CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University revealed Thursday what could be its largest cheating scandal in memory, saying that about 125 students might have worked in groups on a take-home final exam despite being explicitly required to work alone.

马萨诸塞州坎布里奇——周四，哈佛大学(Harvard University)曝出了也许是其史上最大的作弊丑闻，约125名学生涉嫌在一门课外考试中分组合作，而该考试明确要求学生独立完成。

The accusations, related to a single undergraduate class in the spring semester, deal with “academic dishonesty, ranging from inappropriate collaboration to outright plagiarism,” the administration said in a note sent to students.

学校管理部门在一份发给学生的声明中说，指控涉及在春季学期开设的一门本科生课程，是为惩治“不当合作和直接抄袭等学术欺诈行为”。

Officials said that nearly half of the more than 250 students in the class were under investigation by the Harvard College Administrative Board and that if they were found to have cheated, they could be suspended for a year. The students have been notified that they are suspected and will be called to give their accounts in investigative hearings.

学校官方称，在选修该课程的250多名学生中，有近半数的人在接受哈佛学院行政委员会(Harvard College Administrative Board)的调查，并且如果他们被证实确有作弊，将可能被迫休学一年。校方已告知这些学生他们被怀疑作弊，并将要求其参加调查听证会，进行供述。

“This is unprecedented in its scope and magnitude,” said Jay Harris, the dean of undergraduate education.

哈佛大学本科教育教务主任杰伊·哈里斯(Jay Harris)表示， “此次事件涉及范围之广，影响之大，前所未有。”

Administrators would not reveal the name of the class or even the department, saying that they wanted to protect the identities of the accused students. The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, reported that it was a government class, Introduction to Congress, which had 279 students, and that it was taught by Matthew B. Platt, an assistant professor.

校方不愿透露该课程、甚至相关院系的名称，称他们想保护被指控学生的身份隐私。据哈佛大学学生报纸《绯红报》(The Harvard Crimson)报道，该课程是一门政府课程，“美国国会概况”，共有279名学生，授课老师是助理教授马修·B·普拉特(Matthew B. Platt)。

Professor Platt did not respond to messages seeking comment.

普拉特没有对寻求置评的讯息做出回应。

When final exams were graded in May, similarities were noticed in the answers given by some students, officials said, and a professor brought the matter to the administration immediately. Over the summer, Harvard’s administrative board conducted an initial review, going over the exams of all of the students in the class for evidence of cheating. It concluded that almost half of them showed signs of possible collaboration.

学校官方称，在5月份对期末考试评分时，教师发现一些学生的答案有些类似，一位教授立刻将此事上报给学校行政部门。今年夏天，哈佛大学行政委员会开展了初步调查，审查了该课程所有学生的考试答案。调查结果表明，几乎一半的学生有合作的嫌疑。

“The enabling role of technology is a big part of this picture,” Mr. Harris said. “It’s the ease of sharing. With that has come, I believe, a certain cavalier attitude.”

“科技手段在这个事件中起了很大的作用，”哈里斯说。“它使分享变得十分方便。我认为，一种满不在乎的态度也随之而来了。”

The university said it planned to increase efforts to teach students about academic integrity.

学校表示，计划对学生强化学术诚信教育。

“The scope of the allegations suggests that there is work to be done to ensure that every student at Harvard understands and embraces the values that are fundamental to its community of scholars,” Harvard’s president, Drew Gilpin Faust, told The Harvard Gazette, the university’s official newspaper.

哈佛大学校长德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特(Drew Gilpin Faust)在接受学校官方报纸《哈佛大学报》(Harvard Gazette)采访时表示，“此次指控涉及广泛，这表明，我们仍需努力，确保每一位哈佛学子了解并且秉承哈佛大学学术圈的根本价值观。”

Harvard’s student handbook says that students must “comply with the policy on collaboration established for each course,” and notes that such policies vary from department to department, from class to class, and even from assignment to assignment within a class.

哈佛大学学生手册规定，学生必须“遵守每一门课程有关合作的政策”，并指出，不同学院、不同课程、甚至一门课程的不同任务都有不同的合作规定。

The news comes as Harvard students are returning to campus for the fall term, which begins on Tuesday.

此消息曝出时，正值哈佛学生返校，他们将于下周二开始自己的秋季学期。

翻译：谷菁璐