As?a?gesture?of?good?faith,?think?twice?before?you?post

I?still?remember?my?father's?sheepish?expression?at?breakfast?the?morning?after?he'd?been?invited?to?have?dinner?at?a?colleague's?house.?Freshly?arrived?in?Brazil,?back?in?the?dark?ages,?before?the?ease?of?being?able?to?look?things?up?on?the?internet,?he'd?offended?his?hosts,?who?had?prepared?a?lavish?spread?of?Brazilian?delicacies,?by?making?a?hand?gesture?that?he'd?always?used?-?a?circle?with?the?thumb?and?index?finger.?He?had?always?understood?it?to?mean?"OK",?but?in?Brazil,?it?meant?something?quite?different.

我還記得我父親在被邀請(qǐng)到他同事家吃晚飯后的第二天早上吃早餐時(shí)窘迫的表情。那時(shí)候科技還不發(fā)達(dá)，上網(wǎng)查資料還沒(méi)有像現(xiàn)在這么容易，剛到巴西的他做了一個(gè)手勢(shì)，冒犯了為他準(zhǔn)備了一大桌豐盛巴西美食的主人。那是一個(gè)他經(jīng)常用的手勢(shì)——用拇指和食指比劃一個(gè)圓圈。他一直都把它理解為“OK”的意思，但在巴西，這個(gè)手勢(shì)有完全不同的意思。

sheepish????????????????????????? adj.窘迫的；難為情的；不好意思的

lavish????????????????????????? adj.大量的；給人印象深刻的；耗資巨大的；慷慨的

delicacy????????????????????????n.美味；優(yōu)美；精致；微妙

To?make?matters?worse,?he'd?raised?his?fingers?to?his?lips?and?made?a?kissing?sound,?which?again,?he?meant?as?a?way?of?indicating?that?something?-?in?this?case?the?meal?he'd?just?been?asked?to?comment?on?-?was?delicious.

更糟糕的是，他還把手指舉到嘴邊，發(fā)出一個(gè)親吻的聲音。當(dāng)時(shí)主人問(wèn)他覺(jué)得飯菜怎么樣，他覺(jué)得這樣做是在表示某種食物很美味。但是他又錯(cuò)了。

to?make?matters?worse? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 更糟糕的是

The?faux?pas?was?swiftly?forgotten.?My?father's?colleague?and?his?wife?understood?that?he?probably?wasn't?yet?aware?of?the?local?meaning?of?the?gesture,?and?after?gently?explaining?why?it?was?something?best?not?repeated?unless?you?planned?to?start?a?fight,?the?episode?was?filed?away?under?"things?not?to?be?done?in?Rio".

他這個(gè)失禮的小舉動(dòng)很快就被忘記了。我父親的同事和他的妻子明白，他可能還沒(méi)有意識(shí)到這個(gè)手勢(shì)在巴西當(dāng)?shù)氐暮x。他們溫和地解釋了為什么最好不要再做這個(gè)手勢(shì)（除非你想打架），然后這個(gè)小插曲就被我父親歸類到“在里約不要做的事”之列了。

faux?pas? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 失禮

file away? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 歸檔

I?was?reminded?of?this?moment?myself?a?few?months?into?my?stay?in?China.?After?I?replied?to?a?colleague's?WeChat?message?with?a?Van?Gogh?sticker?that?I?thought?meant?"keep?fighting",?a?second?colleague?intervened,?telling?me?that?I?used?it?wrong.

在中國(guó)待了幾個(gè)月后，我自己的經(jīng)歷讓我想起了我父親這件事。當(dāng)時(shí)我用了一張梵高的表情包回復(fù)我一個(gè)同事的微信消息，我以為這個(gè)表情包是是“加油”的意思。然后第二位同事走過(guò)來(lái)告訴我，說(shuō)我表情包用錯(cuò)了。

intervene???????????????????? v.介入；干擾；出面；插嘴

"The?Chinese?version?is?a?bit?different,"?she?said,?taking?out?her?phone.?"See?these?characters?"?I?squinted?myopically?at?the?screen.?"They?mean?'I?will?hit?you',"?she?said.

“這個(gè)表情包的中文版有點(diǎn)不一樣。”她說(shuō)著拿出手機(jī)，“你看到這些漢字了嗎？”我瞇著眼睛湊到屏幕上看。“這幾個(gè)字的意思是‘我要打你’，”她說(shuō)。

squint???????????????????????? v.斜視；瞇著眼看 ?????????????

myopically? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? adv.近視地? ?

Life?is?full?of?crossed?meanings.?The?reverse?peace?symbol?popularized?by?hip-hop?has?a?very?different?meaning?in?the?United?Kingdom.?In?India,?you?beckon?to?a?person?palm?down,?not?up.?And?in?the?Middle?East,?you?never?use?your?left?hand?for,?well,?anything?public.

生活中充滿了復(fù)雜交錯(cuò)的多重含義。嘻哈文化中流行的反V和平手勢(shì)，在英國(guó)有著非常不同的含義。在印度，你召喚某人時(shí)手掌要向下擺手指，而不是向上。在中東，你永遠(yuǎn)不要用左手在公開(kāi)場(chǎng)合做任何事情。

beckon? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? v.招手示意；舉手召喚；吸引；誘惑

As?adults,?we?understand?that?even?if?it?stings,?a?mistake?is?only?an?insult?when?it?is?deliberate.?Intention,?much?like?possession,?is?nine-tenths?of?this?law.?Yet?as?we?look?around?us,?so?much?friction?stems?from?misunderstanding,?and?history?is?full?of?the?unfortunate?outcomes?of?crossed?communication.

作為成年人，我們認(rèn)為，即使冒犯會(huì)讓人不高興，但只要不是故意的，不小心的冒犯也算不上對(duì)他人的侮辱。就像一句法律諺語(yǔ)說(shuō)的，“現(xiàn)實(shí)占有，敗一勝九”，交流的意圖很重要，它決定了是否是有意冒犯。然而，環(huán)顧四周，人與人之間有許多摩擦都源于誤會(huì)，歷史上也有許多跨文化溝通所帶來(lái)的令人遺憾的結(jié)果。

sting???????????????? v.刺；蜇；叮；（使）感覺(jué)刺痛

To?my?point,?then.?My?father's?pre-internet?Brazilian?faux?pas?was?forgiven?because?of?context?-?he?had?just?arrived,?he?could?not?know,?it?didn't?make?sense?that?he'd?be?deliberately?offensive.?But?when?context?is?absent?or?simply?differently?understood?-?especially?in?the?nuance-free?echo?chamber?that?is?social?media?-?perhaps?it?is?time?we?all?think?thrice?before?typing?or?talking,?especially?when?the?ramifications?can?be?much?more?severe?than?the?misuse?of?a?WeChat?sticker.

在我看來(lái)，我父親在巴西的失禮舉動(dòng)能夠被原諒是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)的背景——那時(shí)候網(wǎng)絡(luò)還沒(méi)有普及，他又是剛到巴西，他不可能知道那些手勢(shì)有別的意思，而且他也沒(méi)有理由要故意冒犯主人。但是，當(dāng)背景情況缺失或者他人對(duì)背景情況理解不同時(shí)——尤其是在社交媒體這種不存在細(xì)微差別的，高度同質(zhì)化的“回聲室“中——也許我們是時(shí)候需要在打字或說(shuō)話之前三思而后行了。尤其是當(dāng)不小心說(shuō)錯(cuò)話的后果可能比誤用一個(gè)微信表情包要嚴(yán)重得多時(shí)，我們更要謹(jǐn)言慎行。

echo?chamber? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 回聲室

ramification? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? n.結(jié)果