大學英語精讀第二冊UNIT 8. Honesty: Is It Going out of Style?

Ever thought about cheating on a test? Of course not. But some students are not quite so honest …

Honesty: Is It Going Out of Style?
 
Stacia Robbins

    According to a recent poll, 61 percent of American high school students have admitted to cheating on exams at least once. It can be argued such a response my not mean much. After all, most students have been faced with the temptation to peek at a neighbor's test paper. And students can be hard on themselves in judging such behavior. However, there are other indications that high school cheating may be on the rise.
More and more states are requiring students to pass competency tests in order to receive their high school diplomas. And many educators fear that an increase in the use of state exams will lead to a corresponding rise in cheating. A case in point is students in New York State who faced criminal misdemeanor charges for possessing and selling advance copies of state Regents examinations.
    Cheating is considered to be a major problem in colleges and universities. Several professors say they've dropped the traditional term paper requirement because many students buy prewritten term papers, and they can't track down all the cheaters anymore.
Colleges and universities across the nation have decided to do more than talk about the rise in student cheating. For instance, the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland launched a campaign to stop one form of cheating. As 409 students filed out of their exam, they found all but one exit blocked. Proctors asked each student to produce an ID card with an attached photo. Students who said they'd left theirs in the dorm or at home had a mug shot taken. The purpose of the campaign was to catch "ringers," students who take tests for other students.
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."
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.
    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.
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.
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.
    A clue as to why Americans may have been more honest in the past lies in the Abe Lincoln story. Lincoln knew his customer. They both lived in a small town. Would a check-out person at a large supermarket return money a customer? It's less likely. On the other hand, would overnight guests at an inn run by a husband and wife, steal towels? It's less likely.
Perhaps this tells us that people need to know one another to be at their honest best.
The vast majority of Americans still believe that honesty as an important part of the American Character. For that reason, there are numerous watch-dog committees at all levels of society. Although signs of dishonesty in school, business, and government seem much more numerous in recent years than in the past, could it be that we are getting better at revealing such dishonesty?
    There is some evidence that dishonesty may ebb and flow. When times are hard, incidents of theft and cheating usually go up. And when times get better such incidents tend to go down.
Cheating in school also tends to ebb and flow. But it doesn't seem linked to the economy.
Many educators feel that as students gain confidence in themselves and their abilities, they are less likely to cheat. Surprisingly, some efforts to prevent cheating may actually encourage cheating - a person may feel "they don't trust me anyway," and be tempted to "beat the system." Distrust can be contagious. But, so can trust!


NEW WORDS

    honesty
n.  freedom from deceit, cheating, etc. 誠實
    style
n.  fashion 時髦
    poll
n.  survey of public opinion by putting questions to a representative selection of persons 民意測驗
    admit
v.  state or agree to the truth of; confess  承認，供認
    admission
n. 
    temptation
n.  the act of tempting or being tempted  引誘；誘惑
    peek
vi. look (at sth.) quickly, esp. when one should not  偷看
    behavio(u)r
n.  way of behaving 行為
    behave
v. 
    indication
n.  sign or suggestion 跡象
   
    competency
n.  ability; being competent 能力；勝任
    diploma
n.  official paper showing that a person has successfully finished a course of study or passed an examination 文憑
    corresponding
a.  matching 相應的
    criminal
a.  of crime
    misdemeano(u)r
n.  crime that is less serious than, for example, stealing of murder 輕罪
    charge
n.  accusation 指控
    possess
n.  have, own 占有，擁有
    advance
a.  made available before the date of general publication or release 預先的
    regent
n.  member of a governing board （學校董事會的）董事
    drop
vt. give up; discontinue 放棄；革除
    traditional
a.  of or according to tradition 傳統(tǒng)的
    tradition
n. 
    requirement
n.  sth. required; sth. demanded as a condition 要求；必要條件
    prewritten
a.  written beforehand; written in advance
    psychology
n.  science of the mind 心理學
    psychological
a. 
    launch
vt. start, set going 發(fā)起；發(fā)動
    campaign
n.  series of planned activities for some special purpose 運動
    file
vi. march or move in a line 排成縱隊行進
    exit
n.  way out of a place 出口（處）
    proctor
n.  臨考人
    ID card
n.  identity card 身份證
    dorm
n.  (short for) dormitory 宿舍
    mug
n.  the face or mouth
    shot
n.  a single photograph
    mug shot
n.  (sl.) photograph of a person's face, used for purposes of identification 面部照片
    ringer
n.  any person who pretends to be another 冒名頂替者
    applaud
vt. praise esp. by striking one's hands together 拍手稱贊
    campus
n.  university; the grounds of a university, college, or school 大學；校園
    editorial
n.  leading article 社論
    arrest
vt. seize (sb.) in the name of the law 逮捕
    speeder
n.  person who drives an automobile at a higher speed than is lawful 違法超速駕駛者
    intent
n.  purpose; intention
    frequently
ad. at short intervals, often 頻繁地
    overcharge
vt. charge too much 對...要價太高
    customer
n.  person who buys goods from a shop, esp. regularly 顧客
    myth
n.  神話
    unlike
prep. not like, different from
    cherry
n.  櫻桃
    biographer
n.  person who writes about another person's life 傳記作家
    ax(e)
n.  斧子
    character
n.  mental or moral qualities that make one person, race, etc. different from others 性格，品質(zhì)
    moral
a.  concerning principles of right of wrong  道德的
    reinforce
vt. encourage of strengthen 加強
    tax
n.  稅，稅款
    clue
n.  sth. that helps to find an answer to a question 線索
    check-out
n.  desk where one pays the bill of the goods one has chosen 結(jié)帳處
    supermarket
n.  large shop where one serves oneself with food and goods 超級市場
    overnight
a.  for or during the night 住一夜的；一整夜的
    inn
n.  small hotel 小旅館，客棧
    towel
n.  毛巾
    vast
a.  very big
    numerous
a.  many
    watch-dog
a.  organized or acting as a watchful guardian, esp. against unlawful practice 起監(jiān)督作用的
    dishonesty
n.  the quality of being dishonest
    reveal
vt. make known 揭露
    evidence
n.  sign or proof 證據(jù)
    ebb
vi. (of the tide) flow back from the land to the sea; grow less; become weak or faint 落潮；低落，衰退
    flow
vi. (of the tide) come in; rise; run or spread smoothly （潮）漲；上升；流
    incident
n.  event; happening 事件
    theft
n.  (the act of, an instance of) stealing
    tend
vi. have a tendency 易于，往往會
    link
vt. join or connect 連接；聯(lián)系
    economy
n.  經(jīng)濟 
    anyway
ad. at all; in any case 究竟；無論如何
    tempt
vt. attract (sb.) to do sth. wrong or foolish 引誘
    system
n.  體制；制度
    systematic
a.
    distrust
n.  lack of trust; mistrust 不信任，懷疑
    contagious
a.  tending to spread easily from person to person 傳染的
   

PHEASES & EXPRESSIONS

    out of style
    no longer fashionable 過時的，不再流行
    according to
    as stated or shown by; in a way that agrees with 按照，根據(jù)
    (be) faced with
    面對
    be hard on
    對...過分嚴厲
    on the rise
    increasing steadily 在增長;在加劇
    a case in point
    a very good example  恰當?shù)睦?br>    all but
    all except 除了...都
    (be) different from
    unlike, not the same as  與...不同
    think of ... as
    regard as
    in the case of
    就...來說,至于
    come to
    arrive at a particular state or position 變成(某種狀態(tài))
    lie in
    exist in 在于
    on the other hand
    from the opposed point of view 另一方面,反過來說
    at one's best
    in as good a state as possible 處于最佳狀態(tài)
    go up
    rise; increase 上升;增加
    go down
    fall; decrease 下降;減少


PROPER NAMES

    Stacia Robbins
    斯泰茜婭.羅賓斯
    Maryland
    馬里蘭(美國州名)
    Abe
    艾貝(Abraham的昵稱)
    Abe