TED演讲：谈语言和思想(11)

 　　The simplest example of this is in the polite request.  最简单的例子出自于礼貌的要求

　　If you express your request as a conditional¹ -- "if you could open the window, that would be great" 倘若你用一个条件句表达请求：“您要是能开一下窗子就太好了，”

　　even though the content is an imperative², the fact that you're not using the imperative voice 尽管内容是祈使句，仅仅因为你没有用祈使语态

　　means that you're not acting³ as if you're in a relationship of dominance,  就显示出你并没有按照一种支配的人际关系行事

　　where you could presuppose the compliance⁴ of the other person.  你并没有假设他人必须服从

　　On the other hand, you want the damn guacamole.  可另一方面，你想要那个该死的鳄梨沙拉酱

　　By expressing it as an if-then statement,  用一个“如果—那么”巨型，

　　you can get the message across without appearing to boss another person around. 你把意思说清楚了，却不会让人觉得你在指使他

　　And in a more subtle way, I think, this works for all of the veiled speech acts involving plausible⁵ deniability: 我认为这样挺微妙，效果也不错，种种含蓄的言行保留了拒绝的可能：

　　the bribes⁷, threats, propositions, solicitations and so on. 贿赂、威胁、提议、恳请等等

　　One way of thinking about it is to imagine what it would be like  有一种理解方式就是想象

　　if language -- where it could only be used literally⁸.  当语言只能表达字面义

　　And you can think of it in terms of a game-theoretic payoff matrix. 你可以把它当作博弈论中的得失矩阵来思考

　　Put yourself in the position of the kidnapper⁹ wanting to bribe⁶ the officer. 把你放在那个想贿赂警官的绑匪的位置上

　　There's a high stakes in the two possibilities of having a dishonest officer or an honest officer. 全部的赌注都压在这两种可能性上：警官不老实或者他是老实人

　　If you don't bribe the officer, then you will get a traffic ticket 假如你不贿赂他，你得吃罚单

　　or, as is the case of "Fargo," worse -- whether the honest officer is honest or dishonest. 或者，就像《冰风血》中的情况一样，那更糟。不管那个警官到底老实不老实。

　　Nothing ventured, nothing gained. In that case, the consequences are rather severe. 爱拼才会赢。这种情况下，后果很严重

　　On the other hand, if you extend the bribe, if the officer is dishonest, you get a huge payoff of going free. 换一方面，你要是掏出钱来，如果警官吃贿赂，你全身而退，讨了个大巧。

1 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

2 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

5 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

6 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

7 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 kidnapper   

n.绑架者，拐骗者

参考例句：

• The kidnapper was shot dead then and there by the armed policeman.绑架者被武装警察当时当地击毙。
• The kidnapper strangled the child with a piece of string.绑票的人用一根绳子把这孩子勒死了。