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2024年4月16日发(作者：杨戬是天界第一战神)
A Red Light for Scofflaws
Law-and-order is the longest-running and probably the best-loved political
issue in . 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 legal 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
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: “You're 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 public 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 laws 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 in 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
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 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
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