某国で法学を学んでいる中国人学生チェン君とスカイプで話しました。
遠い昔、小説か何かで読んだカッコイイ弁護士の話を彼にし、将来そんな風になってほしいと伝えました。
Toshi
Hello, Chen.
Chen
Hello, Toshi-san
Toshi
I understand that you are a law student.
Chen
That’s right.
Toshi
What gets you interested in law?
Chen
Actually when I was a child I dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
So I’m very glad to achieve that dream.
Toshi
How do you find studying law?
Chen
It’s very challenging as it involves a lot of reading and memorization.
Also you have to have very good English. Not just good, but it has to be very good English.
Toshi
What kind of a lawyer do you want to become? The one who wants to fight for money, or the one who wants to fight for human rights?
Chen
A trial lawyer. The ones who appear in court. Other than that, I’ve never thought about it.
Toshi
When I was younger, I read about a young lawyer who believed his role was to save people from poverty. One day he learned that there’s an old man who was refused a welfare subsidy. And the lawyer appealed to the court that the government was ignoring fundamental human rights. In the end he won the trial and the poor man was able to get the subsidy.
Chen
That’s a very touching story and I actually like how the lawyer helped the poor guy.
Toshi
There is more to the story. The poor old man thanked the lawyer but he had no money to reward him. The attorney said “Oh no worries. I need no compensation from you. It’s enough to see your smiling face.”
Chen
Wow. He’s pretty cool, isn’t he?
Toshi
Well, Chen. You are young. You have a tremendous amount of time ahead of you.
I hope someday you will be able to devote your energy to helping a lot of people who have been less fortunate.
Chen
I will