斯州创收1760万美元。

Personalised "vanity" plates allow drivers to select a configuration of up to seven characters - typically spelling out a nickname, or humorous slogan - often something on the cheeky side.

个性化的“浮夸”车牌允许司机们最多选择七个字母进行组合——比较典型的有昵称绰号和幽默标语——通常都没什么下限。

These are not the subject of the dispute in the Supreme Court. The case relates to the other type - "specialty plates" - which carry pictures, symbols and slogans supporting a cause or an organisation - often a charity campaign, a university, or a sports team.

这些不在这次最高法院论战的范围。这个案子涉及的是另外一种车牌——特色车牌——上面带有一些图片、符号以及支持一些事件或者组织的标语等，通常这些组织都是慈善团体、大学或者是运动队。

These groups apply to the state to have their specialty plate authorised to be licensed to motorists for an additional fee - which raises funds for the state and the organisation.