If someone is crying in an attempt to fake remorse or empathy, we say they are shedding “crocodile tears.” But how and why did we start pegging insincere displays of emotion to the toothy reptiles?
如果某人哭泣是为了装出悔过或同情的样子,我们就说他们掉的是“鳄鱼的眼泪”。但是我们是怎样又是为何会把不真诚的感情流露和鳄鱼联系在一起的呢?
The origin may have become popular around the 14th century when a bestselling memoir, The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville, referenced serpents who sob while eating their human victims.
这个说法大约是在14世纪开始流行起来的,当时有一本畅销的回忆录叫《约翰·曼德维尔爵士的航海旅行》,里面提到蛇在吃人的时候会流泪。
In the centuries since, crying crocodiles have become a metaphor for superficial remorse. The expression has been used as a fable to teach sincere repentance, by Shakespeare to convey false grief, and, more recently, by media mocking tearful politicians or murder suspects.
从那以后的数个世纪以来,哭泣的鳄鱼便被用来比喻虚伪的悔恨。这个表达曾作为寓言用来告诫人们要真心悔悟,也曾被莎士比亚用来指代假意的悲伤,到了现代,则被媒体用于嘲讽流泪的政客或谋杀嫌疑犯。
In 2007, University of Florida zoologist Kent Vliet actually proved that the animals do sob while snacking. But because crocodiles eat while in the water—making a study of their meal-time tears difficult—he studied their close relatives, caimans and alligators, who might dine on dry land. Out of the seven he filmed eating at a Florida alligator park, five teared up before, during, and after eating.
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