Fairness

◎供稿：黄晓琴

自人类社会诞生以来，人们就一直有个公平的理想，无数哲人在迷惘中寻索公平的真义，那你理解的公平是什么呢？

The daughter yelled as soon as she entered the door, shouting “This world is too unfair!” It turned out that she was talking to her classmates while she was taking a math class. She was caught by the teacher, and finally she and the classmates were both1)punish [΄pʌnIʃ] vt. 惩罚；严厉对待punished.

“It's fair,” I said. “That's not it! There were2)obviously [΄ɑːbviəsli] adv. 明显地, 显然地obviouslyseveral classmates who were talking at the time, but the teacher stared at us and only punished us. We are3)scapegoat [΄skeIpɡoʊt] n. 替罪羊；替人顶罪者scapegoatsof executing one person as a warning to others!” She was still indignant.

I know that my daughter is very concerned about this matter. I asked her, “Should you be punished for speaking when your teacher is in class?” She nodded, but also defended,“It is unfair for the teacher not to punish other people who speak!” I asked her again,“Should the teacher punish you?” She said, “Yes, but...” I knew what she was going to say and interrupted her, “Don't talk about others, just look at yourself. Did the teacher punish you wrong?” She lowered her head and said, “No.” I said, “That's fair! You know what the price of speaking in class is. You did it and got the punishment you4)deserve [dI΄zзːv] v. 应得deserved. It’s fair.The teacher didn’t punish others, not because of a special discount for a classmate, but because she was a reward and punishment executor. She can choose to forgive. From your point of view, others seem unfair, but for those students she is forgiving, not unfair.”Although my daughter was not very convinced, she was not as angry as when she first entered the door. She asked me, “Do you say there is anything unfair in this world?” I said,“Yes! This earth is round, not5)flat [flæt] adj. 平的；单调的flat, and there is no place in the world where the sun can’t shine, so what could be wrong? Things are fair? But it depends on what angle you stand at. ”

People are often like this. Standing and looking at themselves, they are very clear about what they are doing, knowing what their rewards and punishments should be, and the unfair mentality is that when we look up at others, they are6)originally [ə΄rIdʒənəli] adv. 最初，起初originallystable. The pace of being confused because of comparison with others, and then more likely to become a stumbling block in his life. The most important thing is to understand fairness in a deeper way, not from your point of view only!

译文女儿一进门就大呼小叫，直嚷：“这世界太不公平了！”原来，她在上数学课时和同学讲话，被老师逮个正着，最后她与同学两个人都受罚了。“很公平啊。”我说。“才不呢！当时明明有好几位同学都在讲话，但老师偏偏盯着我们，只罚我俩，我们是代罪羔羊！”她还是愤愤不平。

我知道女儿对此事很在意。我问她：“在老师上课时讲话是不是应该受罚？”她点头，但也辩护：“老师不罚其他讲话的人就是不公平！”我再问她：“老师罚你应不应该？”她说：“应该，但是……”我知道她要说什么并打断她：“不讲别人，只看你自己，老师有没有罚错你？”她低着头说：“没有。”我说：“那就很公平呀！你知道上课讲话的代价是什么，你做了，得到应有的惩罚，就是公平。老师没有惩罚其他人，不是因为给某些同学特别优待，而是因为她是赏罚执行者，她可以选择饶恕。从你的角度看别人似乎不公平，但对那些同学来说她是宽容，不是不公平。”女儿虽然还不是很信服，但不像刚进门时那样怒气冲冲了。她反问我：“那你说这世界上有没有不公平的事呀？”我说：“有啊！这地球是圆的，不是平的，这世上也有太阳照不到的地方，哪可能事事都是绝对公平的呢？不过要看你站在什么角度去看事情。”

人往往就是这样，站着看自己，对自己的所作所为很清楚，知道自己的付出，应该有怎样的对错赏罚；而不公平的心态的产生，就是当我们抬头看别人时候，本来平稳的步伐，因为与他人作比较而错乱了，后来更可能成为自己生活上的绊脚石。真正理解公平，不光从自己的角度出发，真的是最为重要的！