評論
打印
The majority of students at the University of Maryland applauded the campaign. The campus newspaper editorial said, "Like police arresting speeders, the intent is not to catch everyone but rather to catch enough to spread the word"
馬里蘭大學的大多數學生都鼓掌歡迎這一運動。校刊社論說：“就像警察逮捕違法超速駕駛者一樣，這一運動的目的并不是要捉拿所有的人，而是抓住足夠的作弊者以便把信息傳開去。”
We frequently hear about "the good old days," when Americans were better, happier, and more honest. But were they more honest? Maybe yes, a long time ago when life was very different from what it is today.
我們經常聽人談起“美好的往日”，說是那時的美國人比現在好，比現在幸福，也比現在誠實。但他們真的更誠實嗎？也許在很久以前，他們確實更誠實，因為那時的生活跟今天的生活大不相同。
School children used to know the story of how Abraham Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny he'd overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story we think of as myth. But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true ... unlike the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. Washington's first biographer invented the tale of little George saying to his father, "I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my ax." What is important in both stories, however, is that honesty was seen as an important part of the American character.
中、小學學生過去都知道亞伯拉罕·林肯步行五英里把多收的一分錢還給顧客的故事。我們已經把這類故事看成了神話。但就林肯來說，這故事卻是真實的……而不像喬治·華盛頓和櫻桃樹的故事那樣是杜撰的。華盛頓的第一位傳記作者虛構了小喬治對父親說“我不能說謊，我用斧子砍倒了櫻桃樹”的故事。然而，在兩個故事中都很重要的一點是，誠實過去一向被看作是美國性格中的一個重要組成部分。
And these are just two stories out of many. Students in the last century usually didn't read "fun" stories. They read stories that taught moral values. Such stories pointed out quite clearly that children who lied, cheated, or stole came to bad ends.
而且這僅僅是許許多多故事中的兩個故事。上個世紀的學生一般都不讀“娛樂性的”故事。他們讀的都是些傳授道德標準的故事。這類故事非常明確地指出，說謊、騙人、偷東西的孩子決沒有好下場。
Parents may have further reinforced those values. It's difficult to know. We do know that children didn't hear their parents talk of cheating the government on income taxes — there weren't any.
做父母的很可能進一步加強了這些道德標準。是不是真的如此就很難知道了。但我們的確知道，過去的孩子聽不到父母談論在所得稅上欺騙政府的事——那時候還沒有所得稅。
