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As the end of this semester draws near, many students are staying up late to finish their thesis paper before the deadline. But those who have slacked off might resort to ghostwriters.
隨著期末臨近，許多學生開始熬夜趕工，希望能準時交論文。而那些想偷懶的學生可能會向槍手們求助。
It has become common for some college students to buy theses or scientific papers from online shops, such as Taobao. If you search for “ghostwriting academic papers”, a list of shops providing this service comes up.
對一些大學生而言，在淘寶等網站上購買學術論文已經是件很平常的事情了。如果你搜索“代寫學術論文”，會彈出一長串論文代寫網店的名字。
Usually they display a price tag of 10 yuan for their services, but that’s certainly not the real fee. Shop owners ask potential customers about their specific needs and base their price on the word count and other requirements. An academic paper may cost between a few hundred yuan (for a short term paper) and tens of thousands of yuan (for long dissertations).
通常情況下提供該服務的店家標價10元，當然這并非真正的價格。店主會詢問潛在客戶的具體要求，然后按照字數和其他要求來計費。一份學術論文的收費從幾百元（學期論文）到數萬元（長篇論文）不等。
Senior student Chen Yihua (not his real name) from a university in Nanjing and his three roommates bought their theses from an online shop last month. In their opinion, ghostwriting is just one of the useful tools available to students who want better grades.
上個月，南京某高校大三學生陳怡樺（化名）和三位室友從一家網店購買了論文。在他們看來，“代寫”只不過是那些想拿高分的學生們可以選擇的實用手段之一。
“I understand that students should be perfectly capable of producing quality work on our own,” said Chen, who is majoring in mathematics. “But students in scientific, mathematical and technological fields often lack solid writing skills. So sometimes we need ‘assistance’ in converting our ideas into academic texts.”
就讀于數學系的陳怡樺說：“我明白學生應該可以自主完成高質量的功課，但是理科、數學以及工科的學生通常缺乏扎實的寫作能力，所以我們有時候需要請“外援”，來把自己的想法轉化成學術論文。”
A PhD holder in Shanghai (who wished to remain anonymous) said he opened an online shop selling thesis papers at the end of 2010. He is a full-time employee, but he can earn 10,000 to 20,000 yuan for writing one essay. The high profit is the driving force behind his business idea.
一位來自上海，不愿透露自己姓名的博士稱自己于2010年末開設了一家出售論文的網店。盡管他是一名全職員工，但是一篇論文可以為他帶來一萬到兩萬元的收入。他經營理念背后的驅動力便來自于高額回報。
“I am just using my academic gift to help others in my spare time,” he said. “Thanks to real-estate developers, I’m a house mortgage slave and I need money.”
他說：“我只是在業余時間里，利用自己的學術專長來幫助他人罷了。由于房地產開發商的緣故，我現在是名房奴，而我需要錢。”
However, Taobao’s customer service department claimed that providing such services is forbidden. The online platform punishes shops that violate the rules by reducing seller’s credit rating, preventing them from being searched or even shutting them down.
而淘寶客服部門卻聲稱該項服務是被禁止的。對于那些違規店家，淘寶的懲治措施包括：降低其信用等級，在搜索里屏蔽店名，甚至關閉相關網店。
But some lawyers consider these services to operate in a gray area. “In terms of legality, online sites offering ghostwriting services could not be considered unlawful in China as long as the real author agrees to give the copyright to the client,” said Liu Chunquan at Shanghai Yongle Law Firm.
而一些律師則認為這種服務游走于灰色地帶。來自上海永樂律師事務所的劉春泉律師認為：“從合法性角度來講，只要原作者同意將版權出讓給客戶，那些國內那些提供代寫服務的網店就不應被視為違法的。”
Education experts point out that this practice is unethical. Universities require students to write dissertations or papers independently, so employing someone else to write them is considered cheating.
教育專家指出這是一種不道德的行為。鑒于各高校要求學生獨立完成論文的前提，雇傭槍手是一種作弊行為。
“It is academic fraud. Graduates should be capable writers, no matter what they are majoring in. Remember that your dissertation should demonstrate not only how well you know your subject matter, but how effectively you can communicate your ideas through writing,” said Shen Yang, a deputy professor at Wuhan University.
武漢大學副教授沈楊（音譯）說：“這是學術欺詐。不管來自哪個專業，畢業生們都應該具備寫作能力。要知道，學術論文不僅展現了你對論題的了解程度，同時也展示出你通過文字來有效表達觀點的能力。”
“Academic writing is a skill that a university student must develop. Employing someone else’s service is an admission of failure.”
“論文寫作是大學生必備的技能，雇傭槍手就等于承認了自己的失敗。”
At present, however, it’s hard to discern if papers are self-produced or not. As a result, many teachers ask students to discuss their papers or prepare presentations based on them. If it transpires that ghostwriting is involved, students face serious punishment and can even be dismissed by their universities.
現階段，想要區分論文原創與否十分不易，因此，許多老師要求學生就自己的論文展開討論或演講。如果一旦發現論文代寫行為，學生將會受到嚴懲，甚至會被校方開除學籍。
