「故事·听力」I Cheated On Exams But Was Caught
I Cheated On Exams But Was Caught
This is Anne, and her cheating almost destroyed her dream to become a doctor. Ever since she was a little girl, she’s wanted to be a doctor, and her parents supported her in that dream. And who wouldn’t? Of course, in order to become a doctor, you have to study A LOT. In fact, you have to study much more than any other kid, especially with regard to the natural sciences. When she was a kid, Anne studied more than anyone else, and her parents tried to support her by paying for different tutors or by buying her books that sheneeded in order to advance further.
And then there was the question of grades — in order to get into a good college, you have to have good grades, and luckily enough she had been a straight A student all her life. Of course, her teachers loved her because she was the school’s prized student; the one who set an example to all others. Anne herself especially liked Ms. Garcia, her biology teacher, because she seemed to genuinely care about her and supported her all the way through school.
But things got harder when she turned 15 — she had so many assignments and tests, and not all of them really focused on subjects relevant to her career path. She had to spend all of her evenings studying until late, sometimes even falling asleep at her desk. She was always exhausted, but she couldn’t sacrifice her perfect record.
All of her friends were going out and having fun, and Anne was always stuck at home studying, even during weekends. She wanted to take some time off from it all, but she needed to prepare for an important test. So she decided to make a cheat sheet. Just once! And she would still study for it, just not as thoroughly as she usually did. That way she also could go and hang out with her friends and not worry too much.
She decided to put her cheat sheet under her tights. That way she could always look at it without raising too much suspicion. So the next day she used her ingenious method of cheating, and it sure was a terrifying experience for her, because she had never cheated before. She was so nervous that her palms were dripping wet with sweat. But it completely paid off the next day, because she had studied less, but still got an “A”.
This made her think that maybe there was no harm in occasionally cheating, so she started doing it a little bit more often, always using the same method — under her tights. Now she wasn’t falling asleep at her desk anymore, and more importantly, she had time to spend with her friends, who may as well have forgotten what shelooked like because they had been seeing her so rarely before she started cheating.
Soon, she was cheating on almost every test. It’s true that she still prepared for each one, but her cheat sheet was put to more and more use, because she found it impossible to hold everything in her head. At that time, Anne didn’t worry at all about the teachers noticing her cheat sheet, because the thought didn’t even occur to them that a straight A student like her could cheat.
Life was good and easy during that time, all until Ms. Garcia called Anne into her office one day…As she walked in, she didn’t feel worried at all, because she assumed that Ms. Garcia couldn’t have had anything bad to say to her – that just wasn’t possible. So it was a huge and unpleasant surprise when Ms. Garcia wasn’t kind and friendly as usual, but strict and disappointed. She asked Anne to sit down and told her that they had to talk about her cheating.
Ms. Garcia told her that she would no longer tolerate Anne cheating so openly during her tests — other teachers could do as they please, but she was against it, especially because her subject was biology, and it was an important subject for future doctors. Anne tried to explain to Ms. Garcia that she needed to do it in order to maintain her “A” grades, but she simply said “No.”
So, during her next biology test, Anne used her usual cheat sheet, only she tried to be more careful with it so her teacher wouldn’t notice. But she did, and she went up to her in front of the entire class, took her test and said that she would get an “F” for cheating, and she could fix it after class.
Anne was so mad! It was her first “F” in all her years of studying, so after the school day was over, she went to Ms. Garcia and told her how unfair it was to expect her to study ten more than other students and still get an “A”. But Ms. Garcia’s answer surprised Anne. She said, “Other students don’t want to be doctors. I’d rather have a doctor operating on me who got a “B” than an “A” by cheating. You can’t cheat on the operating table, Anne”.
This was a real eye-opener for her. Since then, she has completely stopped cheating. Well, she still cheats sometimes when she’s feeling too tired, but never on subjects important for her future job like biology.