新视野大学英语第三版电子书

8.1. Text A When honesty disappears

1 "Is anybody truly honest?"  As numerous accounts of cheating, lying, and fraud crowd our newspaper pages and TV news, it seems that honesty is a rapidly vanishing value.  And the reports indicate that, around the globe,corruption and dishonesty are so widespread that the health and well-being of society are at risk.  These reports include stories such as the students who faced criminal charges for selling in advance copies of a university final exam, a student who wasexpelled when he turned in a term paper with thepurchase receipt for it still inside the pages, and a clerk who ran his own Christmas cards through the office postage meter and was found out when he sent one of the cards to the company treasurer! We have all read or heard accounts such as these, not to mention the stories of dishonesty amongst alllayers of society asexemplified by consumerswho steal and politicians who demand bribes. Travelers ripped off so many towels last year that it cost a major hotel chain $3 million to replace them. Especially troubling are the reports that dishonesty is increasing amongst student populations around the world. 

 

2 But are these reports truly accurate or do theyexaggerate the situation? Should we be alarmed by these accounts of falling standards of principlesand morality?  The assumption is that student dishonesty is moreextensive now than it was 20, 50, 100 years ago.  If so, what's behind it?  If this is indeed the case, it's deeply troubling as today's students are tomorrow's leaders!  It's possible that the desire to cheat is no greater than in the past. However, the critical importance of having a university degree may have increased the pressure to cheat in academic environments. Undoubtedly, modern technology facilitates the means and opportunities to cheat.  The demanding task of writing term papers has always been a source of tense nerves andfrustration, if not theultimate homework nightmare.  But now, with Internet access, illegalresources are just a few links away. 

 

3 Modern students who want to fake a term paper don't have to browse long. They only have to locatethe appropriate website, purchase or order online papers, or even download them for free.  One webservice offers "highest quality papers at the lowest possible prices", only $5.95 per page.  Busy, cost-conscious students will find other "low-priced" term papers on websites that promise consumers "You will be happy and successful."  Some people worry that the Internet, once hailed as the ultimate learning tool, could become the best aid yet for cheating. 

 

4 To cope with the growing plague of cheating, universities around the world now use anti-plagiarism software and have very strict cheating and plagiarism policies.  If students are caughtplagiarizing or cheating in any way, they will be immediately expelled from school.  Some college faculty decided to do more than talk about rising student cheating. Professors at a major university launched acampaign to try toeliminate one form of cheating.  As 409 students filed out of their Introduction to Psychology exam, they found all but one exit blocked.  Test monitors asked each student to produce an ID card with an attachedphoto.  If they provided asatisfactory ID, they were fine.  If they had left their ID at home, the officialsconfronted them and took their picture.  The purpose of the campaign was to reveal hired cheaters, students who take tests for other students.  The majority of students at the university applauded the new strategy. 

 

5 With awareness of increasing dishonesty in today's society, it's sometimes implied that in "the good old days" people were better, happier, and more honest.  Were they more honest?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Long ago, all American schoolchildren knew the historical story of how Abraham Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny he had overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story that we think of as myth.  But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true. 

 

6 Like the Lincoln tale, every society has stories stressing the absolutevalue of honesty.  It is these stories that students need to remember when temptation induces them to cheat.  Whether discovered or not, dishonesty has an undesirable effect on anyone who practices it. Equally importantly, the ill effects are not confined to the dishonest person alone.  Without trust, ordered societies woulddescend into chaos.  It's important that we do what we say we will do, pay when we say we will, and create words that are our own.  Perhaps the most important lesson our schools can teach is that we must trust each other. When honesty disappears, the affirmative, durablebonds of trust are eliminated and we all lose. The future of our society depends on mutual trust.