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Mean messages

你在网上被欺负过吗？

      在美国校园里，“大欺小，强凌弱”的现象时有发生。而现在，随着电脑和网络的普及，一些孩子在上网的时候，也遭遇了同样的伤害……

 

 Is it always fun to surf the Internet? images.jpg

       Not really. For some American children, it could mean pain.

Bullies have entered cyberspace

       American girl Jessica felt that she could not escape. “I was in tears every day when I went to the computer,” says 12-year-old Jessica. What was making her life so unhappy? It’s all because a girl who had been bullying her at school started attacking her on the Internet.

       Jessica is not alone. In fact, many American children are feeling the pain of online bullying. Bullying has now moved beyond the classroom and playground. It is now in cyberspace, the world of computers, and the problem is growing.

       According to a report, about 55% of American children aged 9 to 14 have experienced a certain kind of online bullying. “Cyberbullying is any way of using interactive technology to humiliate or frighten another child,” says Parry Aftab, an American researcher who leads a group that teaches children how to deal with cyberbullies.

       Computers, cell phones and interactive games are the weapons that cyberbullies use. Bullies send hateful e-mails and instant messages. They create websites with mean words and pictures. They steal passwords and spread rumors. Cyberbullying may not cause pain in the body, but it hurt a person’s emotion.

Making cyberspace safe

       Now, American schools, parents and children have begun to pay great attention to this problem. On February 8, the country’s first cyberbullying meeting was held in New York. More than 500 people attended. At the meeting, some children began to learn that if no one tries to stop online bullying, the problem could grow.

       How to solve the problem of cyberbullying? According to researchers, the best way is probably education—teaching children and adults how to deal with online attacks.

       Parry Aftab has offered these tips for dealing with mean messages. Take a look at them and you’ll probably find them useful some day when you are in the same trouble.

Keep passwords, pictures and secrets to yourself.

Instead of replying to a message that attacks you, stay away and do something you enjoy for five minutes.

Stop before you reply. This way you won’t do anything that you will regret. Block the sender. Tell someone you trust about the message.

Save mean messages on your computer or use monitoring software.

 

Notes:

bully        v.  威吓，欺负

                n. 欺凌弱小者

cyberspace n.       网络世界

(“cyber” 是一个前缀，意思是“计算机网络的”。如下文中的“cyberbullying”，意思就是指“通过计算机网络威吓、欺负别人”，“cyberbully”就是“通过计算机网络威吓、欺负别人的人”。)

interactive adj. 交互式的

humiliate     v.         羞辱

meanadj.        卑鄙的，不舒服的

blockv.            阻止

cell phone       手机

instant message     即时消息

spread rumor        散播谣言

monitoring software      监控软件of online bullying. Bull

 

 

 

For discussion:

* Why was Jessica in tears every day when she went to the computer?

* According to the story, how do cyberbullies attack others?