A survey reveals that the average British person will say 'sorry' more than 1.9 million times in their lifetime.
一项研究发现,英国人一生说“对不起”的平均次数有每人190多万次之多。
Of course, '
sorry'
has a multitude of uses in this country.
It might be deployed apologetically in response to stepping on someone'
s foot or indignantly in response to them stepping on your foot -
or sarcastically in response to them glaring at you for stepping on their foot.
In the U.
S.,
there are no such nuances.
Over there, '
sorry'
tends to mean sorry.
当然,“对不起”这个词在英国能发挥多重功能。或许你不小心踩着了某人的脚所以想表示歉意,或者你被别人踩到自己的脚,所以要表示愤慨,抑或当你踩到了别人的脚,对方对你吹胡子瞪眼时表示讽刺。美国人可没这么多讲究。在美国,“对不起”一般仅指对不起。
Evidently,
the word '
whinge'
has been in steady use in Britain since the 1500
s,
possibly because we haven'
t stopped whingeing since.
众所周知,“抱怨(
whinge)”这个词自16世纪以来就成为英国人的常用语汇,这或许是因为自这个词诞生以来,我们就从未停止过抱怨。
Yet we are no good at actual complaining. '[
The British]
habitually refuse to tackle an issue head on,' '
A common response to "
How are you?"
in Britain is "
Can'
t complain".'
然而真正抱怨的时候我们又乏于技巧。“(英国人)习惯性的在遇到问题的时候拒绝正面处理问题。”“当被问及‘你好吗’(
How are you)时,英国人的惯常回答是‘还算好。’(
Can'
t complain)”。
It'
s quite true:
we can'
t.
Not nearly as well as our more direct transatlantic cousins,
anyway.
As Moore observes: '
If you ever accidentally cut someone in a line in Britain,
what you’
ll hear will be grumbling,
whingeing,
under-
the-
breath comments and sighs:
the barely audible sounds of half-
a-
dozen people deciding,
all at once,
not to confront you.
的确如此,我们的确不能够正确的抱怨。这一点与大西洋彼岸那些性情直率的美国兄弟不尽相同。摩尔教授据自己的观察发现,“在英国,如果你无意间插队到别人的前面,你只会听到小声的埋怨、嘀咕、耳语式的指摘和叹气声:被你插队的半打英国人都会在瞬间决定不与你正面冲突,而只用勉强听到的声音发泄不满。
'
While an American might just say: "
Hey,
buddy -
the end of the line is over there."
“而一位美国人则会说,‘嘿,老兄,队伍的末尾在那儿!”
Howerver,
I’
m gratified to learn that millions of Americans,
in turn,
have adopted the British way of using '
cheers'
to mean thanks or goodbye.
不过,令人欣慰的是,我发现数以百万的美国人反过来学会了英国人用“
cheers”来表示感谢或告别。
Moore quotes a British banker living in New York,
who says: '
I'
m getting sick of my clients saying "
Cheers"
to me.
Americans say "
Cheers"
with too much enthusiasm.
It must be delivered laconically.'
摩尔教授引用了一位居住在纽约的英国银行家的话,他说到,‘我的顾客总会对我说‘
Cheers’,对此我不得不感到厌烦。美国人对‘
Cheers’这个词太有热情了。这个词本应用得更加简明直接。”
【你知道为什么英国人特别喜欢说“sorry”吗?】相关文章:
★ 那5个让国人大呼“任性”的英伦日常
★ 英国人最爱的十大旅游圣地
★ 咖啡文化:卡布奇诺(Cappuccino)的命名故事
★ 美国年轻人这样表达“放松”
★ 为什么英国人圣诞节要戴纸帽子?
★ 英文名著精选阅读:《小妇人》第三章:劳伦斯家的男孩 第9节
★ 饮食调查:英国人受快餐诱惑最深(图)
★ 为何英国人希望谈论天气
★ Chanukah(光明节)
★ 海外文化:你不知道的美利坚十怪