第2344期英文写作：你会帮助跌倒老人吗？

Will You Help the Elderly Who Fell?
你会帮助跌倒老人吗？
It seems like a silly question, anyone in sane would give a hand to the elderly who fell. But in China, this question is becoming tricky. 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 blackmail him/her for the treatment fee. Many people have fell for that and had to pay as there is no witness to prove their innocence. 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。”