写在前面

Hi，我是新海，一个正在备战的考研人。
最近需要进行大量的考研专项阅读，于是萌生了一个翻译计划，准备翻译1986——2018年所有阅读，通过大量的阅读训练来熟悉考研单词，短语以及语法，更深刻理解考研阅读。

下面是我的第20篇，所有中文释义，均是由本人整理翻译，当然也有不够完善的地方，欢迎大家评论补充。

A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people.
一个智者曾经说过，邪恶的胜利所必需的只有善良的人无所事事。所以，作为一名警官，我有一些紧急的事情要对好人说。
Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.
日复一日，我和我的男人们竭力抗拒犯罪浪潮。我们曾经自豪的美国生活方式，已经出了严重的问题。它发生在价值领域。一个关键因素正在消失，我想我知道它是什么：问责制。
Accountability isn’t hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.
问责制不难界定。这意味着每个人对自己的行为负责，对他们的后果负责。
Of the many values that hold civilization together -- honesty, kindness, and so on -- accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law -- and, ultimately, no society.
在维系文明的众多价值中——诚实、善良等等——责任可能是最重要的。没有它，就没有尊重，没有信任，没有法律——最终，没有社会。
My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.
我作为一名警官的职责是对那些拒绝或从未学会将责任强加给自己的人施加责任。但是每个警察都知道，外部对人们行为的控制远不如内部约束（如内疚、羞耻和尴尬）有效。
Fortunately there are still communities -- smaller towns, usually -- where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: “In this family certain things are not tolerated -- they simply are not done!”
幸运的是，仍有一些社区——通常是小城镇——学校维持纪律，家长们坚持标准，宣称：“在这个家庭里，某些事情是不能容忍的——他们根本不做！“
Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you enrage him.
然而，越来越多的人，尤其是在我们更大的城市和郊区，这些内在的约束正在放松。你典型的强盗没有。他认为你的财产是他的财产，他拿走了他想要的东西，包括你的生活，如果你激怒了他。
The main cause of this break-down is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home.
造成这种局面的主要原因是态度上的彻底转变。三十年前，如果犯罪，社会被认为是受害者。现在，一个令人震惊的逆转是，罪犯被认为是受害者：受他贫困的教育，没教他读书的学校，没能得到道德指导的教堂，没有提供稳定家庭的父母。
I don’t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything.
我不相信。在处境不利的情况下，许多人选择不从事犯罪活动。如果我们将罪犯，甚至部分从责任中解脱出来，我们就会变成一个无穷无尽的借口社会，没有人会为任何事情承担责任。
We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.
在美国，我们迫切需要更多的人相信犯罪者是罪魁祸首。

• necessary for对…是必要的
• police officer警察
• good people仙女们; 良
• Day after day一天又一天地，日复一日地; 连日; 累日
• American way of life美国生活方式
• in the area of在…领域
• key ingredient关键字组成部分
• know what it is深知其中滋味，亲身经历过
• responsible for为…负责，是造成…的原因
• most important至要

写在最后

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作者：新海
11月18日晚