BBC英语｜Lying to children 对孩子说谎
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Hello, welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语。我是尼尔。
And I’m Rob.
我是罗伯。
Rob, when you were a child, did you have a pet?
罗伯，你小时候有宠物吗？
Yes, we had a few pets. My favourite was a little fluffy hamster.
有，我们有一些宠物。我最喜欢的是一只毛茸茸的小仓鼠。
And what happened to your hamster?
你的小仓鼠后来怎么样了？
Well, one day I got home from school and he wasn’t in his cage.I was worried for a bit in case he’d escaped or got hurt. But it was alright. My mum told me that he had gone to live on a farm.So that he could run around with other animals.
好吧，有一天我放学回家，它并不在笼子里。我有点担心，怕它万一逃跑了或者受伤了。但是还好。妈妈告诉我它跑到农场里去了。那样它可以和其它动物一起跑着玩。
Really?
真的吗？
Yes, really.
是的，是真的。
A hamster. Went to live on a farm.To be with other animals. Really?
一只仓鼠。跑到农场里生活。和其它动物在一起。真的吗？
Oh, well, when you put it like that…
额，好吧，你要是那么说得话……
I think that was probably one of those lies that parents tell their children so as not to make them sad.
我觉得那或许是父母为了不让孩子伤心所说的一种谎言。
Well, I’m sad now.
好吧，我现在很难过。
Well, maybe having a go at this quiz will cheer you up. According to a study by a US psychologist, what percentage of people will lie in a typical ten minute conversation?Is it: a) 40% b) 50% or c) 60%?
好吧，或许试试回答一下这个问题会让你高兴起来。根据美国一位心理学家的研究，有百分之多少的人会在一个十分钟的正常会话中说谎？是a) 40% b) 50% 还是 c) 60%？
I think most people don’t lie that much, so I’ll say 40%.
我觉得大多数人没那么爱说谎，所以我说有40%。
OK, well. We’ll reveal the answer a little later in the programme.
好的。稍后我们将在节目中揭晓答案。
So today we are talking about lies and particularly the lies that parents tell children.
所以今天我们谈论是谎言，特别是父母对孩子说的谎言。
The topic was discussed on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Woman’s Hour.
BBC广播4频道的“女性时间”对这个话题进行了讨论。
A guest on that programme was Doctor Chris Boyle, a psychologist at Exeter University. He talks about a particular kind of lie. We tell these lies not because we want to hurt people. What colour are these lies called?
节目嘉宾之一是克里斯·博伊尔博士，他是埃克斯特大学的心理学家。他谈到了一种特殊的谎言。我们说那些谎言不是为了伤害别人。这些谎言被称作什么颜色的谎言呢？
A white lie is just a distortion of the truth without malicious intent. So as long as there’s not malicious intent I think it’s something that we do. It’s almost a societal norm that has become where it is acceptable that we do tell certain lies at certain times.
善意的谎言只是对事实的曲解，但并无恶意。所以只要没有恶意，我觉得我们可以那样做。它几乎就是一种被大家接受的社会准则，我们确实在某些时间说某些特定的谎言。
Dr Chris Boyle there. What colour is the kind of lie he was talking about?
那是克里斯·博伊尔博士的观点。他所谈到的谎言是什么颜色？
It’s a white lie.He says a white lie is just a distortion of the truth. ‘Distortion’ here means a changing or bending of the truth. These kind of lies are OK as long as we don’t tell them because we want to hurt someone.
它是白色的谎言。他说善意的谎言只是对事情的曲解。"Distortion"在这里指的是改变或者歪曲事实。这些谎言是可以的，只要我们不是为了伤害别人而说谎。
He used the phrase - malicious intent - to talk about a bad reason for doing something, didn’t he?
他用“恶意”这个词组来说做某事的恶劣原因，不是吗？
Yes, ‘intent’ is the reason or purpose for doing something.And ‘malicious’ is an adjective, which means cruel or nasty. So without malicious intent means without wanting to hurt or be cruel to someone.
是的，“意图”是指做某事的原因或者目的。而"malicious"是一个形容词，指的是残忍的或者险恶的。所以没有恶意指的是没想伤害或者残忍对待某人。
He said that this kind of white lie was almost a societal norm. Can you explain what he means by that?
他说那种善意的谎言几乎是一种社会准则。你能解释一下他那么说是什么意思吗？
Yes, something that is the norm is something that is expected, it’s regular and usual.The adjective ‘societal’ comes from the noun ‘society’. So a societal norm is something that is regular and common in your culture or society.
可以。准则就是符合人们要求的东西，是普通寻常的。形容词 "societal"是由名词"society"衍变而来的。所以社会准则是在你所处的文化环境或者社会中普通寻常的东西。
So do you think your mum’s story about the hamster and the farm was a little white lie?
所以你认为你妈妈关于仓鼠和农场的故事是一个善意的小谎言吗？
Yes, I’m sure it was. She didn’t do it with malicious intent. She didn’t want to hurt me. In fact, just the opposite, she wanted to protect me.
是的，我确定它是善意的谎言。她不是怀着恶意做这件事。她不想伤害我。事实上正相反，她想要保护我。
Yes, that’s one kind of white lie that parents tell, to protect children.There are also a couple of other reasons. One being the parent’s convenience.
是的，那是父母为了保护孩子所说的一种善意的谎言。还有许多其它的理由。一个就是父母为了方便自己。
Yes, I remember my mum telling me on certain days, the park wasn’t open. I know now that it never closed.I guess at the time she was just too busy to take me.
是的，我记得我妈妈告诉我在特定的日子公园不会开放。现在我知道公园从来不会关闭。我猜那时候她只是太忙以至于没时间带我去。
And then there are the cultural lies that parents tell children.
然后父母对孩子说的谎还有与文化相关的。
Alright. What do you mean by that?
好吧。你那么说是什么意思？
Well, first, if you have any children listening to this right now, you might want to cover their ears for a few seconds. Rob, I’m talking about, for example, Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy.
好吧，首先如果你的孩子现在正在收听的话，你或许想要捂住他们的耳朵几秒钟。罗伯我现在说的是像圣诞老人和牙仙子。
Alright. Yes, there’s no malicious intent in telling children those stories. It is a cultural and societal norm.
好吧。是的，告诉孩子那些故事没有恶意。它是一种文化和社会准则。
Let’s listen to Dr Chris Boyle again talking about white lies.
让我们再听一遍克里斯·博伊尔博士对善意的谎言的谈论。
A white lie is just a distortion of the truth without malicious intent. So as long as there’s not malicious intent I think it’s something that we do. It’s almost a societal norm that has become where it is acceptable that we do tell certain lies at certain times.
善意的谎言只是对事实的曲解，但并无恶意。所以只要没有恶意，我觉得我们可以那样做。它几乎就是一种被大家接受的社会准则，我们确实在某些时间说某些特定的谎言。
So now back to our question at the top of the programme. I asked what percentage of people will lie in a typical ten minute conversation. Was it: a) 40% b) 50% or c) 60% ?What did you say Rob?
所以现在让我们回到节目开始时的问题。我问在一个十分钟的正常对话中，有百分之多少的人会说谎？是a) 40% b) 50% 还是 c) 60%？你当时说是多少，罗伯？
I said a) just 40%.
我说是a)只有40%。
Well, I’m afraid the answer was 60%.
好吧，恐怕答案是60%。
Really? Goodness, 60%! That’s more than I expected.
真的。天哪，60%。那比我预料的要多。
Right, well before we go, let’s recap the vocabulary we talked about today. The first expression was ’white lie’ - a lie we tell without meaning to hurt someone. For example when I say to you: you look nice today!
是的。在结束之前，让我们回顾一下今天所谈到的单词。第一个表达是“善意的谎言”——一个不是为了伤害别人而说的谎言。例如我和你说：你今天看起来真不错！
Wait, what did you say?
等等，你刚说什么？
But that is actually a distortion of the truth. A changing or bending of the truth.
但那实际上是对事实的曲解。对事实的改变或者歪曲。
Mmmm. This makes me think of the next expression, ’malicious intent’. Intent is the reason or purpose for doing something.And doing something with a malicious intent is doing it deliberately to be cruel or to hurt someone. And I think you have a malicious intent, telling me that when you say I look nice, it’s just a lie!
额。那让我想到了下一个表达，“恶意”。意图是做某事的原因或者目的。而且恶意做某事是指故意残忍对待或伤害某人。我觉得你有恶意，当你跟我说我看起来不错的时候，那只是一个谎言。
I’m just kidding!
我只是开玩笑！
That’s the norm for you, isn’t it? Just kidding. A ’norm’ is the standard or ‘normal’ way that something is. In the clip we heard ’societal norm’, which is the accepted or ‘normal’ way something is done in society.
那是你的准则，不是吗？只是开玩笑。"norm"是指某事的标准或准则。在刚才的片段中，我们听到了“社会准则”，是某事在社会中能被人们接受的，或者正常的完成方式。
For example, telling children about Father Christmas.
例如，告诉孩子们圣诞老人。
Sssh!
嘘。
Well, sadly this isn’t a lie but that’s all for this programme. Thanks for joining us and goodbye!
好吧，很难过这不是一个谎言，节目到这里就要结束了。感谢你的参与，再见！
Byebye.
再见。