哈佛商学院经典申请陈述（５）
道德伦理上的进退两难Discuss an ethical dilemma that you experienced firsthand. How did you manage and resolve the situation.
描述你亲身经历的一次道德伦理上进退两难的遭遇。你是如何掌控局面和解决这个难题的？
这个问题让你有机会展示你在价值观和责任义务发生冲突时做出艰难抉择的能力。你的文章应该表明你对生活中那些没有绝对正确已否的“灰色地带”的看法，你是如何处理那些道德难题的？你的指导原则是什么？
道德困境出现的背景和形式可能会多种多样。有些可能很简单，到底是讲真话还是说谎话，有些可能表现为个人价值观和社会准则之间的冲突；这些困境可能出现在工作场合，对人们的职业生涯产生重要的影响，也可能出现在关系岌岌可危的家庭责任与义务的纷争中。然而，不管发生在什么背景中，它们都是大问题，对于我们都是考验。
一篇成功的陈述不仅仅是讲述一段趣闻逸事，还必须讲清楚是什么原因让一个特定的局面变得进退两难，让你的抉择如此的艰难。为什么对你而言这是一个考验？一定要解释清楚你的思想变化过程以及你个人的道德准则和信仰在其中发挥的作用。叙述要诚实和富有个性，不需要遮遮掩掩的。陈述的关键是和别人分享一些关于你自己的根本东西。如果不敞开心扉，你是很难把这篇文章写成功的。
优秀范文（中英对照）
Is it ever appropriate to say \"no\" to your mother when she needs financial assistance? While I was growing up, this was not a concept I could ever fathom (v. 彻底了解). My mother is a hardworking woman. No job has ever been beneath her when it came to supporting the family whether it was loading luggage on airplanes or lifting packages at a shipping company. My mother was the infallible beacon of hard work, my superstar in a single parent household. Unfortunately, certain situations over the past three years have created an ethical dilemma in our relationship.
My love for my mother compelled me to eagerly enter the workforce in order to support her with supplemental income. However, her financial situation has deteriorated (v. 恶化) significantly over the past few years due to efforts to make up for shortfalls (n.不足) in her income by gambling at casinos. Her reliance on legal gambling has developed into borderline addiction. Due to inopportune losses, she has often turned to me for assistance in paying her rent and utility bills.
I tried to be supportive and encouraging by assisting her with creating a budget and getting her in touch with financial counselors. The situation has been emotionally difficult for me, as her requests for money have increased, While I consider myself to be financially responsible and disciplined, it is difficult for me to continue feeling comfortable supporting her behavior through passive measures. 1 often fear that my assistance may be more detrimental (adj. 有害的) than helpful. As a resolution, I recently tried declining her continued requests for financial assistance, Of course, I cannot make such a decision without fierce internal conflict and in the end, I simply felt guilty for saying \"no.\"
I have given her the money that she needed on every occasion. I do so because I realize that everything that I have attained in my career is in large part due to her unconditional love and support. Under normal circumstances, I would not hesitate to support her financially, but this situation is troubling because I am also the source of the family's long-term financial stability. Realistically, I must think in terms of my own future, as I have no one to turn to in case of a financial emergency of my own. While 1 have yet to discover a final resolution to this ongoing dilemma, what I have found is that while in some situations, I should say \"no\" to my mother, I have a moral obligation to provide her with a supportive network, just as she did for me when I was a child.
在你母亲需要你经济上资助的时候，你对她说“不”到底是否合适？在我的成长过程中，这个概念是我根本不可能真正明白的。我的母亲是一个辛苦劳作的女人。只要是为了养家糊口，再低下的活她都干——不管这个工作是给飞机上装行李，还是在航运公司搬运包裹。在我们这个单亲家庭中，母亲是一个挑不出什么毛病的勤劳工作的“模范”，是我的超级偶像。不幸的是，在过去三年里，某些特殊情况在我们的关系中产生了一种道德困境。
对母亲的爱迫使我急于参加工作，用额外的收入来帮助她。但是在过去的几年中，母亲试图通过在赌场赌博的方式来弥补她收入的不足，她的经济状况由此严重恶化。她对合法赌博的依赖已经近乎上瘾。由于蒙受这种雪上加霜的损失，她不得不经常请我帮她交租金和付水电等帐单。
我帮助她制定预算，我也带她去找理财顾问，以此来援助她并且鼓励她。但是当她索要钱的要求越来越频繁的时候，这让我在感情上变得很难接受。由于我认为自己在钱的问题上是一个负责和有自律的人，所以如果通过消极方式去支持母亲，这对我而言是很难坦然接受的。我时常担心我的帮助会适得其反，弊大于利。我下定决心，最近设法拒绝母亲连续不断的经济资助请求。当然，我做出这样一个决定是经过很激烈的思想斗争的。最后，我对母亲说出“不”字的时候简直让我深感内疚。
以往只要她需要钱，我总是会给她。我之所以这样做，是因为我意识到我今天在事业上取得的一切在很大程度上都归功于她无私的爱和支持。在正常的情况下，我会毫不犹豫地从经济上资助她，但是现在这种状况却让我感到左右为难，因为我也是家里经济长期稳定的一个根源。从实际角度看，我必须为自己的未来考虑，因为一旦急需用钱的话，我是没有人可以求助的。我还没有找到最终的方法来摆脱这个尚未解决的困境——我已经找到的答案是，在有些情况下，我应该对母亲说“不”，同时我在道德上有义务为她提供一个帮助她的网络——她在我小时候就是那样帮助我的。
评析
这篇文章的作者对我们讲述的一个非常个人化的难题。然而，如果仅仅把这个问题陈述出来，这篇文章还不足以富有深意。这篇文章的力度来源于作者作出最终决定的详细描述。作者列举了帮助母亲提高理财能力的种种失败的尝试，清晰地阐明了作者是多么不愿意采取这一极端措施，这其间的复杂感受也就不言而喻了。
撇开采取了什么行动不管，作者对事情后果的深刻认识表明，不论事情的情感分量有多重，作者都能够“在足够的距离之外”理性地考虑自己的选择。作者能从长远角度考虑事情，这表明作者不是一般的成熟。因此，这篇文章就不仅仅是引发同情的一则故事，更是证明了作者的正直和性格力量。
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