综英-Unit-12-The-New-Immorality上课讲义

Unit 12 The New Immorality

The provost of one of our largest and honored institutions told me not long ago that a questionnaire was distributed to his undergraduates and 40 percent refused to acknowledge that they believed cheating on examinations to be reprehensible.

不久前，美国一所规模宏大、声名显赫的大学的教务长告诉我说，他们学校对本科生作了一次问卷调查，结果百分之四十的人并不认为考试作弊有什么可非议的。

Recently a reporter for a New York newspaper stopped 6 people on the street and asked them if they would consent to take part in a rigged television quiz for money. He reported that 5 of the 6 said yes. Yet most of these 5, like most of the college cheaters, would probably profess a strong social consciousness. They may cheat, but they vote for foreign aid and for enlightened social measures.

最近，纽约一家报纸的记者在大街上采访了六个人，问他们如果给予报酬，愿不愿意参加弄虚作假的电视知识竞赛。这位记者报道说，六个人中有五个人回答说愿意。然而，这五人中的大多数，就像大多数考试作弊的大学生一样，很可能会声称自己有着强烈的社会意识。他们尽管会作弊，但是又会支持对外援助，支持开明的社会举措。

These two examples exhibit a paradox of our age. It is often said, and my observation leads me to believe it is true, that our seemingly great growth in social morality has oddly enough taken place in a world where private morality----a sense of the supreme importance of purely personal honor, honesty, and integrity--- seems to be declining. Beneficent and benevolent social institutions are administered by men who all too frequently turn out to be accepting “gifts”. The world of popular entertainment is rocked by scandal. College students, put on their honor, cheat on examination. Candidates for the Ph. D. hire ghostwriters to prepare their theses.

这两个事例揭示了我们时代的一个怪诞现象。人们常说，而我的所见所闻使我也对此深信不疑：我们的社会道德似乎有了长足的进步，而令人奇怪的是，就在我们这个社会里，个人道德观念----即把个人荣誉、正直和诚实视为至高无上的观念---却似乎正在沉沦。慈善机构的管理者往往是些收受“礼物”的人。大众娱乐界经常被丑闻搅得惊魂不定。大学生表面上很体面，考试却要作弊。博士生雇人代写论文。

But, one may object, haven’t all these things always been true? Is there really any evidence that

personal dishonesty is more prevalent than it always was?

然而，有人会提出异议：这些现象难道不是由来已久吗？难道真有什么证据，证明个人的舞弊行为比以往更加盛行吗？

I have no way of making a historical measurement. Perhaps these things are not actually more prevalent. What I do know is that there is an interesting tendency to accept and take for granted such personal dishonesty. The bureaucrat and disk jockey say, “Well, yes, I took presents, but I assure you that I made just decision anyway.” The college student caught cheating does not even blush. He shrugs his shoulders and comments:” Everybody does it, and besides, I can’t see that it really hurts anybody.”

我无法作出今昔对比。也许，这些现象目前其实并非更加普遍。可我确实知道，如今人们越来越趋向于接受这种个人舞弊行为，甚至认为是理所当然的事。官员和节目主持人会说：“不错，我是接受礼物了，不过我可以向你们担保，我所做的决定怎么说也是公正的。”大学生考试作弊被发现，连脸都不红，而只是耸耸肩，振振有词地说：“大家都是这么干的。再说，我看这实在不会损害任何人。”

Jonathan Swift once said: “I have never been surprised to find men wicked, but I have often been surprised to find them not ashamed.” It is my conviction that though men may be no more wicked than they always have been, they seem less likely to be ashamed. if everybody does it, it must be right. Honest, moral, decent mean only what is usual. This is not really a wicked world, because morality means mores or manners and usual conduct is the only standard.

Jonathan Swift曾说过：“我从未因为发现人们不讲道德而感到惊讶，但我常常因为发现人们不知羞耻而感到惊愕。”我相信，人们虽然未必比以前还要不讲道德，但似乎要比以前更加不知羞耻。只要人人这么做，这事就一定是正当的。所谓的诚实、道德、体面，只要随波逐流就行。其实，这还算不上是一个道德沦丧的世界，因为道德就意味着习俗和常规，行为是否合乎常规，这是惟一的标准。

The second part of the defense, “it really doesn’t hurt anybody,” is equally revealing. “It doesn’t hurt anybody” means it doesn’t do that abstraction called society any harm. The harm it did to the bribe-taker and the cheater isn’t important; it is purely personal, And persona, as opposed to social decency, doesn’t count for much. Sometimes I am inclined to blame sociology for part of this paradox. Sociology has tended to lay exclusive stress upon social morality, and tended too often to define