纽约时报：造假泛滥危及中国崛起
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爱思英语编者按：张悟本、唐骏、肖传国……一个个曾经声名显赫的名字如今都成为了造假丑闻的男一号。学生考试作弊，飞行员篡改飞行记录，乳品公司销售有毒奶粉等弥漫于中国社会的造假现象令中国老百姓绝望：到底什么事情是真的？我们还应该相信谁？
No one disputes Zhang Wuben’s talents as a salesman. Through television shows, DVDs and a best-selling book, he convinced millions of people that raw eggplant and immense quantities of mung beans could cure lupus, diabetes, depression and cancer. 北京——没有人质疑张悟本在推销方面的天赋。通过一系列电视节目、DVD和一本畅销书，他成功地使数百万人相信，吃生茄子和大量绿豆能够治愈红斑狼疮、糖尿病、抑郁症和癌症。 For $450, seriously ill patients could buy a 10-minute consultation and a prescription — except Mr. Zhang, one of the most popular practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, was booked through 2012. 重病患者需要花450美元，才能购买到张悟本10分钟的咨询服务和一份处方——只不过这位最受欢迎的中医大师的就诊预约已经排到了2012年末。 But when the price of mung beans skyrocketed this spring, Chinese journalists began digging deeper. They learned that contrary to his claims, Mr. Zhang, 47, was not from a long line of doctors (his father was a weaver). Nor did he earn a degree from Beijing Medical University (his only formal education, it turned out, was the brief correspondence course he took after losing his job at a textile mill). 但今年春天，狂飙猛进的绿豆价格驱使一些记者开始调查这一现象背后的深层原因。他们了解到的事实跟张悟本所言完全相反。47岁的张悟本并非来自中医世家（他的父亲是一位针织工人）。他也没有从北京医科大学获得过学位——事实上，张悟本唯一接受的正规教育，是从一家针织厂下岗后参加的一项短期函授课程。 The exposure of Mr. Zhang’s faked credentials provoked a fresh round of hand-wringing over what many scholars and Chinese complain are the dishonest practices that permeate society, including students who cheat on college entrance exams, scholars who promote fake or unoriginal research, and dairy companies that sell poisoned milk to infants. 张悟本资历造假事件的曝光进一步加剧了公众对于许多学者和中国人所抱怨的，盛行于中国社会的各种歪门邪道的绝望之感。这些不诚实的做法包括，学生高考作弊，学者宣扬伪造或非原创的研究成果，乳品企业向婴儿出售有毒牛奶。 The most recent string of revelations has been bracing. After a plane crash in August killed 42 people in northeast China, officials discovered that 100 pilots who worked for the airline’s parent company had falsified their flying histories. Then there was the padded résumé of Tang Jun, the millionaire former head of Microsoft China and something of a national hero, who falsely claimed to have received a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology. 近期的一系列造假事件令人目不暇接。8月份，发生在中国东北的一起坠机事故导致42人死亡，官员在事后的调查中发现，为这家航空公司母公司工作的100位飞行员曾经篡改过各自的飞行记录。此外，还有唐骏学历造假事件。这位微软(中国)有限公司前总裁，有“打工皇帝”之称的百万富翁谎称自己拥有美国加州理工学院颁发的计算机科学博士学位。 Few countries are immune to high-profile frauds. Illegal doping in sports and malfeasance on Wall Street are running scandals in the United States. But in China, fakery in one area in particular — education and scientific research — is pervasive enough that many here worry it could make it harder for the country to climb the next rung on the economic ladder. 很少有哪个国家能够避免轰动一时的欺诈事件。运动员服用兴奋剂，以及华尔街的不法行径，均是在美国盛行的丑闻。但在中国，教育和科学研究这一特定领域的造假行为简直无处不在，以至于许多中国人担心，这有可能进一步加大中国攀登下一个经济阶梯的难度。 A Lack of Integrity 诚信的缺失 China devotes significant resources to building a world-class education system and pioneering research in competitive industries and sciences, and has had notable successes in network computing, clean energy, and military technology. But a lack of integrity among researchers is hindering China’s potential and harming collaboration between Chinese scholars and their international counterparts, scholars in China and abroad say. 为了建设世界一流的教育体系，在优势产业和科技领域取得开创性的研究成果，中国投入了巨大的人力物力，并且在网络计算、清洁能源和军事技术等领域取得了令人瞩目的成就。但研究人员缺乏诚信这一事实正在阻碍中国发挥其科研潜力，也对中国学者和国际同行的交流合作构成伤害，海内外的学者表示。 “If we don’t change our ways, we will be excluded from the global academic community,” said Zhang Ming, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “We need to focus on seeking truth, not serving the agenda of some bureaucrat or satisfying the desire for personal profit.” “如果我们不改变现在的行为方式，我们将被排除在国际学术圈之外，”中国人民大学国际关系学教授张鸣说。“我们需要把关注的重点放在追求真理上面，而不是服务于一些官僚的隐秘意图，或满足一些人的私利。” Pressure on scholars by administrators of state-run universities to earn journal citations — a measure of innovation — has produced a deluge of plagiarized or fabricated research. In December, a British journal that specializes in crystal formations announced that it was withdrawing more than 70 papers by Chinese authors whose research was of questionable originality or rigor. 国营大学的学者在学校管理者的重压之下，不得不竭力赚取期刊引用率（这是衡量创新的尺度之一），进而导致剽窃或捏造研究成果在中国学术界泛滥成灾。去年12月，一家研究晶体生长的英国杂志宣布，该刊打算撤回70多篇出自中国作者之手的论文，并且称，这些研究的原创性或严谨程度存在可疑之处。 In an editorial published earlier this year, The Lancet, the British medical journal, warned that faked or plagiarized research posed a threat to President Hu Jintao’s vow to make China a “research superpower” by 2020. 在今年早些时候发布的一篇社论中，英国医学期刊《柳叶刀》（TheLancet）警告称，剽窃或捏造研究成果已经对胡锦涛主席意欲在2020年前让中国成为“科研强国”这一愿景构成威胁。 “Clearly, China’s government needs to take this episode as a cue to reinvigorate standards for teaching research ethics and for the conduct of the research itself,” the editorial said. Last month a collection of scientific journals published by Zhejiang University in Hangzhou reignited the firestorm by publicizing results from a 20-month experiment with software that detects plagiarism. The software, called CrossCheck, rejected nearly a third of all submissions on suspicion that the content was pirated from previously published research. In some cases, more than 80 percent of a paper’s content was deemed unoriginal. “显然，中国政府需要将这一事件作为重塑教学科研道德规范及研究行为自身规范的契机，”这篇社论这样写道。上个月，《浙江大学学报（英文版）》公布了该刊使用反剽窃软件进行为期20个月实验的结果，再次激起轩然大波。这款名为CrossCheck拒绝了差不多三分之一的来稿，怀疑其内容抄袭自此前已经发布的论文。有些论文超过80%的内容被测出非原创成果。 The journals’ editor, Zhang Yuehong, emphasized that not all the flawed papers originated in China, although she declined to reveal the breakdown of submissions. “Some were from South Korea, India and Iran,” she said. 该刊执行总编张月红强调指出，并非所有的问题论文都源自中国，但她拒绝透露这些遭拒来稿的明细表。“一些来自韩国、印度河伊朗，”她说。 The journals, which specialize in medicine, physics, engineering and computer science, were the first in China to use the software. For the moment they are the only ones to do so, Ms. Zhang said.
Plagiarism and Fakery 剽窃和捏造 Her findings are not surprising if one considers the results of a recent government study in which a third of the 6,000 scientists at six of the nation’s top institutions admitted they had engaged in plagiarism or the outright fabrication of research data. In another study of 32,000 scientists last summer by the China Association for Science and Technology, more than 55 percent said they knew someone guilty of academic fraud. 鉴于近期政府部门的调查结果，她的发现并不令人惊讶。这项调研发现，在中国6家顶尖科研机构的6千名科学家当中，有三分之一的人承认自己曾经剽窃或捏造过科研数据。在中国科协去年夏天对3.2万名科学家所做的另一项调研中，超过55%的受访者表示自己身边有学术欺诈行为。 Fang Shimin, a muckraking writer who has become a well-known advocate for academic integrity, said the problem started with the state-run university system, where politically appointed bureaucrats have little expertise in the fields they oversee. Because competition for grants, housing perks and career advancement is so intense, officials base their decisions on the number of papers published. 因推动学术诚信，专揭学术黑幕而备受关注的作家方是民表示，造假问题源自国营大学的体制：在这些大学中，出于政治原因任命的官僚几乎不具备其所监管领域的学术知识。由于项目拨款、房屋补贴和职务晋升方面的竞争激烈异常，官员们只得将学者发表的论文数量作为决策依据。 “Even fake papers count because nobody actually reads them,” said Mr. Fang, who is more widely known by his pen name, Fang Zhouzi, and whose Web site, New Threads, has exposed more than 900 instances of fakery, some involving university presidents and nationally lionized researchers. “甚至造假的论文也算数，因为根本就没有人阅读这些论文，”方先生说。公众更为熟知的是他的笔名方舟子，及其创办的“新语丝”网站。这家网站已揭露了900多起学术造假事件，其中一些涉及大学校长和全国知名学者。 When plagiarism is exposed, colleagues and school leaders often close ranks around the accused. Mr. Fang said this was partly because preserving relationships trumped protecting the reputation of the institution. But the other reason, he said, is more sobering: Few academics are clean enough to point a finger at others. One result is that plagiarizers often go unpunished, which only encourages more of it, said Zeng Guoping, director of the Institute of Science Technology and Society at Tsinghua University in Beijing, which helped run the survey of 6,000 academics. 当剽窃行为被曝光时，同事和校领导经常紧密团结在被指控者周围。方舟子表示，出现这种情况的部分原因是，维护同事关系要比保护单位声誉更为重要。但还有另一个更重要的原因：没有哪个学者干净到了能够指责他人造假的程度。结果之一就是，剽窃者往往可以逍遥法外，这只会鼓励更多的造假行为，清华大学人文社科学院科技与社会研究所所长曾国屏表示。 He cited the case of Chen Jin, a computer scientist who was once celebrated for having invented a sophisticated microprocessor but who, it turned out, had taken a chip made by Motorola, scratched out its name, and claimed it as his own. After Mr. Chen was showered with government largess and accolades, the exposure in 2006 was an embarrassment for the scientific establishment that backed him. 他援引了陈进的例子。这位研究计算机的科学家曾经因发明一种高端微处理器而名声大噪。但事实证明，他只不过拿了一枚摩托罗拉公司制造的芯片，去除掉上面的商标，声称这是自己的研究成果而已。这起造假事件于2006年的曝光，让此前支持陈进，并给予其丰厚奖赏和赞誉的政府科研部门尴尬无比。 But even though Mr. Chen lost his university post, he was never prosecuted. “When people see the accused still driving their flashy cars, it sends the wrong message,” Mr. Zeng said. 但陈进虽然失去了大学教职，但并没有受到指控。“当人们看到造假者依然驾驶豪华轿车，大行其道时，他们也就得到了一个错误的讯息，”曾国屏说。 The problem is not confined to the realm of science. In fact many educators say the culture of cheating takes root in high school, where the competition for slots in the country’s best colleges is unrelenting and high marks on standardized tests are the most important criterion for admission. Ghost-written essays and test questions can be bought. So, too, can a “hired gun” test taker who will assume the student’s identity for the grueling two-day college entrance exam. 造假问题并不仅仅局限于科技领域。事实上，许多教育工作者表示，作弊文化在中学校园中已生根发芽。进入全国一流大学的竞争异常惨烈，而在标准化考试中获得高分是这些大学最重要录取标准。由他人代笔的作文，以及考试题目都是可以买到的，假冒学生身份参加高考的“枪手”也是可以花钱雇佣的。 Then there are the gadgets — wristwatches and pens embedded with tiny cameras — that transmit signals to collaborators on the outside who then relay back the correct answers. Even if such products are illegal, students spent $150 million last year on Internet essays and high-tech subterfuge, a fivefold increase over 2007, according to a Wuhan University study, which identified 800 Web sites offering such illicit services. 此外，还有类似于手表、置入微型照相机等设备供考生选择——考生使用这些设备向考场外的合作者传递信号，这些合作者随后向考生传回正确答案。虽然这些设备都是非法的，但武汉大学进行的一项研究显示，中国学生去年在网络上购买论文和高科技作弊工具所花费的资金高达1.5亿美元，是2007年的5倍。这所大学发现了800个提供这类非法服务的网站。 Academic deceit is not limited to high school students. In July, Centenary College, a New Jersey institution with satellite branches in China and Taiwan, shuttered its business schools in Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei after finding rampant cheating among students. Although school administrators declined to discuss the nature of the misconduct, it was serious enough to withhold degrees from each of the programs’ 400 students. Given a chance to receive their M.B.A.’s by taking another exam, all but two declined, school officials said. 学术欺诈并不限于高中生。7月份，新泽西圣塔利大学（Centenary College）在发现蔚然成风的作弊现象之后，关闭了该校在上海、北京和台北等地开办的商学院。尽管校方不愿谈论不端行为的性质，但从该校扣留了全部400名学生的学位证书这一举动可以看出事态的严重性。在校方给予这些学生再考一次，以获得其MBA学位的机会之后，只有两位学生没有拒绝，学校官员表示。 Nonchalant Cheating 若无其事的作弊态度 Ask any Chinese student about academic skullduggery and the response is startlingly nonchalant. Arthur Lu, an engineering student who last spring graduated from Tsinghua University, considered a plum of the country’s college system, said it was common for students to swap test answers or plagiarize essays from one another. “Perhaps it’s a cultural difference but there is nothing bad or embarrassing about it,” said Mr. Lu, who started this semester on a master’s degree at Stanford University. “It’s not that students can’t do the work. They just see it as a way of saving time.” 随便问一位中国学生对于学术欺骗的看法，其若无其事的态度会让你非常震惊。一位去年毕业于中国顶尖学府清华大学工程专业的陆姓学生说，学生交换考试答案或者抄袭他人论文，是非常普遍的现象。“或许这是一种文化差异吧，这没什么不对，没啥不好意思的，”这位已经开始在斯坦福大学攻读硕士学位的学生说。“并不是学生没有能力做，他们只不过认为，这样做可以节省时间。” The Chinese government has vowed to address the problem. Editorials in the state-run press frequently condemn plagiarism and last month, Liu Yandong, a powerful Politburo member who oversees Chinese publications, vowed to close some of the 5,000 academic journals whose sole existence, many scholars say, is to provide an outlet for doctoral students and professors eager to inflate their publishing credentials. 中国政府声称一定要解决这一问题。官方媒体的社论时常严厉谴责剽窃行为。上个月，主管中国出版事务的政治局委员刘延东表示，政府决定关闭5千家学术期刊中的一些。许多专家说，很多学术期刊存在的唯一目的就是向渴望积累论文数量的博士生和教授提供一个发表文章的载体。 Fang Shimin and another crusading journalist, Fang Xuanchang, have heard the vows and threats before. In 2004 and again in 2006, the Ministry of Education announced antifraud campaigns but the two bodies they established to tackle the problem have yet to mete out any punishments. 政府的此类誓言，方舟子和另一位揭露学术黑幕的记者方玄昌此前也听到过。2004年和2006年，教育部曾两度高调启动打击学术欺诈的活动，但专门为此设立的两个机构，直至现在还没有出台任何一项惩罚措施。 In recent years, both journalists have taken on Xiao Chuanguo, a urologist who invented a surgical procedure aimed at restoring bladder function in children with spina bifida, a congenital deformation of the spinal column that can lead to incontinence, and when untreated, kidney failure and death. 近几年，他们两位将打假的矛头指向了肖传国。这位泌尿科专家发明了一种可以恢复脊柱裂（一种会使患者小便失禁的先天性脊柱畸形，如不治疗，将导致肾衰竭，乃至死亡）患儿膀胱功能的手术。 In a series of investigative articles and blog postings, the two men uncovered discrepancies in Dr. Xiao’s Web site, including claims that he had published 26 articles in English-language journals (they could only find four) and that he had won an achievement award from the American Urological Association (the award was for an essay he wrote). 在一系列调查文章和博客帖子上，这两人揭露了肖医生网站所述的不实之处，比如他声称自己在英文期刊上发表了26篇论文（他们只发现了4篇），获得过一项由美国泌尿学会颁发的成就奖（其实是对他所写的一篇文章的奖励） But even more troubling, they said, were assertions that his surgery had an 85 percent success rate. Of more than 100 patients interviewed, they said none reported having been cured of incontinence, with nearly 40 percent saying their health had worsened after the procedure, which involved rerouting a leg nerve to the bladder. (In early trials, doctors in the United States who have done the surgery have found the results to be far more promising.) 但更令人不安的是，肖医生声称他的手术成功率高达85%。在他们所采访的100多名病人当中，没有一个病人表示其小便失禁已被治愈，差不多40%的病人表示，在接受完手术（这个手术需要将一根腿部神经重新传导至膀胱里）之后，他们的健康出现恶化迹象。 Wherever the truth may have been, Dr. Xiao was incensed. He filed a string of libel suits against Fang Shimin and told anyone who would listen that revenge would be his. 不管真相如何，肖医生的确被激怒了。他对方舟子提起了一系列诽谤指控，见人就说他一定要报复。 This summer both men were brutally attacked on the street in Beijing — Fang Xuanchang by thugs with an iron bar and Fang Shimin by two men wielding pepper spray and a hammer. 今年夏天，这两人先后在北京街头遭遇暴力袭击——方玄昌被两个持钢筋的陌生人袭击打伤；方舟子在北京住家附近被两人用辣椒水、羊角锤袭击。 When the police arrested Dr. Xiao on Sept. 21, he quickly confessed to hiring the men to carry out the attack, according to the police report. His reason, he said, was vengeance for the revelations he blames for blocking his appointment to the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences. 当肖传国于9月21日被警方逮捕之后，他对致使他人袭击方玄昌、方舟子一事供认不讳。肖传国表示，这样做是为了报复，他认为这两人的行为致使其落选中科院院士。 Despite his confession, Dr. Xiao’s employer, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, appeared unwilling to take any action against him. In the statement they released, administrators said they were shocked by news of his arrest but said they would await the outcome of judicial procedures before severing their ties to him. 尽管肖传国已经认罪，但他所在的华中科技大学似乎并不愿意对其采取任何行动。校方负责人在一份声明中表示，肖传国被捕的消息令他们感到万分震惊，但只有在等候司法程序的结果出来之后，他们才会考虑是否与其断绝关系。
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Fang Shimin, also known by his pen name, Fang Zhouzi, exposes academic fakery in China on his Web site, New Threads. 
