一路作弊的美国大学生终于踢到中国式AB卷的铁板

宋国明

这学期在寒流中结束，师生皆大欢喜，除了我班上那位期末考试成绩将近零鸭蛋，还要准备接受作弊调查的艾略特。

艾略特是白人男生，选我的语言学概论课是为了拿敝校教育系教师培训项目提供的那纸资格证书，毕业后好在公立学校谋个教席。我对班上学生向来一视同仁，但是这学期对这位艾略特同学非常感冒，原因是他在课堂上表现平平，回答问题时常常显得观念混淆不清，但是每一章的作业却又做得都挺好，没什么毛病，也看不出他抄袭别人作业的明显痕迹，我只是隐隐觉得他可能不太诚实，不过我也不太在乎，主要是搜集学生作弊确切证据费神费事，不值得我花那心思。

敝校有个荣誉制度，全校学生在交作业和考试的时候都必须签名宣誓清白，所以碰上大小考试，老师发下卷子，稍作说明，一般就回办公室了，并不监考，若是整堂课留下来监考，反有不太信任学生荣誉制度的嫌疑。期末前最后一次小考，我考了一题德语句子结构里的动词居次现象，因为它跟古英语的语序有直接关系。这个结构我上课时讲了两遍，还特别强调过要考，没想到判卷子时发现班上竟有三分之一的学生並未充分理解这个结构，第二天上课我发回考卷的时候，注意到艾略特答得不错，就写了一个句子让他上来画树状图（不是找他茬儿，我偶尔会让学生上来在黑板上作图答题）。艾略特表情很不自然，说他不会，这让我十分诧异，因为我在黑板上写的是作业里的句子Das Kind wird die Schwester lehren.（那个小孩要教他妹妹），跟考卷里的Hans hat das Buch gekauft.（汉斯买了那一本书）在结构上一模一样，艾略特在作业里做对过，小考也做对，所以他现在说不会，很奇怪，我说可是你小考答得很好呀，艾略特镇定地说，“我忘了。”

“我忘了”这三个字是国内某作家在交代巨额知识来源不明时常用的挡箭牌，在明眼人里自然不值一笑，但糊弄一般痰迷心窍的粉丝倒也管用。艾略特未必知道“我忘了”在中国管用，但他应该知道用在我身上是肯定不行的。我闻言愣了一下，不想当场让他难堪，就转头让珍妮佛画德国树了。

期末考试我还是照常不监考，一是尊重绝大部分诚实的学生，二是嫌监考累，但是为了求证是否有学生作弊，我尝试了久违的AB卷考试。我把一份卷子里的选择题部分，答案次序换了一下，让两份卷子题目全同，选项一样，答案次序不同。第二部分问答分析题则把题目里细节稍微换了一下，让每一题的难易度全同，但是答案也都不同。发卷子的时候一排A卷、一排B卷、一排A卷、一排B卷，专治那些考试时眼睛瞟来瞟去的主儿。

A卷看起来大致如下

Linguistics 150, Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2014, Lawrence University                                                                            Name: ________________

Final Examination

Part One:  Multiple Choices  (45 points)    

中间节略

  40.    Which of the following has a different morphological structure from that of the others? 

          a.  reappearance           b.  unforgiving          c.  disapproval           d.   decoder

  41.    The change from foot --> feet cannot be considered as an instance of infixion because

          a.  the change does not happen inside the word.

          b.  ft is not a morpheme.  It’s not the root of the word feet before infixion.

          c.  the plural formation in this case is actually an instance of suffixation.           

          d.  the change does not affect the gender of foot.

  42.    Suppose Language X is always head-initial, with specifier appearing on the right. What's the word order for Bill bought the hat in Language X?  (hint: draw a tree and then answer)

          a.  Bill bought the hat. b.  Bought hat the Bill.

          c.  Bill the hat bought. d.  Hat the bought Bill.

  43.    Which of the following sound changes does not obey the course of the Great Vowel Shift?

          a.    [la:f] --> [lo:f]   'loaf'                           b.  [se:] -->  [si:] 'see'

          c.    [wi:d] --> [wajd] 'wide'                        d.  [la:k] --> [lejk] 'lake'

 44.     As indicated in the textbook, Old English allows SVO, VSO, and SOV word orders in main clauses, but only SOV in embedded clauses.  What might be a reasonable explanation for this fact?

          a.    Old English has obligatory V à I movement for all verbs.

          b.   Old English has optional Topicalization; VP can be head-initial or head-final.

          c.    Old English VP is head-final; I -> C movement is obligatorywhen possible.

          d.    Old English auxiliaries do not undergo Verb Raising (V à I).

  45.    Consider the sentence Heo hine larde 'she him advised'.  Where is the most likely S-structure position of

          the pronoun hine 'him'?

          a.    Comp                 b.  spec of IP            c.  Infl                     d.  spec of CP

B卷看起来大致如下，我尽量让每一题的几个选择看起来跟A卷差不多，AB两卷的正确答案45题也完全不一样。

Part One:  Multiple Choices  (45 points)    

中间节略

  40.    Which of the following has a different morphological structure from that of the others? 

          a.  reappearance           b.  disapproval          c.  unforgiving          d.   decoder

  41.    The change from foot --> feet cannot be considered as an instance of infixion because

          a.  the change does not happen inside the word.

          b.  the plural formation in this case is actually an instance of suffixation.           

          c.  ft is not a morpheme.  It’s not the root of the word feet beforeinfixion.

          d.  the change does not affect the gender of foot.

  42.     Suppose Language X is always head-initial, with specifier appearing on the right. What's the word order for Bill bought the hat in Language X?  (hint: draw a tree and then answer)

          a.  Bill bought the hat.    b.  Hat the bought Bill.

          c.  Bill the hat bought.       d.  Bought hat the Bill.

  43.    Which of the following sound changes does not obey the course of the Great Vowel Shift?

          a.    [la:k] --> [lejk] 'lake'                            b.  [se:] -->  [si:] 'see'

          c.    [wi:d] --> [wajd] 'wide'                        d. [la:f] --> [lo:f]   'loaf'

44.      As indicated in the textbook, Old English allows SVO, VSO, and SOV word orders in main clauses, but only SOV in embedded clauses.  What might be a reasonable explanation for this fact?

          a.    Old English has obligatory V à I movement for all verbs.

          b.   Old English VP is head-final; I -> C movement is obligatory when possible.

          c.    Old English has optional Topicalization; VP can be head-initial or head-final.

          d.    Old English auxiliaries do not undergo Verb Raising (V à I).

45.      Consider the sentence Heo hine larde 'she him advised'.  Where is the most likely S-structure position of

          the pronoun hine 'him'?

          a.    Infl                     b.  spec of CP           c.  Comp                 d.  spec of IP

     考试结果出来，艾略特（分到A卷）第一部分选择题45题错了34题，在答错的34题中有27题跟坐在他右边的同学B卷的答案一样。当然，这只能让艾略特期末考分数低，不能充分证明他作弊偷看。艾略特完全可以强辩说这完全是巧合，碰巧猜的，与作弊无关。让他无言可辩的是他在第二部分的几个分析题里，他的答案是看似与他自己的A卷有关，而实际上只能是回答了B卷的题目、只能是偷看了隔壁B卷才会产生的结果。我现在很想听听他对他那几题分析题的答案，除了“我忘了”之外，还能编出什么理由。

教训：考试作弊可能侥幸成功，但是当老师知道你可能有问题而成心要抓你的时候，你是很容易落网的。