Declining Morals

世風日下

James Karge Taylor was astonished at the rampant cheating taking place in his jazz-history class at the University of Arizona. Students looked over each other's shoulders， devised coughing codes to communicate to friends， and flashed answers on the backs of their hands while pretending to stretch.

詹姆斯#8226;卡基#8226;泰勒對亞利桑那大學的爵士音樂史課上發(fā)生的猖獗的作弊行為很是震驚。學生們左顧右盼，想用咳嗽進行暗號交流，趁假裝伸懶腰的時候，手在后面比劃答案。

He once caught one student using his cell phone to send answers to a friend's pager. The code \"54*2\"， for instance， meant the answer to question 54 was B. Karge Taylor kicked them out of his classroom and gave both an F.

他曾經(jīng)抓住了一名用手機發(fā)送答案到朋友傳呼機的學生。例如代碼“54*2”，就代表第54題的答案是B?？ɑ?8226;泰勒把他們趕出了教室并給了他們F。

At small Morningside College in Sioux City， Iowa， philosophy professor Heather Reid discovered cheating in， of all places， her introductory ethics class. Two students turned in homework assignments that were almost identical. Reid reported the incident to the academic dean， leading to an investigation. One student was suspended and given an F for the course.

在位于愛荷華州蘇市的莫寧賽學院，哲學教授希瑟#8226;雷德發(fā)現(xiàn)在她的倫理學導論課中作弊行為無處不在。兩名學生交來的家庭作業(yè)幾乎完全相同。雷德將此事報告給教務長，一場調(diào)查由此展開。一名學生被給予停課處理并在該科得F。

Incidents such as these are all too common. In recent years many colleges and universities have reported a surge in plagiarism， unauthorized collusion on assignments and cheating on tests.

像這樣的事件太尋常不過了。近年來許多學院和大學報道出的剽竊、作業(yè)“合作”以及考試作弊都在不斷上升。

In research conducted at 31 schools over the past decade， Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe has found that nearly 70 percent of students admit to cheating at some point during college， with over 15 percent reporting that they were， in McCabe's words， \"serious， repetitive cheaters.\"

根據(jù)過去十年間在31所學校中開展的調(diào)查顯示，羅格斯大學教授唐納德#8226;麥卡比發(fā)現(xiàn)將近70%的學生承認在大學期間都在一定程度上作過弊，用麥卡比的話說，有超過15%的學生是不折不扣的作弊專家。

TermPapers.com

學期報告網(wǎng)站

While this surge has been blamed on many factors， including a declining emphasis on moral values in the home and school， without question it's never been easier to cheat. With the Internet， students have access to a treasure-trove of information they can pinch without proper attribution. \"There's a cowboy feeling about the Internet that the information is out there for everybody to use as they see fit，\" says Michele Goldfarb， director of the Office of Student Conduct at the University of Pennsylvania.

然而作弊之風被歸咎于諸多因素，包括家庭、學校道德觀的下降，毫無疑問，現(xiàn)在想要作弊實在是太容易了。有了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，學生們對任何信息都能信手拈來。賓夕法尼亞大學學生處主任米歇爾說：“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)就像個牛仔一樣，英雄不問出處，上面的信息只要覺得合適誰都可以用?！?/p>

In a composition class， University of Texas instructor Sharan Daniel asked students to write an evaluative argument， which could include reviewing a contemporary film. One student chose a Bruce Willis movie.

在作文課上，得克薩斯大學的教師莎朗#8226;丹尼爾要求學生寫一篇評價性質(zhì)的議論文，其中可能會涉及一部當代影片的影評。一名學生選擇了布魯斯#8226;威利斯的電影。

Daniel suspected plagiarism when the paper turned in was different in style from the student's previous work. She did a search on the Internet and found the review the student had lifted in its entirety.

交上來的文章和這個學生之前的文風截然不同，丹尼爾懷疑他剽竊了別人的作品。于是她在網(wǎng)上進行了搜索，結果發(fā)現(xiàn)該生全文照搬了那部影評。

There are hundreds of websites， with names like schoolsucks.com and CollegeTermPapers.com， which offer ready-made essays on topics ranging from anthropology to zoology. Some sites are free， as long as you contribute a paper of your own， while others charge anything from a modest membership fee to over $100 a paper.

有像schoolsucks.com和CollegeTermPapers.com這樣的數(shù)百家網(wǎng)站都提供現(xiàn)成的論文，范圍從人類學到動物學，包羅萬象。在有些網(wǎng)站，只要你貢獻出自己的論文，那上面的內(nèi)容就是免費的了，而其它的一些網(wǎng)站一篇論文就會“象征性地”收取100美元以上的會員費。

Students also get papers directly from their peers. As the semester-end approaches， the online message boards and chat rooms on many websites fill with requests for papers from desperate students.

也有直接從學生內(nèi)部得到論文的。當期末接近，在許多網(wǎng)站的留言板和聊天室充斥著絕望的學生們的“征文”信息。

The website of the Evil House of Cheat boasts 2000 daily visitors. There you can pick up tips on how to cheat on exams and read comments from people described as satisfied users， like one student who said he had raised his grade-point average from a D- to a B+ after he paid his $9.95 annual membership fee.

有一個名叫Evil House of Cheat的網(wǎng)站吹噓其日訪問量達到了2000。在那可以看到如何作弊的帖子，并附有用戶滿意的評論，正如一個學生所說，在他付過9.95美元的年會費之后，他的平均分從D-升到了B+。

Many of the term-paper sites include a statement that the work is \"for research only.\" But those disclaimers are regarded as a joke.

許多學期報告的網(wǎng)絡站點都注有“本文僅供研究使用”。那些曾做出所謂承諾的人真是天大的笑話。

Excuses， Excuses

借口，總是能找出來的

Experts say that academic cheating begins as early as middle school， and often becomes a well-honed habit by high school. A recent survey of 3100 high-achieving students by Who's Who Among American High School Students revealed that 80 percent of the nation's best and brightest admitted cheating in school， up five percent from the year before. More than half said it was \"no big deal.\" Not surprisingly， 36 percent of the reported cheating cases at Georgetown University in Washington， D.C.， were brought against freshmen during the past three academic years.

一些專家說學術上的作弊行為從中學就已經(jīng)開始了，高中更是司空見慣。近日，《Who's Who Among American High School Students》中對3100名成績優(yōu)異的學生做了一份調(diào)查，結果顯示：全國最優(yōu)秀最聰明的學生也有80%承認了在校期間有作弊行為，比去年上升了5個百分點。過半的人都表示“這沒什么大不了的”。 那么，華盛頓的喬治敦大學爆出36%的大學新生在過去的三個學年中有作弊行為也就不足為奇了。

Some rationalize that it's okay to cheat if the course is not in their major but is required for graduating. Others assume it's a victimless offense. One student in University of Texas， in a posting on an Internet forum on cheating， went so far as to defend it as a legitimate form of learning. \"I personally don't cheat unless I learn something from it，\" the student wrote. \"If that involves looking at one answer on a quiz， I think the person is more likely to remember that one answer since they had to resort to cheating to obtain it.\"

一些人倒是理性地認為如果并非專業(yè)課但是畢業(yè)所必需的，作弊也無可厚非。其余的人則認為這是一種無傷他人的進攻行為。一名在某作弊主題論壇發(fā)帖的德克薩斯大學的學生竟然將其視作一種合法的學習方式加以辯護。那名學生寫道：“我個人并不作弊除非我能從中學到些東西。倘若是考試時瞄別人的答案，我想那人可能是別無它選，只能靠作弊才能記住答案?！?/p>

A Peer Practice

作弊是學出來的

According to Rutgers's McCabe， one big reason students give for cheating is that they see their peers getting away with it. \"They notice others doing it， and no one does anything to stop it，\" he says. \"They wonder. Why should someone else get a better job or get into a better graduate school because people are not paying attention?\"

據(jù)羅格斯大學的麥卡比說，學生們作弊的很大一個原因就是他們看到同學總能僥幸蒙混過關。他說：“他們目睹了別人作弊，但沒有任何人采取任何措施加以阻止。他們想知道原因，為什么某些人能找到一份好工作或者升入更好的學校，只是因為沒有人注意到他們的作弊行為？”

McCabe queried hundreds of professors around the country and found that among those who had discovered students cheating， 40 percent never reported a single incident. \"Many think it's a hassle，\" he says. \"Some worry that the school may not back them up and they will wind up defending their accusation against the student.\"

麥卡比對國內(nèi)幾百名教授表示質(zhì)疑，并且發(fā)現(xiàn)在那些發(fā)現(xiàn)過學生作弊的教授中，有四成從未將其上報。他說：“許多人認為這是一場激戰(zhàn)。有些人擔心校方不會支持他們并且會停止對學生控訴的辯護。”

At North Carolina State University， a teaching assistant told microbiology professor Jerome Perry that two students wrote answers in the margins of their tests and displayed them to each other. Perry says he discussed the case with colleagues， and everyone he talked to suggested that it was futile to file charges-he would ultimately be humiliated. He did so anyway. The students were found guilty and lost a series of appeals. One accepted the decision at this point， but the other asked the school's Board of Trustees to review the case.

北卡羅來納州立大學的一名助教告訴微生物學教授杰羅姆#8226;貝瑞，有兩個學生在試卷的邊緣空白處寫答案并給對方看。貝瑞教授說他和同事們討論了一下，每個人都建議這足以將其歸為作弊了，他如果不這樣做的話，最終會因此蒙羞。他到底還是聽從了同事的意見。那兩個學生作弊罪名成立，在一輪接一輪的起訴中敗訴。其中一名學生接受了處理決定，但另一名學生請求校董會重審此作弊事件。

To Perry's dismay， a board subcommittee overturned the verdict， claiming that the cheating charge was not adequately substantiated. Neither Perry nor the teaching assistant was asked to testify before the subcommittee.

令貝瑞教授沮喪的是，一個校董會的小組委員會推翻了原先的判決結果，稱該作弊控告證據(jù)不足。貝瑞教授和助教均未被小組委員會請去作證。

\"There is palpable cynicism on this campus among faculty regarding the merits of filing misconduct charges，\" Perry wrote bluntly to the board. He has since retired.

貝瑞在給校董會的信中坦誠地寫道：“教員內(nèi)部對起訴不良行為的好處心知肚明，這極具諷刺意味?！弊阅侵?，他就退休了。

Return of Honor Codes

誠信制度的回歸

Savvy professors now discourage term-paper plagiarism by assigning more narrow writing topics and giving pop quizzes in class on students' research progress. And new websites promise to help educators detect plagiarized papers. Plagiarism.org， for instance， will compare a student's work with the over 100，000 documents in its database， as well as to those indexed by major Internet search engines.

如今聰明的教授們通過布置更偏的話題并且在學生的研究過程當堂進行小測驗的方式來阻止學期報告的剽竊行為。一些新的網(wǎng)站也承諾幫助教育工作者調(diào)查剽竊的論文。比如plagiarism.org會將學生的文章同數(shù)據(jù)庫中10多萬份文件進行比對，另外還包括那些被網(wǎng)絡搜索引擎編入索引的文章。

While professors can police their classrooms， a growing number of colleges and universities are reverting to an old-fashioned institution - the honor code. \"The student activism of the '60s created an environment of mistrust， which led to the disappearance of traditions like honor codes on many campuses，\" says McCabe. \"Today， adopting some form of an honor code typically reflects a desire to bring a higher level of honesty and accountability to student life.\"

當教授可以對自己班級加以管理的時候，越來越多的高校正在重回舊時的機制——誠信代碼保證。麥卡比說：“上世紀60年代學生的激進主義致使彼此都不信任，這也導致了諸如誠信代碼保證一類的傳統(tǒng)消失。如今，采用某種形式的誠信制度也反映出了人們想將更高水平的誠信和責任心帶回校園生活的愿望?！?/p>

Unlike long-standing honor codes at schools such as the University of Virginia， most new \"modified\" honor programs do not obligate students to report incidents of academic dishonesty. But students who do observe cheating are strongly encouraged to do so.

與諸如佛吉尼亞大學的長期誠信代碼保證制度不同，在大多數(shù)修訂過的誠信制度中，學生沒有義務報告學術上的不誠信行為。但是校方十分鼓勵看到別人作弊的學生去舉報。

For those who get caught cheating， the case is often resolved through a voluntary agreement. Sometimes the professor confronts the student in private and metes out a punishment if the student admits wrongdoing. In other instances， allegations are reported to a judicial board or honor council， usually composed of students and faculty. Once again， if the accused owns up， the matter is resolved with a punishment. The cases for students who deny cheating are often heard in formal proceedings， complete with evidence presented by witnesses.

對于那些作弊被抓的學生們，一般通過自愿協(xié)議方式解決。有時，教授會私下處理學生，如果學生承認作弊會給予嚴懲。另一種的情況就是將報告移交裁判處或誠信委員會，這種組織通常由師生代表組成。結果一樣，如果作弊行為成立，將給予處分。也常有在正式的處理程序中否認作弊的學生，但都以目擊證人舉證告終。

At many schools， punishment for first-time violators is an F on the assignment or in the course， or some form of disciplinary probation. More egregious offenses， as well as a second or third offense， can result in suspension or expulsion.

在許多學校，對于初犯的學生的懲罰是在作業(yè)或該科目中得F，或者處以類似留校察看的處分。對于情節(jié)嚴重的作弊者，包括一而再再而三的作弊的學生，可能會被停課或者開除學籍。

At the University of Maryland， students caught cheating get an XF for the course on their transcript， which indicates failure due to academic dishonesty. First-time offenders can petition the school to remove the X after they complete a six-week seminar， though the F is permanent.

在馬里蘭大學，作弊被抓的學生會在該科的成績記錄上得XF，這就是說該生會因在學術上的不誠信而不及格。初犯的學生能在完成6周的討論會后向校方申請抹去“X”，但F是不會被更改的。

The reported number of cheating cases at the University of Maryland more than tripled from 60 in 1990， when the school's new code took effect， to 204 in 1998. \"I'm convinced that's not due to an increase in dishonesty， but to more people willing to report cases，\" says Maryland's Gary Pavela， director of the Office of Judicial Programs and Student Ethical Development.

當馬里蘭大學實行新的誠信代碼保證制度時，新近報告的作弊數(shù)量從1990年的60起猛增3倍還要多，達到了204起。該校裁判程序辦公室兼學生道德處主任蓋瑞#8226;佩維拉說：“我認為這一增長并非由于越來越多的學生喪失誠信，而是越來越多的人愿意將作弊上報?！?/p>

Some schools use publicity to send the message that cheating is not tolerated. The California Aggie， the student newspaper at the University of California at Davis， publishes a weekly synopsis of cases in which a student admitted cheating or was found to have cheated by the school's student-faculty honor council. \"It's as well read as a police blotter，\" says Jeanne Wilson， the school's student judicial-affairs director.

一些學校通過公眾發(fā)布消息：作弊是無法容忍的。加州大學戴維斯分校的校報《California Aggie》發(fā)表了一份關于已承認作弊或是被校師生聯(lián)合誠信委員會查處的作弊學生每周統(tǒng)計。

該校學生司法事務處主任珍妮#8226;威爾森說：“這也將被警方記錄在案。”

There is， of course， no panacea. Cheating is so easy and widespread that it will always attract some students. But it need not be the epidemic it has become.

當然，沒有萬全之策。作弊很簡單并且其范圍廣泛，總是會吸引一些學生的。但絕不能有愈演愈烈之勢。

\"My belief is that 10 to 20 percent of students will cheat whenever they feel they can get away with it，\" says McCabe， \"and ten to 20 percent will never cheat because of strong convictions or fear of getting caught. The battle is for the 60 to 80 percent in the middle.\"

麥卡比說：“我認為有10%到20%的學生只要有機會就會作弊；另外有同樣數(shù)量的學生絕不會作弊，因為他們有堅定的信念或者是懼怕作弊被抓。我們的關鍵就是中間這60%到80%的學生?！?/p>

From Reader's Digest

摘自《讀者文摘》

Notes

1. treasure-trove

原意為“大量珍寶、財物”，在文中意為“大量有用的信息”。

2. grade-point average

Grade Point Average簡稱GPA，意思就是平均分，美國的GPA滿分是4分，即A=4、B=3、C=2、D=1。GPA的精確度往往達到小數(shù)點后1到2位，如：3.0、3.45。GPA的計算一般是將每門課程的學分乘以學時，加起來以后除以總的學時，得出平均分。

3. posting

Posting指在論壇發(fā)帖。Post指論壇里的帖子。

例句：

He was kicked out of the forum for posting aggressive words in it.

由于他在論壇里發(fā)布攻擊性帖子，所以被踢出論壇。

4. went so far as

在文中意為“甚至、竟然”。

例句：

She wouldn't go so far as to refuse to attend your ceremony.

她還不至于會不出席你的婚禮。

5. get away with…

指做了壞事而未被發(fā)覺、僥幸過關。

例句：

Don't reckon on passing the exam by cheating this time， because the school will put cell phone Jammer outside the each classroom. So perish your thought of getting away with it.

這次別指望靠作弊通過考試，因為學校會在每個教室外面安放手機信號屏蔽器。你要是想僥幸過關，還是死了這條心吧。

6. mete out

意為“給予、處置”。Mete out punishment意為“進行處罰”，mete out reward就是“給予獎勵”。

例句：

No punishment was meted out to the guy who disturbed the ceremony. People are not satisfied with the authority's response.

對于擾亂慶典的那個家伙，一點懲罰措施都沒有。民眾對當局的反應表示不滿。