評論
打印
If the officer is honest, you get a huge penalty of being arrested for bribery.
如果警官是老實人，你因為行賄被逮起來
So this is a rather fraught situation.
所以情況挺復(fù)雜的
On the other hand, with indirect language, if you issue a veiled bribe,
然而，你要是含沙射影地說，如果你含蓄地提出給錢
then the dishonest officer could interpret it as a bribe,
那么不老實的警官可以把它理解為你要使銀子
in which case you get the payoff of going free.
你就可以走了
The honest officer can't hold you to it as being a bribe,
而誠實的警官也不能硬說你賄賂他
and therefore, you get the nuisance of the traffic ticket.
因此你領(lǐng)一張討厭的罰單
So you get the best of both worlds.
不過你兩種可能中都受益最大化了
And a similar analysis, I think, can apply to the potential awkwardness of a sexual solicitation,
我覺得同樣的分析方法可以用在可能出現(xiàn)尷尬的提出性的要求的時候
and other cases where plausible deniability is an asset.
以及其他的當(dāng)保留拒絕可的能性對你有利的情況
I think this affirms something that's long been known by diplomats
這就應(yīng)證了一個外交官們早已深諳的秘密
namely, that the vagueness of language, far from being a bug or an imperfection,
那就是：語言的模糊根本不是什么故障或缺憾
actually might be a feature of language, one that we use to our advantage in social interactions.
而很可能是語言的特征，一個我們能在社交中善加利用的特征
So to sum up: language is a collective human creation, reflecting human nature,
總而言之：語言是人類的集體發(fā)明，它折射出人性
how we conceptualize reality, how we relate to one another.
我們?nèi)绾斡酶拍罾斫猬F(xiàn)實世界，如何互相溝通交流。
And then by analyzing the various quirks and complexities of language,
通過分析語言的許多微妙、繁復(fù)之處
I think we can get a window onto what makes us tick. Thank you very much.
我認(rèn)為我們能向著人類的生存之道打開一扇窗戶。謝謝大家。
