申请文书中“Ethical dilemma” 怎么理解和写作？

作者：Bryan老师

In the competitive world of commerce, where profit is a top priority, one can lose sight of the importance and need for ethical decision-making and business practices. Please describe an instance in your professional career in which you were faced with or involved in an ethical dilemma. How did you choose to address the issue? Were you pleased with the end result? How do you think that the situation could have been handled differently?

题目译文：在竞争激烈的商界，利益是人们最优先要考虑的。一个人可能忽略这样的重要性和必要性——职业道德决策和商业惯例。请举例说明，在你的职业生涯中，你面对或参与的道德困境。你是如何来选择解决这个问题的？最终的结果你满意吗?你觉得这种情况还有其他的解决方案吗？

这是一篇典型的商学院essay，曾经难倒过不少申请人，即便他们有些人TOEFL 100+， GMAT 700+。To be frank，写好这篇essay实在不易。让我们一起来分析该题的写作思路：

首先，先明确一个概念，什么叫“ethical dilemma”？根据Webster Dictionary的解释：an argument presenting two or more equally conclusive alternatives against an opponent是要人们在两个（或以上）有价值的东西之间进行一种“非此即彼”的选择。由于商科专业的申请人很多，并且很多中国学生只是参加实习或兼职工作。这种深层次的“ethical dilemma”在工作中确实很难发现。接下来，笔者分享一篇成功的写作案例，该案例获得DePaul MBA的全奖。

成功写作案例分享：

本篇essay写的是X同学和队友们在北京通州区和朝阳区调查micro-credit model region of Beijing这一项目。由于当地政府比较保守，很难得到真实的数据。所以X同学不得不挨家走访农民去了解真相。三天过后，她们当中有人要放弃，这是因为有些村民不配合，态度被动。之后，X同学组织开小组会议，希望大家能献策献计。然后有人提出：“只要不影响到调查结果，我们可以编一些数据”。

根据上面的故事梗概，“ethical dilemma”出现了，即“到底编不编造数据”？编造数据吧，怕影响了整个project；不编造吧，被访者又“不给力”，况且又怕得罪了其他同学。那么，X同学是怎么解决这个问题的呢？请看essay原文段落：Challenge was put in front of me. Since I was a child, my family education told me that such a way offended the moral concepts. What is worse, the entire project could be ruined and our really valuable suggestions and solutions for the development of rural financial reform could be never achieved. I was also afraid that my dissenting opinion would cause a conflict with them.

With a feeling of hesitation and contradiction, I continued to visit the tenth peasant family on the data list alone. The householder of this family was a bright village head. He collected farmers to his office without any passive attitude. Then some farmers proposed many issues, such as lower-rank credit, and loans refused by banks. While listening to them and looking at their eyes with hopeful emotions, I deeply understood how the farmers were eager to make fortune by means of micro-credit. A strong sense of mission, which was a responsibility to complete the survey, came into my mind.

The sense of mission endowed me the courage. I felt that I was able to face the contradiction and conflict with other students. When we had dinner together, I told them, “If the aim of our subject is just the completion of the task, we have finished because the local government has given us the data. However, if we really want to help the farmers, we should continue.” （如果说这次调查的目的仅仅是为了完成任务，我们很容易完成，因为当地政府给我们了数据。然而，如果我们确实想帮助农民，我们必须将调查进行下去。）最后X同学走访了剩下的农家，从中得到了数据，完成了这项任务。

Bryan老师总结

以上这个成功写作案例，仅用于为读者和准备去美国留学的学生参考。本题essay不仅仅是考察申请人的英文写作能力，录取官员更希望通过一篇essay看到学生的逻辑思维能力、沟通协调能力、解决问题的能力等，这些能力也是学好商科专业的必备。如有essay写作方面的问题，欢迎咨询我们！