For any athlete, failing to win a gold medal at the Olympics can be a great disappointment. However, for British Olympic diver Tom Daley, failure to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics was even worse, thanks to malicious online abuse he suffered as a result. His father had recently died of cancer, and Tom was bullied online by a teenager, who said that he had "let his father down" Tom called this person out, but the attacks persisted, both on Tom and those who defended him online. The bully was later arrested and given a warning for harassment. Of course, there are many positive benefits that online communication can bring us, such as being able to keep in touch with family and friends all around the world, but Tom Daley's story is just one of the many examples that remind us of this technology's dark side.
对任何运动员来说，未能在奥运会上赢得金牌都是非常令人失望的。然而，对于英国跳水运动员汤姆·戴利（Tom Daley）来说，在2012年伦敦奥运会上未能获得金牌的情况更糟，这要归功于他在网上遭受的恶意辱骂。他的父亲最近死于癌症，汤姆在网上被一个青少年欺负，说他“让他的父亲失望了”。汤姆把这个人叫了出来，但攻击仍在继续，无论是对汤姆还是对那些在网上为他辩护的人。这名恶霸后来被逮捕，并受到骚扰警告。当然，有很多积极的好处
Anyone will tell you that communication online is often a much less civil affair than traditional forms of communication, especially face-to-face interactions. When interacting with people we actually know in real life, most people communicate according to socially accepted rules of politeness. However, in more public forums, such as on social media, these rules just seem to disappear. There are many who post offensive comments just for the purpose of starting arguments. These people are known as "trolls", and they seem to be increasing in number as the norms of acceptable behavior online become increasingly blurry.
任何人都会告诉你，与传统的交流方式相比，在线交流往往不那么文明，尤其是面对面的交流。当与我们在现实生活中真正认识的人交往时，大多数人根据社会公认的礼貌规则进行交流。然而，在更多的公共论坛，比如社交媒体上，这些规则似乎消失了。有很多人发表冒犯性的评论只是为了引发争论。这些人被称为“喷子”，随着网络上可接受的行为规范变得越来越规范，他们的数量似乎正在增加
So, why is this happening?
那么，为什么会发生这种情况呢？
When communicating online, even when we use our real identities, we feel detached from the people we are interacting with. This is because we often don't know them personally, and feel we are unlikely ever to meet them face to face. Sometimes this distance is positive, because it makes it easier for people to be more "open" online. However, not looking into people's faces or hearing their voices also makes it easier for us to forget that they are real people, with real feeling that can be hurt.
当我们在网上交流时，即使我们使用真实身份，我们也会感到与我们互动的人疏远。这是因为我们通常不认识他们，并且觉得我们不太可能与他们面对面。有时这种距离是积极的，因为它使人们更容易在网上更加“开放”。然而，不看别人的脸或听他们的声音也会让我们更容易忘记他们是真实的人，有真实的感情，可能会受到伤害。
It also seems that we get "positive reinforcement" from the attention that bad behavior can give us online, and this can inflate our sense of self and lead to online bullying. In interviews after his arrest, Tom Daley's troll said that he was proud of how his cruel messages had become so notorious on the Internet and in the media. It seems as if the whole thing was just a game for him. Of course, this kind of negative behavior is only carried out by a small proportion of "netizens", but it has an impact on the whole tone of online communication, and can easily spread if not kept in check.
我们似乎还会从不良行为在网上引起的关注中得到“正强化”，这可能会膨胀我们的自我意识，导致网络欺凌。在被捕后的采访中，Tom Daley的喷子说，他为自己残忍的信息在互联网和媒体上变得如此臭名昭著而感到自豪。似乎整件事对他来说只是一场游戏。当然，这种负面行为只是一小部分“网民”的行为，但它对网络交流的整体基调产生了影响，如果不加以控制，很容易蔓延。
This problem is not going away, so action needs to be taken to control it. Obviously, the Internet service providers have a responsibility to police the most extreme types of online abuse, as do the authorities. However, a better solution would be to try and deal with the problem in a preventative way, through education. Nowthat the Internet is such a big part of our lives,parents and schools need to teach children about online politeness and acceptable norms of behavior, So far the education system has beenslow to act, but thanks to several high-profile cases of cyberbullying, this is now beginning to change. Schools are now increasingly giving children guidance on online behavior and teaching them how to stay safe.
这个问题不会消失，所以需要采取行动来控制它。显然，互联网服务提供商有责任监督最极端的网络滥用行为，当局也有责任。然而，一个更好的解决办法是通过教育，以一种预防性的方式来解决这个问题。既然互联网已经成为我们生活中如此重要的一部分，家长和学校需要教育孩子们网络礼仪和可接受的行为规范。到目前为止，教育系统还没有采取行动，但由于几起备受瞩目的网络欺凌事件，这一点现在已经很迫切了
Our society is currently going through a period of transition in relation to online communication, and we are only just coming to terms with some of the challenges it presents.Hopefully, we can now start work on finding the solutions, since many of the problems have been identified, Then, we can ensure that everyone has the chance to enjoy the amazing benefits that the Internet can bring.
我们的社会目前正经历一个与在线交流有关的转型期，我们只是刚刚接受它所带来的一些挑战。希望，我们现在可以开始寻找解决方案，因为许多问题已经确定，然后，我们可以确保每个人都有机会享受互联网可以带来的惊人的好处。