In paragraph 9th, I think the “term-paper companies” is a company which specially helps the student to write the paper. I have not paid attention to the usage of “seem” for a long time; I nearly forgot its usage, so I look it up on the dictionary. After “seem” there can follow “that” or “to be”. “Irresistible” means impossible to refuse, oppose or avoid because too pleasant, attractive or strong. Just like the author said, the cheating situation really has not Vanished.
In the 10th paragraph, “nursery schooler” is a child who goes to a nursery school, a school for children who are not old enough to attend kindergarten. The sentence ---“what if the cheating …on test.”, I has not understood its meaning quite a while. Afterwards, I thought it maybe can add “situation will happen” after “what”. “”Lay a guilt trip on” or “put a guilt trip on” means make someone feel guilty. “tempting” means “appealing to or attracting someone, even if wrong or inadvisable”, it equal to the other word “irresistible” in the article. The last sentence means “cheating is so natural”, or “it is such a significant part of Human Nature”.
In the paragraph 12, “comfortable” means “giving comfort to the body or providing comfort”, but here “be comfortable with” should explain to “be agreed with”. “Honor” means “a quality that combines respect, pride and honesty”, but here equal to “strict”. “On the threshold of” means “at the beginning of a new and important event or development”.
In paragraph 13, I still can’t understand the meaning of “on how well”. I can’t understand the “on”, it makes me feel a little strange. “Dual” means “with two parts, or combining two things”. “Foster” means to take care of a child, usually for a limited time, without being the child's legal parent, but here means “educate”.
In paragraph 15, “vice” original means “moral fault or weakness in someone's character or illegal and immoral activities, especially involving illegal sex, drugs, etc”. But “vice president” means the person who has the position immediately below the president in some countries, and who is responsible for the president's duties if he or she is unable to do them. “Device” means “an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose”. Here it means method.
In the paragraph 16, “For the most part” is a phrase, means mainly, to a large extent. The “two-income families” means both father and mother goes to work.
I also thought author's worry is not unnecessary. Today the social pressure is so great, all people are in struggle for the survival, the competition, and they all resourcefully upwardly crawling. Cheats may cause them little to spend the energy to achieve successfully.
