185. "Scandals—whether in politics, academia, or other areas—can be useful. They focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could." 185. 丑闻，不管是政治、学术还是其他领域，都能发挥有利的作用。它们让我们以不同的角度去看待问题，而这些是演讲者和改革家不能带给我们的。
In these days, scandals are highlighted in almost all forms of media, especially about the figure or field well-known to us. Despite of the negative critique of scandals, I believe scandals are quite useful, not only because of the truth they reveal, but for the way they lead us to think about the world.
The first reason I advocate scandals is that they play a positive role in driving the course of democracy. The first step to democracy, in my opinion, is to let everyone know the truth. However, the truth is not always what is displayed in front of people. Take politics as an example, it is certainly essential for the party in power to get supported from voters, to make the whole society stable. Whereas, a party is inclined to achieve this by merely propagating its achievements instead of faults. Since voters have no ideas about the failure of the party, no complaint comes up against it, and therefore the society would suffer great loss sooner or later, without effective supervision to the government.
The second reason I would like to refer to next is that the power of scandals warns the figure highlighted at times, and makes them cautious about the way they behave. Since what comes along with scandals is the degradation of one's reputation, those popular figures will think twice before action at risk of it. In academia recently, scandals are heard recently of famous professors, who pursue fame copying the works and encroaching property rights of knowledge of others. And after the scandals are exposed, professors involved get severe punishment, from a professor to nobody, and what is more wore, no one will trust them forever in academia. Threaten of the punishment warns figures all to act more cautiously and stay far away from scandals.
Scandals also help us to realize the deficiency of our work and make effort to better it. If scandals are not exposed, only quite a few in charge know them, so even if it is likely to resolve problems, we have all reason to doubt the justice and effect of they way they are resolved. We may go no further to realize this to see the scandals happening in sports. As we know, the use of drugs forbidden goes strongly against the very essence of Olympics. It is encouraged for athletes to perform best in any game, through what is allowed by laws. However, scandals frequently break out these years during the bicycle race around France, and therefore, somebody believes that the traditional game is degraded with scandals. But it is the athletes who beak the rules that degrade it, not scandals. Scandals remind us the urgency to tackle this drug taken problem and inspire scientists to improve technology to detect such problem. All is done to guarantee that the spirit of Olympics can be developed better.
I think scandals are indispensable in a healthy society, because they are indicators of the aspects which are not perfect, and the aspects are just where we should focus to make a harmonious and better future.作者: riverw 时间: 2008-2-1 12:48:07
菜鸟再拍，拍错勿怪。
In these days, scandals are highlighted in almost all forms of media, especially about the figure or field well-known to us. Despite of the negative critique of scandals, I believe scandals are quite useful, not only because of the truth they reveal, but for the way they lead us to think about the world.
感觉开头段有点过于简短了。
The first reason I advocate scandals (提倡丑闻？) is that they play a positive role in driving the course of democracy. The first step to democracy, in my opinion, is to let everyone know the truth. However, the truth is not always what is displayed in front of people. Take politics as an example, it is certainly essential for the party in power to get supported from voters, to make the whole society stable. Whereas, a party is inclined to achieve this by merely propagating propagandizing its achievements instead of faults. Since voters have no ideas about the failure of the party, no complaint comes up against it, and therefore the society would suffer great loss sooner or later, without effective supervision to the government.
这段本来说丑闻增进了民主的进程，但举例却没讲丑闻被揭露后对社会带来的积极影响，而是在说明丑闻如何产生，及其坏的后果。一个可以参考的例子：以前中国垄断行业涨价都是直接涨，但xx内幕被揭露之后，价格的变动都要先举行听证会。
The second reason I would like to refer to (discuss好点) next is that the power of scandals warns the figure highlighted at times, and makes them cautious about the way they behave. Since what comes along with scandals is the degradation of one's reputation, those popular figures will think twice before action at risk of it. In academia recently, scandals are heard recently of famous professors, who pursue fame copying the works and encroaching property rights of knowledge of others (pursue fame的手段是这个？说得太间接了吧？可以说他们抄袭/盗用别人的研究成果去发表，从而为自己谋利益，包括更好的职位、名声。). And after the scandals are exposed, professors involved get severe punishment, from a professor to nobody, and what is more wore, no one will trust them forever any more in academia. Threaten(动词) of the punishment (惩罚的威胁，似乎不太合正常的表达哦，用“对惩罚的顾忌”好点)warns figures all to act more cautiously and stay far away from scandals (让他们更谨慎从而避免卷入丑闻？容易误解。我觉得应该说清楚“让他们不去违反各种规则并且在自己职责范围内做好事情”。).
段尾的总结有点不够准确。
Scandals also help us to realize the deficiency of our work and make effort to better it(it放句尾感觉很别扭，可以考虑改进这句). If scandals are not exposed, only quite a few in charge know them, so even if it (it指代什么？) is likely to resolve problems, we have all reason to doubt the justice and effect of they way they are resolved (FYI:If scandals are not exposed and known by only a few people that are involved, though the social problems might be resolved to some extent, we still have every reason to doubt the integrity of justice and the efficiency of the solutions.). We may (need) go no further to realize this to see the scandals happening in sports (FYI: We need go no further to realize this point than the drug scandals revealed in sports games of recent years). As we know, the use of drugs forbidden(顺序需要调换) goes strongly against the very essence of Olympics. It is encouraged for athletes to perform best in any game by human potentialities, through what is allowed by laws. However, scandals frequently break out these years during the bicycle race around France, and therefore, somebody believes that the traditional game is degraded with scandals. But it is the athletes who beak the rules that degrade it and hurt the sports game as well, not scandals. Scandals remind us the urgency to tackle this drug taken problem and inspire scientists to improve technology to detect such problem. All is done to guarantee that the spirit of Olympics can be developed better.
长句子的问题不少。
I think scandals are indispensable in (to)a healthy society, because they are indicators of the aspects which are not perfect, and the aspects are just where (what) we should focus on to make a harmonious and better future.
结尾段可写丰富些，至少把上边讨论的再总结归纳一下吧。