特别广播英语第 84 课：You Can't Do It Because It Hurts Nobody
并不能因为没有伤害到任何人，你就可以干坏事-3

Yet, when it comes to respecting the rights of a mass of anonymous individuals, we might not be so responsible. 这些观念使我们不能为了改善自己的生活而去伤害他人。然而，当涉及到尊重众多的无名小辈的权利时，我们很可能就不那么认真负责地对待这些问题了。

While most people would not steal a wallet containing $50, they may not mind cheating on taxes, because cheating on taxes does not hurt any one person. 尽管绝大多数人不会去偷窃里面装有50美元的一个男用皮钱包，但是他们很可能在交税方面有欺骗行为，偷税漏税。为偷税漏税不会伤害任何一个具体的人。

It hurts society, but "society" remains an abstract idea that is not as real as a neighbor or a friend's friend. 因偷税漏税伤害到社会，不过"社会"仍然是个抽象概念，社会并不像某位邻居或某朋友的朋友那样具体的人。

Perhaps this is why someone who robs a few dollars by force from a corner store will often end up with a longer jail term than a fraud artist who swindles thousands of dollars: threatening the life of an individual is not acceptable in our society. 也许这就是之所以一个人从街拐角的一家商店里抢劫力三两美元，其后果常常要比诈骗了数千美元的冒牌艺术家蹲监狱的刑期还长的原因：用武力来威胁任何一个人的生命在我们的社会里都是根本不能允许的。

When we look at the questions in the first paragraph and realize that many people have misconceptions about law-breaking, we could think it is surprising that only about 10% of Canadians have a criminal record. 当我们看了本文第一段中的几个问题并且我们意识到了许多人对犯法这一概念有错误的理解之后，加拿大人只有百分之十的人有过前科，这一点非常令人吃惊。

How could we improve the level of honesty in our society? 我们怎样和能让我们的社会中的人变得更加诚实呢？

Would a larger police force keep everyone honest? 扩大警力的队伍会让每个人都诚实吗？

Would severe laws help make our society better? 严厉的法律有助至高无上我们把社会搞得更好一些吗？

Probably not. The police would never be able to keep an eye on everyone, and people would still find ways to bend new laws. 未必会吧。警察们永远也不会用眼睛盯着每一个人，人们总会找出种种办法去曲解新颁布的法律条文。

Honesty will have to come from social pressure: in the family, at school, on the job, each and every one of us can encourage honesty by showing which behaviors are unacceptable. 诚实将不得不来自社会上的压力：在家里，在学校，在工作岗位上，我们每个人以及我们全体都要鼓励诚实的言行。要表明哪些行为是人们所不能接受的。

Teaching respect should become everyone's responsibility. 教会人们尊重别人也教会人们自我尊重，应该成为每个人的职责。