万花筒 2011-10-05&10-07 “枪手”代考美国高考SAT被捕

 How did this thing work to begin with? Did Eshaghoff,you know, take six different versions of the SAT? And don't you have to have an I.D. just to get into the testing center? 

 

 

 

Well, he certainly did.He took tests for six individuals from the same high school where he graduated. They paid him upwards¹ of $2,500. And what he did, as part of this whole scheme, was prepare fake I.D.s in the name of the student for whom he was taking the test. He presented that I.D. as the test site. 

 

 

 

And the proctor did not notice anything, even in the event of the instance where he was taking a test for a young girl, one of the defendants² who was a girl, and he scored on every single one of those tests in the 97th percentile. There was a reason why these kids were paying him. They wanted good scores on their SATs. 

 

 

 

You know,this Saturday, hundreds of thousands of high school students across the country are going to sit for the SATs and the message needs to be sent to all of them that, if you cheat, you're going to get caught and you will be held accountable. 

 

 

 

Kathleen, how did they get caught in the first place? Is it because there was such a discrepancy³ between their grades and the scores? 

 

 

 

Well, it started, as most things do, with rumors⁴ going around the high school that certain kids had paid someone to take the test for them.

 

 

 

The high school administration undertook an investigation⁵. And what they did was they started, they honed in on those high school students who took the test elsewhere, somewhere other than the high school. And they focused on those kids, they looked at the SAT scores that those six kids, that these kids got, and then they compared them to their GPA. And there was a huge discrepancy with these six students-- 

 

 

 

I see. who had mediocre⁶ GPAs, but they scored in the 97th percentile on the SAT. So that was a big red flag for them.

 

 

 

OK. I do want to get this in here, because we have a statement from Great Neck school district. They say they have been cooperating with Nassau County, with you guys. They say: "It's our hope that the actions currently being taken by the district attorney's office will serve to bring an end to any dishonest practices which may have placed students at an unfair disadvantage and will also bring light to any shortcomings in the security of the SAT testing system."

 

 

 

But here's my other question for you. You know,some people -- in fact I'm getting tweets on this -- saying, hang on a second. Is this really a matter for the legal system? They think it should be a school issue to deal with their own students. What's your reaction to that? 

 

 

 

Well, the school handled this situation from an administrative⁷ standpoint, but what the kids did is a crime. And that's the bottom line.And the message here is there needs to be a level playing field. The overwhelming majority of high school kids across this country don't cheat. They work hard, they study hard, they take the tests themselves and they try to get into the best school that they can. We need to protect the honest student. They should not be on the second rung of the ladder behind the cheater. And that's what we have here. So I...

1 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

2 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

3 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

4 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

7 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。