你会帮助跌倒老人吗？Will You Help the Elderly Who Fell?

 It seems like a silly question, anyone in sane¹ would give a hand to the elderly who fell. But in China, this question is becoming tricky². Many news report that there are some old people not just fell, they do it on purpose. Usually, they walk on a crowdy street, and pretend to faint or just lay down on the ground, intend to accuse the one who comes to help as a perpetrator and blackmail³ him/her for the treatment fee. Many people have fell for that and had to pay as there is no witness to prove their innocence⁴. As for these negative news, people is afraid to help those old people in need, that makes some of them who are in real trouble could not get help in time. I once asked one of my friends: “Why the old people turn bad? If you see one in the street, would you help?” He said: “It is not the old people turn bad, it is the bad people turn old. I will video him/her to make a statement first, then decide if I would help.”

这似乎是个愚蠢的问题,任何清醒的人遇到跌倒的老人都会伸出援助之手。但在中国，这个问题变得棘手。很多新闻报道说有些老人不只是跌倒而已，他们是故意这么做的。通常他们会走到人潮涌动的街头，假装晕倒或者是直接躺在地上，想要指控那些来帮助他的人为肇事者，敲诈他们要治疗费。很多人都上当了，由于没有目击者证明他们的清白，他们被迫支付了费用。正因为这些负面新闻，人们害怕去帮助那些需要帮助的老人，也因此造成了那些真正有困难的老人没有得到及时的帮助。我曾经问我一个朋友：“为什么现在的老人变坏了？如果你在街上看到这样的老人你会帮助吗？”他说：“不是老人变坏了，是坏人变老了。我会先录像让他做一个声明，再决定是否帮助他。”

1 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

2 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

3 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

4 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。