2022年11月06日 VOA慢速英语：如何避免抄袭

 

In the digital age, it has become easy for students to find and copy published material. But copying another person's writing without giving them credit can get students into big trouble.
在数字时代，学生可以很容易地找到和复制已发布的材料。但是抄袭别人的作品而不给他们荣誉会给学生带来很大的麻烦。
 
Copying another person's writing without giving them credit is called plagiarism.
抄袭他人的作品而不给予他们信任被称为剽窃。
 
Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster says the word "plagiarism" comes from the Latin word plagiarius. It means "kidnapper." But now we use it to describe someone who steals words rather than children.
字典出版商 Merriam-Webster 说“剽窃”这个词来自拉丁词plagiarius。它的意思是“绑架者”。但现在我们用它来形容一个偷话的人而不是孩子。
 
In the United States and other Western countries, universities have rules for avoiding plagiarism. But learning to correctly follow these rules can be difficult for some international students.
在美国和其他西方国家，大学都有避免抄袭的规定。但是对于一些国际学生来说，学习正确遵守这些规则可能很困难。
 
Intellectual property
知识产权
 
Why do universities and publishers care so much about copying even very small parts of someone's writing?
为什么大学和出版商如此关心抄袭某人作品的一小部分？
 
American copyright law protects original works of authorship including books, movies, music, images and artworks. It also extends protection to computer software and architecture. The owner can sell the work or permit others to use it.
美国版权法保护原创作品，包括书籍、电影、音乐、图像和艺术品。它还将保护扩展到计算机软件和体系结构。所有者可以出售作品或允许他人使用它。
 
The idea is that copyright helps society make progress. If people can make money by owning their creations, called intellectual property, then more people will want to create original works.
这个想法是版权有助于社会进步。如果人们可以通过拥有自己的创作（称为知识产权）来赚钱，那么更多的人会想要创作原创作品。
 
The law permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted works, called fair use, for activities including criticism, comment, news reporting, education and research. However, there are some limitations.
法律允许未经许可将受版权保护的作品用于批评、评论、新闻报道、教育和研究等活动，称为合理使用。但是，有一些限制。
 
In education, students can include a very small part of copyrighted works in their writing and research if they provide credit, or citation, to the original creators.
在教育中，如果学生向原始创作者提供信用或引用，他们可以在他们的写作和研究中包含一小部分受版权保护的作品。
 
Many universities, such as Harvard, even urge students to give credit to information or sources of ideas they get from conversations with professors or other students. Harvard even warns students about copying themselves. That is, they cannot hand in the same work for more than one class without the permission of their instructors.
许多大学，如哈佛，甚至敦促学生对他们从与教授或其他学生的对话中获得的信息或想法来源给予信任。哈佛甚至警告学生不要模仿自己。也就是说，未经导师许可，他们不能将相同的作业提交给多个班级。
 
A failure to do so is considered plagiarizing.
不这样做被认为是抄袭。
 
How can professors know if a student is plagiarizing?
教授如何知道学生是否抄袭？
 
Just as it is easy to copy, it is also easy for professors to know if a student has plagiarized.
就像抄袭很容易一样，教授也很容易知道学生是否抄袭。
 
First, there are computer programs that compare students' papers to large databases of published writing. The programs can identify whether students have copied published writing. Second, if English is not a student's first language, a professor might recognize a change in vocabulary and writing style. This could bring more attention to the student's paper.
首先，有一些计算机程序可以将学生的论文与已发表作品的大型数据库进行比较。这些程序可以识别学生是否抄袭了已发表的作品。其次，如果英语不是学生的第一语言，教授可能会意识到词汇和写作风格的变化。这可能会引起对学生论文的更多关注。
 
The punishment for plagiarism can vary. Professors could simply warn a student not to do it again, lower their grade, or they may fail the student in that class. In more extreme cases, a student may be temporarily banned or expelled from school.
对剽窃的惩罚可能会有所不同。教授可以简单地警告学生不要再这样做，降低他们的成绩，或者他们可能会在该班上不及格。在更极端的情况下，学生可能会被暂时禁止或开除。
 
Cultural differences
文化差异
 
Some international students in the U.S. struggle to avoid plagiarism and learn the rules of citation. Part of the difficulty is due to cultural differences.
美国的一些国际学生努力避免抄袭并学习引用规则。部分困难是由于文化差异。
 
Some cultures do not have a long historical and legal tradition of protecting intellectual property. In these cultures, knowledge has been considered something common to everyone, without ownership. In others, copying is seen as showing respect for the writing and thinking of experts rather than themselves.
有些文化没有保护知识产权的悠久历史和法律传统。在这些文化中，知识被认为是每个人共有的东西，没有所有权。在另一些情况下，抄袭被视为尊重专家的写作和思考，而不是他们自己。
 
If English is not a student's first language, sometimes, finding words to express complex ideas could be difficult. Thus, copying becomes the way the students try to express their ideas.
如果英语不是学生的第一语言，有时可能很难找到表达复杂想法的词汇。因此，复制成为学生尝试表达想法的方式。
 
Steven Horowitz is a professor of Legal English at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C. In an email to VOA Learning English, he said, "I've talked with students from Middle East cultures who have explained to me that they often are not expected to cite because a lot of things they quote are so familiar to everyone that there is no need or expectation of citing."
史蒂文霍洛维茨是华盛顿特区乔治城法学院的法律英语教授，在给美国之音学习英语的一封电子邮件中，他说：“我与来自中东文化的学生交谈过，他们向我解释说，他们通常不会引用因为他们引用的很多东西对每个人来说都是如此熟悉，以至于没有必要或期望引用。”
 
 
Horowitz said, "I know on occasion some international students will use quoted text… because they feel like their own words can't do justice to the meaning in the quoted text and feel like it's not their place to suggest alternative text."
霍洛维茨说：“我知道有时有些国际学生会使用引用文本……因为他们觉得自己的话无法正确理解引用文本 的含义，并且觉得这不是他们建议替代文本的地方。”
 
"It's often a challenge to explain to international students the need for citation even in sentences when you don't use quoted text," he added.
“当你不使用引用的文本时，即使在句子中也向国际学生解释引用的必要性通常是一个挑战，”他补充道。
 
Tools to avoid plagiarism
避免抄袭的工具
 
There are free tools to make citations easier for students and to avoid plagiarism. Zotero is a free, open-source program that helps organize all the research a student may use. For example, it can automatically create citations and combine them into a list. The Purdue Online Writing Lab, or Purdue OWL for short, is another free resource.
有免费工具可以让学生更容易引用并避免抄袭。Zotero是一个免费的开源程序，可帮助组织学生可能使用的所有研究。例如，它可以自动创建引文并将它们组合成一个列表。Purdue Online Writing Lab或 Purdue OWL 是另一种免费资源。
 
Many universities also have writing centers where students can learn the citation rules. And another way for students to learn how to avoid plagiarism is to read published papers and pay careful attention to how information is presented. Students should observe when and how citations are used. This can help them learn the rules of citations.
许多大学还设有写作中心，学生可以在那里学习引文规则。学生学习如何避免抄袭的另一种方法是阅读已发表的论文并仔细注意信息的呈现方式。学生应该观察何时以及如何使用引文。这可以帮助他们学习引用规则。
 
Finally, remember that in educational, or academic, writing, it is better to cite too much than too little.
最后，请记住，在教育或学术写作中，引用太多总比引用太少好。