The Truth About Lying 关于说谎的真相 朱迪斯
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The Truth About Lying 关于说谎的真相 朱迪斯维奥斯特
1.
I've been wanting to write on a subject
that intrigues and challenges
me the subject
of lying. I've found it very difficult to do.
Everyone I've
talked to has a quite intense
and personal but often rather intolerant
point
of view about what we can and can never never tell
lies about. I've
finally reached the
conclusion that I can't present any ultimate
conclusions, for too many people would
promptly disagree. Instead, I'd
like to
present a series of moral puzzles, all concerned
with lying. I'll
tell you what I think about
them. Do you agree?
我一直想写一个令我深感兴趣的话题:关于说谎
的问题。我觉得这个题目很难写。
所有我交谈过的人都对什么事情可以说谎——
什么事情绝对不可以说谎——
持有强烈的、常常不容别人分说的个人意见。最后我得出结论,我不能下
任何定
论,因为这样做就会有太多的人立即反对。我想我还是提出若干都与说谎有关的
道义上的
难题吧。我将向读者阐明我对这些难题的个人看法。你们觉得对吗?
Social
Lies社交性谎言
2.
Most of the people I've talked
with say that they find social lying
acceptable and necessary. They think it's the
civilized way for folks to
behave. Without
these little white lies, they say, our
relationships would
be short and nasty. It's
arrogant, they say, to insist on being so
incorruptible and so brave that you cause
other people unnecessary
embarrassment or pain
by compulsively presenting them with your honesty.
I basically agree. What about you?
和我
交谈过的大多数人都说,他们认为旨在促进社会交际的谎言是可以接受的
也是必要的。他们认为这是一种
文明的行为。他们说,要不是这类无关紧要的
谎言,人与人之间的关系就会变得粗野不快,无法持久。他
们说,如果你要做到十
二分正直、十二分无畏,不由自主地用你的诚实使他人陷入不必要的窘境或痛苦<
br>之中,这只能说你是傲慢自大。对此,我基本赞同。你呢?
3.
Will
you say to people, when it simply isn't true,
hairdo,to see you,
a wonderful time
你会不会跟人说:“我喜欢你的新发型,”“你气色好多了,”“见到你真高
兴,”“我玩得很尽兴
,”而实际上根本不是这么回事儿。
4.
Will you praise
ugly presents and ugly kids?
你会不会对令人憎厌的礼物,或相貌平平的孩子称赞有加。
5.
Will
you decline invitations with’re busy that night—so
sorry we
can’t come,”when the truth is you’d
rather stay home than dine with
the So-dad-
sos?
你婉辞邀请时会不会说“那天晚上我们正好没空——
真对不起,我们不能来,”
而实际上你是宁肯呆在家里也不想跟某某夫妇一起进餐。
6.
And even though, as I do, you may prefer
the polite evasion of You
really cooked up a
storm
warmed-over coffee
wonderful?
虽然像我那样,你也想用 “太丰盛了”这种委婉的托辞,而不是盛赞“那汤味
道好极了”(其
实味同重新热过的咖啡),但如果你必须赞美那汤,你会说它鲜美
吗?
7.
There's one man I know who absolutely
refuses to tell social lies.
can't play that
game,
answer to the argument that saying nice
things to someone doesn't cost
anything is, it
does it destroys your friend does
not indulge
in what he calls false praise and sweet
comments
When others tell lies he will not go
along. He says that social lying is
lying,
that little white lies are still lies. And he
feels that telling
lies is morally wrong. What
about you?
我认识一个人,他完全拒绝说这类社交性谎言。“我不会那一套,”
他说,“我生
来就不会那一套。”讲到对人家说几句好听的话并不失去什么,他的回答是,“不
对,当然有损失—— 那会损害你的诚信度。”因此你不问他,他不会对你刚买
来的画发表意见,但除非
你想听老实话。否则你也不会去问他的真实想法。当我
们这些说谎者轻声称赞着“多美啊”的时候,他的
沉默往往是极能说明问题的。
我的这位朋友从来不讲他所说的“奉承话、虚假的赞美话和动听话”。别人
说些
无伤大雅的谎言,他则不。他说社交性谎言还是谎言,无关紧要的小小谎言还是
谎言。他认
为说谎不合道德。你呢?
Peace-Keeping Lies息事宁人的谎言
8.
Many people tell peace-keeping lies;
lies designed to avoid irritation
or argument;
lies designed to shelter the liar from possible
blame or pain;
lies designed to keep trouble
at bay without hurting anyone.
不少人为了息事宁人而
说谎:那种意在避免生气或争吵的谎言,意在使说谎者免
受可能的责备或烦恼的谎言:意在(或据认为理
应)不伤害他人而又能帮助避免麻
烦的谎言。
9.
I tell
these lies at times, yet I always feel they're
wrong. I
understand why we tell them, but
still they feel wrong. And whenever I
lie so
that someone won't disapprove of me or think less
of me or yell
at me, I feel I'm a bit of a
coward, I feel I'm dodging responsibility,
I
feel guilty. What about you?
我有时也说
这种谎,不过我总觉得不该说。我知道为什么要说这种谎,但说这种
谎终究不对。每当我为了不让别人讨
厌自己、看轻自己、或冲着自己嚷嚷而说谎
时,我总觉得自己有点像个懦夫,觉得自己是在逃避责任,觉
得„愧疚。你呢?
10.
Do you, when you are late
for a date because you overslept, say you're
late because you got caught in a traffic jam?
你由于睡过 .赴约会迟到了,会不会说是因为碰上堵车才晚到的?
11.
Do you,when you’re forget to call a
friend,say that you called
several times but
the line was busy?
你忘了给朋友打电话,会不会谎称打过好几次,可电话老占线?
12.
Do you, when you didn't remember that
it was your father's birthday,
say that his
present must be delayed in the mail?
你忘了父亲的生日,会不会说寄给他的礼物准是给耽搁了?
13.
And
when you're planning a weekend in New York City
and you're not
in the mood to visit your
mother, who lives there, do you conceal — with
a lie, if you must — the fact that you'll be
in New York? Or do you have
the courage — or
is it the cruelty? — to say,
sorry — I don't
plan on seeing you
你打算去纽约市度周末,但又不想去看望住在那里的
母亲,你会——必要的话用
谎言——隐瞒你将到纽约的事实,还是会勇敢地——或者说狠心地——说:“
我
要来纽约可是抱歉,我不打算来看望你”?
14.
(Dave and
his wife Elaine have two quite different points of
view
on this very subject. He calls her a
coward. She says she's being wise.
He says she
must assert her right to visit New York sometimes
and not see
her mother. To which she always
patiently replies:
useless fights? My mother's
too old to change. We get along much better
when I lie to her.
(戴夫和妻子伊莱恩正是在这个问题上有两
种颇不相同的观点。他称她为懦夫。
她说自己处理这事是明智的。他说她应该维护自己有的时候去纽约但
不去看望母
亲的权利。对此她总是耐心地回答说:“我们何必无谓地争吵呢?我母亲年纪大
了,
不会改了。我对她说个谎,我们相处得就更好。”)
15.
Finally,
do you keep the peace by telling your husband lies
on the
subject of money? Do you reduce what
you really paid for your shoes? And
in general
do you find yourself ready, willing and able to
lie to him when
you make absurd mistakes or
lose or break things?
最后一点,你会不会在钱的
问题上对丈夫说谎,以求太平?你会不会少报买鞋子
的钱?你出了什么荒唐的错误或丢失了物品打碎了器
皿时是不是常常想对他撒
谎,而且会对他撒谎?
16.
used to
have a romantic idea that part of intimacy was
confessing
every dumb thing that you did to
your husband. But after a couple of years
of
that,
“过去我往往不切实际地以为亲密关系的一个组成部分就是把自己做的每件蠢事都如实告诉丈夫。可这么过了几年之后,”劳拉说,“我就改了主意!”
17.
And having changed her mind, she finds
herself telling peacekeeping
lies. And yes, I
tell them too. What about you?
改主意后,她在不知不觉中说谎话求太平了。没错,我也说这种谎。你呢?
保护性谎言Protective Lies
18.
Protective
lies are lies folks tell often quite serious lies
because
they're convinced that the truth would
be too damaging. They lie because
they feel
there are certain human values that are more
important than the
wrong of having lied. They
lie, not for personal gain, but because they
believe it's for the good of the person
they're lying to. They lie to those
they love,
to those who trust them most of all, on the
grounds that breaking
this trust is justified.
保护性谎言就是因为人们认为事实真相危害性太大而说的谎言,这类谎言通常事
关重
大。他们说谎,因为他们认为,人的某些价值观念压倒了说谎这一错误行为
本身。他们说谎不是为个人私
利,而是因为他们相信,那是为他们对之说谎的人
好。他们对自己所爱的人撒谎,对最信任自己的人撒谎
,就是因为他们认为这样
做是有正当理由的。
19.
They may
lie to their children on money or marital matters.
他们会在金钱或婚姻问题上对子女说谎。
20.
They
may lie to the dying about the state of their
health.
他们会对垂死者隐瞒真实病情。
21.
They may lie to their closest friend
because the truth about her
talents or son or
psyche would be — or so they insist — utterly
devastating.
他们会对密友说谎,因为关于其才能、其爱子或其精神
状态的实话会——不妨说
他们坚持这么认为——使其身心受到极大伤害。
22.
I sometimes tell such lies, but I'm
aware that it's quite presumptuous
to
claim I know what's best for others to know.
That's called playing God.
That's called
manipulation and control. And we never can be
sure, once
we start to juggle lies, just where
they'll land, exactly where they'll
roll.
有时我也说这种谎,可我明白,声称自己懂得什么事他人应该知道,这未免太自
以为是了。这无
异于充当上帝。这无异于操纵和控制他人。而我们一旦开始玩起
谎言戏法就再也无法知道谎言何时会收场
,究竟会滑向何方。
23.
And furthermore, we may
find ourselves lying in order to back up the
lies that are backing up the lie we initially
told.
而且,我们会不知不觉地为了圆先前说的谎言而说谎。
24.
And furthermore let's be honest if
conditions were reversed, we
certainly
wouldn't want anyone lying to us.
而且——我们不妨直说——如果情形倒过来,我们当然不愿意别人对自己说谎。
25.
Yet, having said all that, I still
believe that there are times when
protective
lies must nonetheless be told. What about you?
不过,话虽如此,我还是觉得有时保护性谎言还非说不可。你呢?
Trust-
Keeping Lies信守承诺的谎言
26.
Another group of
lies are trust-keeping lies, lies that involve
triangulation, with A (that's you) telling
lies to B on behalf of C (whose
trust you'd
promised to keep). Most people concede that once
you've agreed
not to betray a friend's
confidence, you can't betray it, even if you must
lie. But I've talked with people who don't
want you to tell them anything
that they might
be called on to lie about. They absolutely don't
want to
know about it.
另一类谎言是信守承诺的谎言
,涉及三方的谎言,即A(你)为了C(你答应为其
信守承诺者)而对B 说谎。大多数人承认,一旦你
答应不背叛朋友的信任,你就
不能背叛,哪怕你必须说谎。但我与之交谈过的人中也有人不想听那些他们
也许
得为之说谎的事。
27.
don't tell lies for
myself,says Fran, I don't want to have
to tell
them for other means, she agrees, that if her
best
friend is having an affair, she
absolutely doesn't want to know about it.
“我不为自己说谎,”弗兰说,“我也不愿为别人说谎。”她承认,这就意味着
如果她最好的朋友有
风流韵事的话,她绝对不想知道。
28.
“你是说,”她最好的朋友问,“你会出卖我?”
29.
Fran is very pained but very adamant.
wouldn't want to betray you,
so„don't tell me
anything about it.
弗兰心里很为难,但态度十分坚决。“我不想出卖你,所以„别跟我说这事。”
30.
Fran's best friend is shocked. What
about you?
弗兰最好的朋友深感震惊。你呢?
31.
Do you believe you can have close
friends if you're not prepared to
receive
their deepest secrets?
你是不是认为,如果你不愿意了解朋友最深的隐密,你仍会有好朋友?
32.
Do you believe you must always lie for
your friends?
你是不是认为你必须一直为朋友说谎?
33.
Do you believe, if your friend tells a
secret that turns out to be
quite immoral or
illegal, that once you've promised to keep it, you
must
keep it?
你是不是认为,如果朋友透露的一个秘密是违反道德
或法律的,而一旦你答应保
密,你就得真的保密?
34.
And
what if your friend were your boss — if you were
perhaps one
of the President's men —would you
betray or lie for him over,
say,Watergate?
如果你的朋友正好是你的上司—— 如果你恰好就是总统班底的人——
比如说
在水门事件这个问题上,你是背叛他还是为他说谎?
35.
As you
can see, these issues get terribly sticky.
可以想见这些问题非常棘手。
36.
It's my belief
that once we've promised to keep a trust, we must
tell
lies to keep it. I also believe that we
can't tell Watergate lies. And
if these two
statements strike you as quite contradictory,
you're right
— they're quite contradictory.
But for now they're the best I can do.
What
about you?
我以为,一旦我们答应信守承诺,我们就是说谎也得信守承诺。同时
我也认为,
在水门事件这类事情上我们不能说谎。如果你觉得这两点自相矛盾,那你就对了
——
这两者的确自相矛盾。但目前我只能如此。你呢?
37.
And
then there are those who have no talent for lying.
有些人不擅说谎。
38.
I always got
found out and I always got punished. I guess I
gave myself
away because I feel guilty about
any kind of lying. It looks as if I'm
stuck
with telling the truth.
“许多年来,我一直试图说谎,”一位朋友解释说,“可我总是露馅,总是为
此受罚。我
想人家看出我说谎是因为我一说谎就觉得内疚。看来我只能说真话了。”
39.
For those of us, however, who are good
at telling lies, for those
of us who lie and
don't get caught, the question of whether or not
to lie
can be a hard and serious moral
problem. I liked the remark of a friend
of
mine who said, willing to lie. But just as a last
resort the truth's
always better.
可是,对
我们这种擅于说谎的人来说,对我们这种说谎又不露馅的人来说,说谎
还是不说谎会成为一个严肃的道德
难题。我颇为赞同一位朋友的话,他说,“我
愿意说谎。但只把这作为最后一手——
真话总比谎话好。”
40.
lie I'm telling, I don't.
“因为,”他解释说,“哪怕别人对我的谎话完全信以为真,我自己可无法相
信。”
41.
I tend to feel that way too.
42.
What about you?
本人也有同感。你呢?
The Truth About Lying 关于说谎的真相 朱迪斯维奥斯特
1.
I've been wanting to write on a subject
that intrigues and challenges
me the subject
of lying. I've found it very difficult to do.
Everyone I've
talked to has a quite intense
and personal but often rather intolerant
point
of view about what we can and can never never tell
lies about. I've
finally reached the
conclusion that I can't present any ultimate
conclusions, for too many people would
promptly disagree. Instead, I'd
like to
present a series of moral puzzles, all concerned
with lying. I'll
tell you what I think about
them. Do you agree?
我一直想写一个令我深感兴趣的话题:关于说谎
的问题。我觉得这个题目很难写。
所有我交谈过的人都对什么事情可以说谎——
什么事情绝对不可以说谎——
持有强烈的、常常不容别人分说的个人意见。最后我得出结论,我不能下
任何定
论,因为这样做就会有太多的人立即反对。我想我还是提出若干都与说谎有关的
道义上的
难题吧。我将向读者阐明我对这些难题的个人看法。你们觉得对吗?
Social
Lies社交性谎言
2.
Most of the people I've talked
with say that they find social lying
acceptable and necessary. They think it's the
civilized way for folks to
behave. Without
these little white lies, they say, our
relationships would
be short and nasty. It's
arrogant, they say, to insist on being so
incorruptible and so brave that you cause
other people unnecessary
embarrassment or pain
by compulsively presenting them with your honesty.
I basically agree. What about you?
和我
交谈过的大多数人都说,他们认为旨在促进社会交际的谎言是可以接受的
也是必要的。他们认为这是一种
文明的行为。他们说,要不是这类无关紧要的
谎言,人与人之间的关系就会变得粗野不快,无法持久。他
们说,如果你要做到十
二分正直、十二分无畏,不由自主地用你的诚实使他人陷入不必要的窘境或痛苦<
br>之中,这只能说你是傲慢自大。对此,我基本赞同。你呢?
3.
Will
you say to people, when it simply isn't true,
hairdo,to see you,
a wonderful time
你会不会跟人说:“我喜欢你的新发型,”“你气色好多了,”“见到你真高
兴,”“我玩得很尽兴
,”而实际上根本不是这么回事儿。
4.
Will you praise
ugly presents and ugly kids?
你会不会对令人憎厌的礼物,或相貌平平的孩子称赞有加。
5.
Will
you decline invitations with’re busy that night—so
sorry we
can’t come,”when the truth is you’d
rather stay home than dine with
the So-dad-
sos?
你婉辞邀请时会不会说“那天晚上我们正好没空——
真对不起,我们不能来,”
而实际上你是宁肯呆在家里也不想跟某某夫妇一起进餐。
6.
And even though, as I do, you may prefer
the polite evasion of You
really cooked up a
storm
warmed-over coffee
wonderful?
虽然像我那样,你也想用 “太丰盛了”这种委婉的托辞,而不是盛赞“那汤味
道好极了”(其
实味同重新热过的咖啡),但如果你必须赞美那汤,你会说它鲜美
吗?
7.
There's one man I know who absolutely
refuses to tell social lies.
can't play that
game,
answer to the argument that saying nice
things to someone doesn't cost
anything is, it
does it destroys your friend does
not indulge
in what he calls false praise and sweet
comments
When others tell lies he will not go
along. He says that social lying is
lying,
that little white lies are still lies. And he
feels that telling
lies is morally wrong. What
about you?
我认识一个人,他完全拒绝说这类社交性谎言。“我不会那一套,”
他说,“我生
来就不会那一套。”讲到对人家说几句好听的话并不失去什么,他的回答是,“不
对,当然有损失—— 那会损害你的诚信度。”因此你不问他,他不会对你刚买
来的画发表意见,但除非
你想听老实话。否则你也不会去问他的真实想法。当我
们这些说谎者轻声称赞着“多美啊”的时候,他的
沉默往往是极能说明问题的。
我的这位朋友从来不讲他所说的“奉承话、虚假的赞美话和动听话”。别人
说些
无伤大雅的谎言,他则不。他说社交性谎言还是谎言,无关紧要的小小谎言还是
谎言。他认
为说谎不合道德。你呢?
Peace-Keeping Lies息事宁人的谎言
8.
Many people tell peace-keeping lies;
lies designed to avoid irritation
or argument;
lies designed to shelter the liar from possible
blame or pain;
lies designed to keep trouble
at bay without hurting anyone.
不少人为了息事宁人而
说谎:那种意在避免生气或争吵的谎言,意在使说谎者免
受可能的责备或烦恼的谎言:意在(或据认为理
应)不伤害他人而又能帮助避免麻
烦的谎言。
9.
I tell
these lies at times, yet I always feel they're
wrong. I
understand why we tell them, but
still they feel wrong. And whenever I
lie so
that someone won't disapprove of me or think less
of me or yell
at me, I feel I'm a bit of a
coward, I feel I'm dodging responsibility,
I
feel guilty. What about you?
我有时也说
这种谎,不过我总觉得不该说。我知道为什么要说这种谎,但说这种
谎终究不对。每当我为了不让别人讨
厌自己、看轻自己、或冲着自己嚷嚷而说谎
时,我总觉得自己有点像个懦夫,觉得自己是在逃避责任,觉
得„愧疚。你呢?
10.
Do you, when you are late
for a date because you overslept, say you're
late because you got caught in a traffic jam?
你由于睡过 .赴约会迟到了,会不会说是因为碰上堵车才晚到的?
11.
Do you,when you’re forget to call a
friend,say that you called
several times but
the line was busy?
你忘了给朋友打电话,会不会谎称打过好几次,可电话老占线?
12.
Do you, when you didn't remember that
it was your father's birthday,
say that his
present must be delayed in the mail?
你忘了父亲的生日,会不会说寄给他的礼物准是给耽搁了?
13.
And
when you're planning a weekend in New York City
and you're not
in the mood to visit your
mother, who lives there, do you conceal — with
a lie, if you must — the fact that you'll be
in New York? Or do you have
the courage — or
is it the cruelty? — to say,
sorry — I don't
plan on seeing you
你打算去纽约市度周末,但又不想去看望住在那里的
母亲,你会——必要的话用
谎言——隐瞒你将到纽约的事实,还是会勇敢地——或者说狠心地——说:“
我
要来纽约可是抱歉,我不打算来看望你”?
14.
(Dave and
his wife Elaine have two quite different points of
view
on this very subject. He calls her a
coward. She says she's being wise.
He says she
must assert her right to visit New York sometimes
and not see
her mother. To which she always
patiently replies:
useless fights? My mother's
too old to change. We get along much better
when I lie to her.
(戴夫和妻子伊莱恩正是在这个问题上有两
种颇不相同的观点。他称她为懦夫。
她说自己处理这事是明智的。他说她应该维护自己有的时候去纽约但
不去看望母
亲的权利。对此她总是耐心地回答说:“我们何必无谓地争吵呢?我母亲年纪大
了,
不会改了。我对她说个谎,我们相处得就更好。”)
15.
Finally,
do you keep the peace by telling your husband lies
on the
subject of money? Do you reduce what
you really paid for your shoes? And
in general
do you find yourself ready, willing and able to
lie to him when
you make absurd mistakes or
lose or break things?
最后一点,你会不会在钱的
问题上对丈夫说谎,以求太平?你会不会少报买鞋子
的钱?你出了什么荒唐的错误或丢失了物品打碎了器
皿时是不是常常想对他撒
谎,而且会对他撒谎?
16.
used to
have a romantic idea that part of intimacy was
confessing
every dumb thing that you did to
your husband. But after a couple of years
of
that,
“过去我往往不切实际地以为亲密关系的一个组成部分就是把自己做的每件蠢事都如实告诉丈夫。可这么过了几年之后,”劳拉说,“我就改了主意!”
17.
And having changed her mind, she finds
herself telling peacekeeping
lies. And yes, I
tell them too. What about you?
改主意后,她在不知不觉中说谎话求太平了。没错,我也说这种谎。你呢?
保护性谎言Protective Lies
18.
Protective
lies are lies folks tell often quite serious lies
because
they're convinced that the truth would
be too damaging. They lie because
they feel
there are certain human values that are more
important than the
wrong of having lied. They
lie, not for personal gain, but because they
believe it's for the good of the person
they're lying to. They lie to those
they love,
to those who trust them most of all, on the
grounds that breaking
this trust is justified.
保护性谎言就是因为人们认为事实真相危害性太大而说的谎言,这类谎言通常事
关重
大。他们说谎,因为他们认为,人的某些价值观念压倒了说谎这一错误行为
本身。他们说谎不是为个人私
利,而是因为他们相信,那是为他们对之说谎的人
好。他们对自己所爱的人撒谎,对最信任自己的人撒谎
,就是因为他们认为这样
做是有正当理由的。
19.
They may
lie to their children on money or marital matters.
他们会在金钱或婚姻问题上对子女说谎。
20.
They
may lie to the dying about the state of their
health.
他们会对垂死者隐瞒真实病情。
21.
They may lie to their closest friend
because the truth about her
talents or son or
psyche would be — or so they insist — utterly
devastating.
他们会对密友说谎,因为关于其才能、其爱子或其精神
状态的实话会——不妨说
他们坚持这么认为——使其身心受到极大伤害。
22.
I sometimes tell such lies, but I'm
aware that it's quite presumptuous
to
claim I know what's best for others to know.
That's called playing God.
That's called
manipulation and control. And we never can be
sure, once
we start to juggle lies, just where
they'll land, exactly where they'll
roll.
有时我也说这种谎,可我明白,声称自己懂得什么事他人应该知道,这未免太自
以为是了。这无
异于充当上帝。这无异于操纵和控制他人。而我们一旦开始玩起
谎言戏法就再也无法知道谎言何时会收场
,究竟会滑向何方。
23.
And furthermore, we may
find ourselves lying in order to back up the
lies that are backing up the lie we initially
told.
而且,我们会不知不觉地为了圆先前说的谎言而说谎。
24.
And furthermore let's be honest if
conditions were reversed, we
certainly
wouldn't want anyone lying to us.
而且——我们不妨直说——如果情形倒过来,我们当然不愿意别人对自己说谎。
25.
Yet, having said all that, I still
believe that there are times when
protective
lies must nonetheless be told. What about you?
不过,话虽如此,我还是觉得有时保护性谎言还非说不可。你呢?
Trust-
Keeping Lies信守承诺的谎言
26.
Another group of
lies are trust-keeping lies, lies that involve
triangulation, with A (that's you) telling
lies to B on behalf of C (whose
trust you'd
promised to keep). Most people concede that once
you've agreed
not to betray a friend's
confidence, you can't betray it, even if you must
lie. But I've talked with people who don't
want you to tell them anything
that they might
be called on to lie about. They absolutely don't
want to
know about it.
另一类谎言是信守承诺的谎言
,涉及三方的谎言,即A(你)为了C(你答应为其
信守承诺者)而对B 说谎。大多数人承认,一旦你
答应不背叛朋友的信任,你就
不能背叛,哪怕你必须说谎。但我与之交谈过的人中也有人不想听那些他们
也许
得为之说谎的事。
27.
don't tell lies for
myself,says Fran, I don't want to have
to tell
them for other means, she agrees, that if her
best
friend is having an affair, she
absolutely doesn't want to know about it.
“我不为自己说谎,”弗兰说,“我也不愿为别人说谎。”她承认,这就意味着
如果她最好的朋友有
风流韵事的话,她绝对不想知道。
28.
“你是说,”她最好的朋友问,“你会出卖我?”
29.
Fran is very pained but very adamant.
wouldn't want to betray you,
so„don't tell me
anything about it.
弗兰心里很为难,但态度十分坚决。“我不想出卖你,所以„别跟我说这事。”
30.
Fran's best friend is shocked. What
about you?
弗兰最好的朋友深感震惊。你呢?
31.
Do you believe you can have close
friends if you're not prepared to
receive
their deepest secrets?
你是不是认为,如果你不愿意了解朋友最深的隐密,你仍会有好朋友?
32.
Do you believe you must always lie for
your friends?
你是不是认为你必须一直为朋友说谎?
33.
Do you believe, if your friend tells a
secret that turns out to be
quite immoral or
illegal, that once you've promised to keep it, you
must
keep it?
你是不是认为,如果朋友透露的一个秘密是违反道德
或法律的,而一旦你答应保
密,你就得真的保密?
34.
And
what if your friend were your boss — if you were
perhaps one
of the President's men —would you
betray or lie for him over,
say,Watergate?
如果你的朋友正好是你的上司—— 如果你恰好就是总统班底的人——
比如说
在水门事件这个问题上,你是背叛他还是为他说谎?
35.
As you
can see, these issues get terribly sticky.
可以想见这些问题非常棘手。
36.
It's my belief
that once we've promised to keep a trust, we must
tell
lies to keep it. I also believe that we
can't tell Watergate lies. And
if these two
statements strike you as quite contradictory,
you're right
— they're quite contradictory.
But for now they're the best I can do.
What
about you?
我以为,一旦我们答应信守承诺,我们就是说谎也得信守承诺。同时
我也认为,
在水门事件这类事情上我们不能说谎。如果你觉得这两点自相矛盾,那你就对了
——
这两者的确自相矛盾。但目前我只能如此。你呢?
37.
And
then there are those who have no talent for lying.
有些人不擅说谎。
38.
I always got
found out and I always got punished. I guess I
gave myself
away because I feel guilty about
any kind of lying. It looks as if I'm
stuck
with telling the truth.
“许多年来,我一直试图说谎,”一位朋友解释说,“可我总是露馅,总是为
此受罚。我
想人家看出我说谎是因为我一说谎就觉得内疚。看来我只能说真话了。”
39.
For those of us, however, who are good
at telling lies, for those
of us who lie and
don't get caught, the question of whether or not
to lie
can be a hard and serious moral
problem. I liked the remark of a friend
of
mine who said, willing to lie. But just as a last
resort the truth's
always better.
可是,对
我们这种擅于说谎的人来说,对我们这种说谎又不露馅的人来说,说谎
还是不说谎会成为一个严肃的道德
难题。我颇为赞同一位朋友的话,他说,“我
愿意说谎。但只把这作为最后一手——
真话总比谎话好。”
40.
lie I'm telling, I don't.
“因为,”他解释说,“哪怕别人对我的谎话完全信以为真,我自己可无法相
信。”
41.
I tend to feel that way too.
42.
What about you?
本人也有同感。你呢?