The United States court system, as part of the federal System of government, is characterized by dual judicial systems; there are both state and federal-courts. Each state has its own system of courts, composed of civil and criminal trial courts, sometimes intermediate courts of appeal, and a state Supreme Court. The federal court system, consists of series of trial courts (called district courts) serving relatively small geographic regions (there is at least one for every state), a tier of circuit courts of appeal that hear appeals from many district courts in a particular geographic region, and the Supreme Court of the United States. The two court systems are to some extent overlapping, in that certain kinds of disputes may be initiated in either system. They are also to some extent hierarchical (等级制度的), for the federal system stands above the state system in that litigant (person engaged in lawsuits) who lose their cases in the state supreme court may appeal their eases to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Thus, the typical court case begins in a trial court—a court of general jurisdiction—in the state or federal system. Most cases go no further than the trial court; for example, the criminal defendant is convicted by a trial and sentenced by the court and the case end; the personal injury suit results in a judgment by a trial court (or an out-of-court settlement by the parties while the court suit is pending) and the parties leave the court system. But sometimes the losing party at the trial court cares enough about the cause that the matter does not end there. In these cases, the “loser” at the trial court may appeal to the next higher court.
21. What does the passage mainly discuss?
22. According to the passage, district courts are also known as ________.
23. In the last sentence of the first paragraph, “engaged in” means ________.
24. The passage indicated that litigants who lose their cases in the state trial court may take them to a ________.
25. It can be inferred from the passage that typical court cases are ________.
