Unit 4
Unit 4
Table of Contents
Audio
Text&Translation
Law-and-order is the longest-running and probably the best-loved political issue in U.S. history. Yet it is painfully apparent¹ that millions of Americans who would never think of themselves as law-breakers, let alone criminals², are taking increasing liberties with the legal codes³ that are designed to protect and nourish their society⁴. Indeed, there are moments today—amid outlaw litter, tax cheating, illicit noise and motorized anarchy— when it seems as though the scofflaw represents the wave of the future⁵. Harvard Sociologist David Riesman⁶ suspects that a majority of Americans have blithely taken to committing supposedly minor derelictions as a matter of course⁷. Already, Riesman says, the ethic of U.S. society is in danger of becoming this: "You're a fool if you obey the rules."
“法律与秩序”是美国历史上历时最久、或许也最深入人心的政治议题。然而，令人痛心地看到，数百万美国人——他们从不认为自己会违法，更遑论犯罪——正对那些旨在保护和滋养其社会的法律条文¹愈发不以为意。的确，在如今这个充斥着乱抛垃圾、偷税漏税、违规噪音及车辆横行等乱象的时代，目无法纪之徒²仿佛预示着未来的潮流。哈佛大学社会学家戴维·里斯曼³推测，大多数美国人已漫不经心地将一些所谓的轻微过失视为家常便饭。里斯曼表示，美国社会的道德准则正面临沦为“谁守规矩谁就是傻瓜”的危险。
Nothing could be more obvious than the evidence supporting Riesman. Scofflaws abound in amazing variety.⁸ The graffiti-prone⁹ turn public surfaces into visual rubbish. Bicyclists often ride as though two-wheeled vehicles are exempt from all traffic laws. Litter-bugs¹⁰ convert their communities into trash dumps. Widespread flurries of ordinances¹¹ have failed to clear public places of high-decibel portable radios, just as earlier laws failed to wipe out the beer-soaked hooliganism¹² that plagues many parks. Tobacco addicts remain hopelessly blind to signs that say NO SMOKING. Respectably dressed pot smokers¹³ no longer bother to duck out of public sight to pass around a joint¹⁴. The flagrant use of cocaine is a festering scandal¹⁵ in middle- and upper-class life. And then there are (hello, Everybody)¹⁶ the jaywalkers.
支持里斯曼观点的证据，可谓昭然若揭。那些目无法纪之徒⁴五花八门，不一而足。涂鸦成瘾者⁵将公共设施的表面弄得满目疮痍，不堪入目。骑自行车的人往往我行我素，仿佛两轮车可以无视一切交通法规。乱扔垃圾者⁶则把社区变成了一个个垃圾堆。尽管法令⁷迭出，却未能清除公共场所高分贝的手提音响；正如早先的法律未能根除许多公园深受其苦的醉酒流氓滋事⁸一样。瘾君子们对“禁止吸烟”的告示熟视无睹，依旧我行我素。衣冠楚楚的吸麻者⁹在公众场合传递大麻烟卷¹⁰时，已不再费心避人耳目。公然吸食可卡因，已成为中上流社会一个不断恶化¹¹的丑闻。此外，还有那些乱穿马路的人（想必大家对此都心知肚明）¹²。
The dangers of scofflawry vary widely. The person who illegally spits on the sidewalk remains disgusting, but clearly poses less risk to others than the company that illegally buries hazardous chemical waste in an unauthorized location. The fare beater on the subway presents less threat to life than the landlord who ignores fire safety statutes. The most immediately and measurably dangerous scofflawry, however, also happens to be the most visible. The culprit is the American driver, whose lawless activities today add up to a colossal public nuisance¹⁷. The hazards range from routine double parking¹⁸ that jams city streets to the drunk driving that kills some 25,000 people and injures at least 650,000 others yearly. Illegal speeding on open highways? New surveys show that on some interstate highways 83% of all drivers are currently ignoring the federal 55 m.p.h. speed limit¹⁹.
目无法纪行为的危害程度大相径庭。在人行道上随地吐痰固然令人厌恶，但其对他人构成的风险，显然小于那些在未经许可的地点非法填埋危险化学废物的公司。地铁逃票者对生命的威胁，也小于那些无视消防法规的房东。然而，最具即时性、可量度危害的违法行为，恰巧也最为显眼。罪魁祸首当属美国的驾驶者，他们如今的违法行径已构成巨大的社会公害¹³。这些危害小至造成城市街道拥堵的常态化违章并排停车¹⁴，大至每年导致约两万五千人死亡、至少六十五万人受伤的酒后驾车。至于在公路上非法超速呢？最新调查显示，在某些州际高速公路上，目前竟有高达83%的司机无视联邦政府规定的每小时五十五英里¹⁵的限速。
The most flagrant scofflaw of them all is the red-light runner. The flouting of stop signals has got so bad in Boston that residents tell an anecdote about a cabby who insists that red lights are "just for decoration." The power of the stoplight to control traffic seems to be waning everywhere. In Los Angeles, red-light running has become perhaps the city's most common traffic violation. In New York City, going through an intersection is like Russian roulette²⁰. Admits Police Commissioner Robert J. McGuire: "Today it's a 50-50 toss-up²¹ as to whether people will stop for a red light." Meanwhile, his own police largely ignore the lawbreaking.
所有违法者中，最明目张胆的莫过于闯红灯的人。在波士顿，对停车信号灯的无视已到了如此严重的地步，以至于当地居民中流传着一个笑谈：一名出租车司机坚称红灯“不过是装饰品而已”。交通信号灯控制车流的效力似乎在各地都在减弱。在洛杉矶，闯红灯或许已成为该市最普遍的交通违法行为。而在纽约市，开车通过十字路口简直如同玩俄罗斯轮盘赌¹⁶。警察局长罗伯特·J·麦圭尔承认：“如今，人们遇红灯是否会停车，其可能性基本是对半开¹⁷。”与此同时，他手下的警察却在很大程度上对这些违法行为视若无睹。
Red-light running has always been ranked as a minor wrong, and so it may be in individual instances. When the violation becomes habitual, widespread and incessant, however, a great deal more than a traffic management problem is involved. The flouting of basic rules of the road leaves deep dents in the social mood²². Innocent drivers and pedestrians pay a repetitious price in frustration, inconvenience and outrage²³, not to mention a justified sense of mortal peril²⁴. The significance of red-light running is magnified by its high visibility. If hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, then furtiveness is the true outlaw's salute to the force of law-and-order.²⁵ The red-light runner, however, shows no respect whatever for the social rules, and society cannot help being harmed by any repetitions and brazen display of contempt for the fundamentals of order.
闯红灯向来被视为小过失，在个别情况下或许的确如此。然而，当这种违法行为变得习以为常、普遍蔓延且无休无止之时，其牵涉的就远不止交通管理问题了。对基本交通规则的藐视，会给社会心态蒙上沉重阴影¹⁸。无辜的驾驶者与行人则不得不为此一再承受种种沮丧、不便与愤懑¹⁹，更遑论由此而生的那种合情合理的致命危机感²⁰。闯红灯行为因其高度的昭彰性，其意义和影响被进一步放大。倘若说伪善是邪恶向美德所进献的贡品，那么，鬼鬼祟祟的行为便是真正的法外之徒对法律与秩序力量的“敬礼”²¹。然而，闯红灯者对社会规则却毫无敬畏之心，对秩序基石如此肆无忌惮的蔑视一再上演，社会焉能不受其害？
The scofflaw spirit is pervasive. It is not really surprising when schools find, as some do, that children frequently enter not knowing some of the basic rules of living together. For all their differences, today's scofflaws are of a piece²⁶ as a symptom of elementary social demoralization—the loss by individuals of the capacity to govern their own behavior in the interest of others.
目无法纪的风气已然四处弥漫。因此，当一些学校发现孩子们入学时往往不懂得某些基本的共处规则，也就不足为奇了。尽管表现各异，但如今这些目无法纪之徒²²都如出一辙地折射出一种基本的社会道德衰颓——即个体丧失了为了他人利益而约束自身行为的能力。
The prospect of the collapse of public manners is not merely a matter of etiquette. Society's first concern will remain major crime, but a foretaste of the seriousness of incivility is suggested by what has been happening in Houston. Drivers on Houston freeways have been showing an increasing tendency to replace the rules of the road with violent outbreaks. Items from the Houston police department's new statistical category—freeway traffic violence: 1) Driver flashes high-beam lights at car that cut in front of him, whose occupants then hurl a beer can at his windshield, kick out his tail lights, slug him eight stitches' worth²⁷. 2) Dump-truck driver annoyed by delay batters trunk of stalled car²⁸ ahead and its driver with steel bolt. 3) Hurrying driver of 18-wheel truck deliberately rear-ends²⁹ car whose driver was trying to stay within 55 m.p.h. limit. The Houston Freeway Syndrome³⁰ has fortunately not spread everywhere. But the question is: Will it?
公共行为准则的崩塌，绝非仅仅是礼仪问题。社会的首要关切仍将是重大犯罪，但休斯顿正在发生的一切，已可初步窥见这种失序行为的严重性。休斯顿高速公路上的驾驶者们，正日益显露出以暴力冲突取代交通规则的倾向。以下是休斯顿警察局新增的统计类别——“高速公路交通暴力”中的几则记录：1）一名司机朝前方强行并线的车辆闪远光灯，结果对方车上的人向其挡风玻璃投掷啤酒罐，踢坏其尾灯，并将其打得皮开肉绽，缝了八针²³。2）一名自卸卡车司机因前方车辆²⁴抛锚造成延误而恼羞成怒，遂用钢制螺栓猛砸前车后备箱及该车司机。3）一名驾驶十八轮卡车的司机因赶时间，故意追尾²⁵一辆试图遵守每小时五十五英里限速的轿车。“休斯顿高速公路综合症”²⁶所幸尚未蔓延至各地。但问题是：它会蔓延开来吗？
Americans are used to thinking that law-and-order is threatened mainly by stereotypical violent crime. When the foundations of U.S. law have actually been shaken, however, it has always been because ordinary law-abiding citizens took to skirting the law³¹. Major instance: Prohibition³². Recalls Donald Barr Chidsey³³ in On and Off the Wagon³⁴: “Lawbreaking proved to be not painful, not even uncomfortable, but, in a mild and perfectly safe way, exhilarating.” People wiped out Prohibition at last not only because of the alcohol issue but because scofflawry was seriously undermining the authority and legitimacy of government. Ironically, today's scofflaw spirit, whatever its undetermined origins, is being encouraged unwittingly by government at many levels. The failure of police to enforce certain laws is only the surface of the problem: they take their mandate from the officials and constituents they serve. Worse, most state legislatures have helped subvert³⁵ popular compliance with the federal 55 m.p.h. law, some of them by enacting puny fines that trivialize transgressions. On a higher level, the Administration in Washington has dramatized its wish to nullify civil rights laws simply by opposing instead of supporting certain court ordered desegregation rulings. With considerable justification, environmental groups, in the words of Wilderness magazine, accuse the Administration of "destroying environmental laws by failing to enforce them, or by enforcing them in ways that deliberately encourage noncompliance.” Translation: scofflawry at the top.³⁶
美国人习惯认为，法律与秩序主要受到典型暴力犯罪的威胁。然而，每当美国法律的基石真正动摇之际，其原因往往在于，那些素来守法的普通公民开始想方设法地打法律的擦边球²⁷。一个主要的例证便是禁酒令²⁸时期。唐纳德·巴尔·奇德西²⁹在其著作《酒海沉浮录》³⁰中回忆道：“违法乱纪到头来不仅不让人痛苦，甚至都不曾令人不适，反而以一种温和且绝对安全的方式，使人兴奋不已。”人们最终得以废除禁酒令，不仅是因为酒精本身引发的争议，更是因为目无法纪的行为正严重侵蚀着政府的权威与合法根基。讽刺的是，无论其根源为何，如今这种目无法纪的风气，却在无意中受到各级政府的助长。警察未能执行某些法律仅仅是表面问题：他们的权力来自于他们所服务的官员和选民。更糟糕的是，大多数州的立法机构通过制定微不足道的罚款来弱化违法行为的严重性，从而变相削弱³¹了民众对联邦政府每小时五十五英里限速法规的遵守。在更高层面上，通过反对而非支持法院下达的某些废除种族隔离的判令，华盛顿当局将其废止民权法案的意图昭然若揭。《荒野》杂志措辞严厉地指出，环保组织有充分理由指控当局“因拒不执行环保法规，或以刻意纵容违规的方式执行法规，从而令法律形同虚设。”这简直是：上梁不正下梁歪。³²
The most disquieting thing about the scofflaw spirit is its extreme infectiousness. Only a terminally foolish society³⁷ would sit still and allow it to spread indefinitely.
这种目无法纪的风气，最令人忧虑之处在于其极强的蔓延性。只有一个愚不可及³³的社会，才会坐视此等歪风肆意蔓延而无动于衷。
Summary&Mindmap
English Summary The article discusses the rising phenomenon of "scofflawry" in the U.S., where millions of ordinary Americans, who don't consider themselves criminals, increasingly disregard minor laws. This ranges from littering and traffic violations (especially red-light running) to tax cheating and drug use. The author argues this isn't just a nuisance but a symptom of eroding social order, a "social demoralization," and a loss of respect for rules. This "scofflaw spirit" is deemed dangerous, infectious, and is sometimes unwittingly encouraged by government inaction or selective enforcement (e.g., weak penalties for speeding, non-enforcement of environmental or civil rights laws), potentially undermining the foundations of law and order, much like Prohibition did historically.
中文概括 本文探讨了美国日益普遍的“蔑视法律”（scofflawry）现象：数百万自认为非罪犯的普通民众越来越无视小型法规。这包括乱扔垃圾、交通违规（尤指闯红灯）、逃税及吸毒等。作者认为这不仅是滋扰，更是社会秩序败坏、“社会道德沦丧”及规则敬畏感丧失的表征。这种“蔑视法律的精神”被视为危险且具传染性，有时甚至因政府不作为或选择性执法（如超速罚款过轻、环境法或民权法执行不力）而无意中受到鼓励，可能像历史上的禁酒令时期一样，动摇法律与秩序的根基。
Analysis
"Yet it is painfully apparent¹ that millions of Americans who would never think of themselves as law-breakers, let alone criminals², are taking increasing liberties with the legal codes³ that are designed to protect and nourish their society⁴."
- 中文解释：然而，一个令人痛心的明显事实是，数百万美国人——他们甚至从不认为自己是违法者，更不用说是罪犯了——正在越来越随意地对待那些本应保护和滋养他们社会的法律条文。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构：这是一个由 "Yet"（然而）引导的转折句，主句是 "it is painfully apparent that..."，其中 "it" 是形式主语，真正的主语是 "that" 引导的从句。
- "painfully apparent"：直译是“痛苦地明显”，意指某事显而易见，且这一事实令人感到不快或担忧。
- "who would never think of themselves as law-breakers, let alone criminals"：这是一个修饰 "millions of Americans" 的定语从句。“那些从不认为自己是违法者的人，更不用说是罪犯了”。"let alone" 意为“更不用说，更谈不上”，表示程度的递进，强调这些人自我定位与行为的矛盾。
- "are taking increasing liberties with the legal codes"："take liberties with something" 是一个固定短语，意为“任意对待（规则、事实等）”，“不认真对待”，“篡改”。这里指他们越来越不把法律当回事，随意违反。
- "that are designed to protect and nourish their society"：修饰 "the legal codes" 的定语从句。“那些旨在保护和滋养（促进其健康发展）他们社会的（法律条文）”。"nourish"（滋养）在此处是比喻用法，强调法律对社会的积极构建作用。
- 难点：句子长，包含多个从句和固定短语，"painfully apparent" 和 "nourish" 的情感色彩和比喻用法需要理解。
"Indeed, there are moments today—amid outlaw litter, tax cheating, illicit noise and motorized anarchy— when it seems as though the scofflaw represents the wave of the future⁵."
- 中文解释：的确，在如今充斥着非法乱扔的垃圾、偷税漏税、违禁噪音和机动车乱象的某些时刻，蔑视法律的人仿佛代表了未来的趋势。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构：主句是 "there are moments today... when it seems..."。破折号之间的内容 "amid outlaw litter, tax cheating, illicit noise and motorized anarchy" 是一个插入语，具体描述了这些“时刻”的环境背景。
- "amid outlaw litter, tax cheating, illicit noise and motorized anarchy"：“amid”意为“在……之中”。"outlaw litter" 指非法的乱扔垃圾行为。"illicit noise" 指违法的噪音。"motorized anarchy" 指机动车辆造成的混乱无序状态，比如乱停乱放、横冲直撞等。这一连串名词短语描绘了社会失序的画面。
- "it seems as though the scofflaw represents the wave of the future"：“as though” 引导一个虚拟语气从句，表示“仿佛，好像”。"scofflaw" 指蔑视法律的人。"the wave of the future" 是一个习语，指未来的趋势或主导力量。这句话表达了一种悲观的看法：蔑视法律的行为如此普遍，以至于让人觉得这会成为未来的常态。
- 难点：插入语的理解，"motorized anarchy" 的抽象表达，以及 "wave of the future" 的引申义。
"Harvard Sociologist David Riesman⁶ suspects that a majority of Americans have blithely taken to committing supposedly minor derelictions as a matter of course⁷."
- 中文解释：哈佛大学社会学家戴维·里斯曼怀疑，大多数美国人已经满不在乎地、习以为常地犯下那些被认为是轻微的失职行为。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构：主句是 "David Riesman suspects that..."，"that" 引导一个宾语从句。
- "blithely"：副词，意为“无忧无虑地，漫不经心地，轻率地”，带有负面含义，指对本应严肃对待的事情采取了轻浮的态度。
- "taken to committing..."："take to doing something" 是一个固定短语，意为“开始（习惯性地）做某事，养成……的习惯”。
- "supposedly minor derelictions"："supposedly" 指“据称，按理说”，暗示这种看法可能不完全正确或有待商榷。"minor derelictions" 指轻微的玩忽职守、过失或违法行为。"Dereliction" 本身指失职、玩忽职守，这里引申为对社会责任或法律的忽视。
- "as a matter of course"：习语，意为“理所当然地，不足为奇地，照例”，强调这些行为已经变得常态化，人们不再觉得有什么不对。
- 难点：多个副词和短语的精确理解，特别是 "blithely", "taken to doing", "supposedly", "derelictions", 和 "as a matter of course" 的组合含义。
"If hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, then furtiveness is the true outlaw's salute to the force of law-and-order.²⁵"
- 中文解释：如果说伪善是邪恶向美德表达的敬意，那么（违法时的）偷偷摸摸则是真正的歹徒对法律与秩序力量的致敬。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构：这是一个 "If... then..." 条件句，前后两部分结构平行，都用了 "A is the B that X pays/salutes to Y" 的比喻形式。
- "hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue"：这是一句有名的格言（源自拉罗什富科），意思是伪善者虽然行为邪恶（vice），但他们试图掩盖自己的邪恶并装出有美德（virtue）的样子，这种行为本身就间接承认了美德的价值和力量，就像进贡（tribute）一样表示臣服和尊敬。
- "furtiveness is the true outlaw's salute to the force of law-and-order"：作者仿照前面的格言创造了这句话。"Furtiveness" 指鬼鬼祟祟，偷偷摸摸的行为。真正的歹徒（true outlaw）在违法时如果还知道要偷偷摸摸，说明他们内心依然承认和畏惧法律与秩序（law-and-order）的力量，这种偷偷摸摸就像一种致敬（salute）。
- 逻辑：这句话是为了引出下文对闯红灯者的批评。闯红灯者连偷偷摸摸都不屑于做，公然违法，表明他们对社会规则毫无敬畏之心。
- 难点：理解第一个分句的格言含义是关键。句子使用了高度抽象和比喻性的语言，"tribute" 和 "salute" 都是象征性的表达。
"For all their differences, today's scofflaws are of a piece²⁶ as a symptom of elementary social demoralization—the loss by individuals of the capacity to govern their own behavior in the interest of others."
- 中文解释：尽管如今这些蔑视法律的人形形色色，但作为一种基本的社会道德沦丧——即个人丧失了为了他人利益而约束自身行为的能力——的表征，他们本质上是一致的。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构："For all their differences" 是让步状语，意为“尽管他们有各种不同”。主句是 "today's scofflaws are of a piece"。破折号后面的内容是对 "elementary social demoralization" 的进一步解释。
- "are of a piece"：习语，意为“如出一辙的，性质相同的，一致的”。指尽管表现形式多样，但其本质是相同的。
- "as a symptom of elementary social demoralization"：“作为一种基本的社会道德沦丧的症状/表征”。"Elementary" 在这里指基础的、根本的。"Demoralization" 指士气低落、道德败坏、纪律涣散。
- "—the loss by individuals of the capacity to govern their own behavior in the interest of others."：这部分解释了什么是“基本的社会道德沦丧”：个人丧失了为了他人（集体）的利益而自我约束和管理行为的能力。强调了利己主义的抬头和社会责任感的缺失。
- 难点：习语 "of a piece" 的理解。长句中包含让步状语、同位语解释以及抽象名词（demoralization, capacity, interest）的准确把握。
"With considerable justification, environmental groups, in the words of Wilderness magazine, accuse the Administration of 'destroying environmental laws by failing to enforce them, or by enforcing them in ways that deliberately encourage noncompliance.’ Translation: scofflawry at the top.³⁶"
- 中文解释：环保组织引用《荒野》杂志的话，指责（美国）行政当局“因未能执行环保法律，或以故意鼓励违规的方式执行法律，从而破坏了这些法律”，这是有充分理由的。一言以蔽之：顶层带头违法。
- 详尽解析：
- 结构：主句是 "environmental groups... accuse the Administration of..."。"With considerable justification" 是句首状语，强调指控的合理性。"in the words of Wilderness magazine" 是插入语，说明引言出处。引号内是具体的指控内容。最后的 "Translation: scofflawry at the top" 是作者对此的总结性评论。
- "With considerable justification"：“有充分的理由/依据”。
- "accuse the Administration of 'destroying environmental laws by failing to enforce them, or by enforcing them in ways that deliberately encourage noncompliance.'"：指控行政当局通过两种方式破坏环境法：一是不去执行（failing to enforce）；二是以某种方式执行，但这种执行方式实际上是在故意鼓励人们不遵守法律（deliberately encourage noncompliance）。
- "Translation: scofflawry at the top."：“Translation” 在这里不是指语言翻译，而是“也就是说，换句话说，简而言之”。"scofflawry at the top" 指的是身居高位者、政府当局自己就在蔑视和破坏法律。这是一种非常尖锐的批评，点明了上行下效的负面影响。
- 难点：句式复杂，包含状语、插入语、直接引语。理解 "Translation" 在此处的特殊用法，以及 "scofflawry at the top" 这一精炼总结的深刻含义——即政府自身成为了蔑视法律的示范者。