蔑视法令之风不可长(A Red Light for Scofflaws)
提出-
蔑视法令之风不可长
!
A Red Light for Scofflaws
[1]
法律和秩序，可以说是美国历史上历时最久、最为人津
津乐道的政治问题。然而，十分
明显的事实是，那些数以百万计从未把自己当成违法者<
/p>
,
更不用当成犯罪的美国人，对于旨
在保
护和维护社会的法律，却变得愈来愈放肆起来。今天，乱扔垃圾、逃税、违禁噪音，以
及
汽车驾驶者的肆无忌惮混乱无序，
真是比比皆是；
有时简直使人
觉得，
蔑视法律者似乎代
表了未来的潮流。哈佛大学的社会学者
戴维
·
莱斯曼认为，大多数美国人对犯些所谓的小过
失习以为常，不以为耻反以为乐，认为是理所当然。莱期曼说，今天美国社会的风气已差不
多快变成
“
谁守法谁就是傻瓜
< br>”
了。
[1]
Law-and-order is the longest-running and probably
the best-loved political
issue in U.S.
history. Yet it is painfully apparent 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. 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.
Harvard
Sociologist
David
Riesman suspects that a majority of
Americans have blithely
(blithe: 1.
very happy or
cheerful;
2.
heedless;
casual
and
indifferent)
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.”
[2]
支持莱斯曼的论断证据最为
明显不过。蔑视法令者形形色色，五花八门。喜欢在公共
场所乱涂乱写的人，
把公共墙面变成了视觉垃圾。
骑自行车无视道路规则，
仿佛两轮车就可
以不遵守交通规则似的。
随处乱扔垃圾的人
把他们的居住区变成了垃圾堆。
大量的法令也未
能使公共场所免
于手提收音机的高分贝噪音的滋扰，
正如从从前的禁令无法消除滋扰很多公
园的啤酒醉酒者的酒后闹事行为。
吸烟者对那些
“<
/p>
禁止吸烟
”
的告示牌视若无睹
,
无可救药。
衣
冠楚楚的
大麻烟客传递大麻烟卷不再费事去躲躲闪闪，
避人耳目。
可卡因
毒品泛滥，
成了中
上层社会中令人恶心
)
的丑闻。当然，还有那些不遵守交通规则，乱穿马路的人。
[2]
Nothing could be more obvious than the evidence
supporting
Riesman. Scofflaws
abound
in
amazing
variety.
The
graffiti-prone
turn
public
surfaces
into
visual
rubbish.
Bicyclists
often
ride
as
though
two-wheeled
vehicles
are
exempt
from
all
traffic
laws.
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
(
酒后闹事
) that plagues many
parks. Tobacco
addicts remain
hopelessly blind to signs that say NO SMOKING.
Respectably dressed pot
smokers no
longer bother to duck out of
(
逃避
) 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!) the
jaywalkers.
[3]
蔑视法令的危害有轻有重。
在人行道上随地吐痰固然令人恶心，但与那些在未经许可
的地点违法掩埋化学废料的公司
相比，
其对公众的危害则要小多了。
乘地铁逃票对生命的危
险当然不会像无视防火安全条文的客店房东那样大。
然而可能造成最
直接可以感觉得到的危
害的蔑视法律的行为恰好也是最显著的，
其罪魁祸首就是美国的驾车人，
其目无法律的行为
已构成今天的
巨大公害。
这种有害行为包括致使交通阻塞的经常性双重停车
(
指把车停在业
已顺停在路边的车辆的
旁边
——
译注
)
和导致每年
25,000
人死亡
65
万人伤残的酒后开车。
公路上超速行驶的情况又是怎样呢
?
据近期统计，某些州际公路上，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。
[3] 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. The
most
immediately
and
measurably
(
可测量、可感知的
)
dangerous
scofflawry,
however,
also happens
to
be the
most
visible. The
culprit is the
American
driver, whose
lawless
activities
today
add
up
to
(
构成
)
a
colossal
public
nuisance.
The
hazards
range
from
routine double parking
that jams city streets to the drunk driving that
kills some 25,000
people and
injures
at least
650,000
others
yearly.
Illegal
speeding
on
open
highways?
New
surveys
show
that
on
some
interstate
highways
83%
of
all
drivers
are
currently
ignoring the
federal 55 m .p.h. speed limit.
[4]
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，<
/p>
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，
通过交叉路口就像玩俄国转
轮盘赌博
(
参加者轮流用一支只装有一颗子弹的左轮手枪向
自己头部扣动扳机
——
译注
)
，
极其危险。警察局长罗伯特
·
麦克盖尔承认：
“
如今红灯亮了是否停车，就像玩掷币
游戏，机
率各一半。
”
而他属下的警察
，对这种违章行为大都视而不见。
[4]
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” .The power of the stoplight
to control traffic seems
to be waning
everywhere. In Los Angeles, red-light running has
become perhaps the city's
most
common
traffic
violation.
In
New
York
City,
going
through
an
intersection
is
like
Russian roulette.
Admits Police Commissioner
(
警察局长
)
Robert J.
McGuire: “Today it's a
50-50 toss-up as
to whether people will stop for a red
light.
” Meanwhile, his own police
largely ignore the lawbreaking.
[5]
闯红灯常常被视为小过错。
如果是个别情况，这也许不是大错。然而，一旦这种违法行
为成为普遍的经常性的习惯，
那它所涉及的就远不仅仅是一个交通管理问题了。
藐视交通法<
/p>
规的现象深刻地影响了社会风气。无辜的驾车人和行人付出的代价就是一次次地感到沮丧，
忍受种种不便和伤害，
更不用说对生命危险的正当担心了。
闯红灯现象的影响因其高度的可
视性而被大大地放大了。
如果说伪善是邪恶对美德所表示的敬意，
那么鬼鬼崇崇便是犯罪分
子对法律与制序威力的真心实意的敬畏。
然而，
闯红灯的人对社会规章却毫无敬意可言，
而
社会不可避免地受到
对基本规则的一犯再犯和厚颜无耻的藐视的伤害。
[5] Red-light
running has always been ranked as a minor wrong,
and
so it may be in
individual
instances.
When
the
violation
becomes
habitual,
widespread
and
incessant,
however, a great deal more than a
traffic 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
outlaw's
salute
to
the
force
of
law-and-order.
The
red-light
runner,
however,