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1、A Red Light for Scofflaws Law-and-order is the longest-running and probably the best-loved political issue in U.S. history. Yet it is painfully apparent 2 that millions of Americans who would never think of themselves as lawbreakers, let alone criminals, are taking increasing liberties with the lega
2、l codes that are designed to protect and nourish their society. 3 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 future. 4 Harvard Sociologist David Riesman suspects that a majority
3、 of Americans have blithely taken to committing supposedly minor derelictions as a matter of course. Already, Riesman says, the ethic of U.S. society is in danger of becoming this: “Youre a fool if you obey the rules.” 法律和秩序，可以说是美国历史上历时最久、或许还是人们最爱谈论的政治问题。然而，说来痛心，显然有成百万从来没有想过自己会违法更不用说犯罪的美国人，对于遵守那些旨在保
4、护和维持他们的社会的法律条文，却愈来愈表现得放肆起来。今天，随处乱扔拉圾、逃税、违禁噪音，以及开汽车的无序状态，真是比比皆是；有时简直使人觉得，玩忽法令者似乎代表了未来的潮流。哈佛大学的社会学者戴维里斯曼认为，大多数美国人都不以为然、毫无顾忌地喜欢犯些所谓的小过失。里期曼说，今天美国社会的道德规范已差不多快变成“谁守法谁就是傻瓜”了。Nothing could be more obvious than the evidence supporting Riesman. Scofflaws abound in amazing variety. 5 The graffiti-prone turn p
5、ublic surfaces into visual rubbish. Bicyclists often ride as though two-wheeled vehicles are exempt from all traffic laws. 6 Litterbugs convert their communities into trash dumps. Widespread flurries of ordinances have failed to clear public places of high-decibel portable radios, just as earlier la
6、ws failed to wipe out the beer-soaked hooliganism that plagues many parks. 7 Tobacco addicts remain hopelessly blind to signs that say NO SMOKING. Respectably dressed pot smokers no longer bother to duck out of public sight to pass around a joint. The flagrant use of cocaine is a festering scandal i
7、n middle and upper-class life. And then there are (hello, everybody!) 8 the jaywalkers. 里斯曼的论断，随处都可得到极为充分的证实。玩忽法令者形形色色，令人吃惊。喜欢在公共场所乱涂乱写的人，把这些地方弄得满目疮痍。骑自行车无拘无束，仿佛两轮车就可以不遵守交通规则似的。随处乱扔拉圾的人把他们的居住区变成了拉圾堆。到处张贴的禁令，也未能使公共场所免于手提收音机的高分贝噪音的污染，正如前些日子颁布禁令，禁止灌醉啤酒的流氓滋扰公园，竟毫无作用一样。瘾君子对那些“禁止吸烟”的布告牌视若无睹。衣冠楚楚的大麻烟客传递毒品也
8、不再躲躲闪闪，避人耳目。可卡因毒品泛滥，成了中上层社会中愈来愈恼人的丑闻。当然，还有那些不遵守交通规则，乱穿马路的人。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
9、fare beater on the subway presents less threat to life than the landlord who ignores fire safety statutes. 9 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
10、 public nuisance. 10 The hazards range from routine double parking 11 that jams city streets to the drunk driving that kills some 25,000 people and injures at least 650,000 others yearly. 12 Illegal speeding on open highways? New surveys show that on some interstate highways 83% of all drivers are c
11、urrently ignoring the federal 55 m .p. h. speed limit. 玩忽法令的危害有轻有重。在人行道上随地吐痰，当然是令人讨厌的；但与那些大工厂在非指定地点违法掩埋化学废料的作法相比，其对公众的危害则要小多了。乘地下火车不买票，当然不会象房东老板无视防火安全条文那样会危及人的生命安全。然而正是这些极常见的玩忽法令行为，其为害却最直接最严重。罪魁祸首要算那些无法无天的驾驶汽车的美国人，其所做所为成了今天的巨大公害。这种危害，从日常的双重停车 ( 指把车停在业已顺停在路边的车辆的旁边译注 ) ，致使交通阻塞，到酒后开车，导致每年车祸死亡 25,000 人，
12、伤者至少 65 万人。高速公路上超速行驶的情况又是怎样呢 ? 据近期统计，某些州际高速公路上，通常有 83% 的开车人都无视联邦政府关于最高时速 55 英里的规定。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
13、” .The power of the stoplight to control traffic seems to be waning everywhere. In Los Angeles, red-light running has become perhaps the citys most common traffic violation. In New York City, going through an intersection is like Russian roulette. Admits Police Commissioner Robert J. Mc Guire: “Toda
14、y its a 50-50 tossup as to whether people will stop for a red light.” Meanwhile, his own police largely ignore the lawbreaking. 最明目张胆的藐视法律的行径要算闯红灯了。在波士顿，无视停车信号的状况已经严重到了如此程度，以至在当地居民中流传着这样一个趣闻：一位出租汽车司机竟然坚持说，红灯只不过是“街头的装饰品而已”。停车指示灯控制交通的能力，似乎处处都在减弱。在洛杉矶，闯红灯恐怕要算该市最常见的交通违章现象。在纽约市，通过交叉路口就象玩俄国轮盘赌 ( 参加者轮流用一支只
15、装有一颗子弹的左轮手枪向自己头部扣动扳机译注 ) ，不知何时就会出事。警察局长罗伯特麦克盖尔承认：“如今红灯亮了是否停车，就象玩掷币游戏，机会各一半。”而他署下的警察，对这种违章行为大都视而不见。Red-light running has always been ranked as a minor wrong, and so it may be in individual instances. 13 When the violation becomes habitual, widespread and incessant, however, a great deal more than a t
16、raffic management problem is involved. The flouting of basic rules of the road leaves deep dents in the social mood. Innocent drivers and pedestrians pay a repetitious price in frustration, inconvenience and outrage, not to mention a justified sense of mortal peril. 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 outlaws salute to the force of la
