道歉的艺术TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil. 

Beth
And I’m Beth.

Neil
There are many ways of saying sorry in English, and they all have a slightly different meaning. If you tell me you’re ill, and I say, “Oh, I'm sorry”, that means: I sympathise, and I hope you get better soon.

Beth
If you step on my toes by mistake, and say, “I’m so sorry”, you mean: oops that was my fault and I didn't mean to do it.

Neil
And if you don’t really feel sorry, you might be sarcastic, “Oh, I’m soooo sorry!” meaning exactly the opposite – that you’re not sorry at all.

Beth
Saying sorry for something you’ve done in English can be quite confusing, and to make things worse, the British are world champions at apologising. In this programme we'll discuss ways of saying sorry, and as usual we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Neil
Sorry! but I'm going to have to stop you there, Beth, because first I have a question to ask. We know that the British love to say sorry. In fact a recent survey found that some Brits apologise up to twenty times a day. So according to the same survey, how many times per day does the average Brit say sorry? Is it:

a)     four times per day?

b)     six times per day? or,

c)     eight times per day?

“对不起”！但我得阻止你，贝丝，因为首先我有一个问题要问。我们知道英国人喜欢说对不起。事实上，最近的一项调查发现，一些英国人每天要道歉多达20次。那么，根据同一项调查，平均每个英国人每天要说多少次对不起呢？是：

a)每天四次？

b)每天六次？或

c)每天8次？

Beth
I'm going to guess it’s six times a day.我猜是一天六次。

Neil
OK, Beth, I’ll reveal the answer later in the programme. Since the British are famous for apologising it’s no surprise that Louise Mullany started researching the language of apologising in Britain, at the University of Nottingham. Now a professor of sociolinguistics, Louise spoke with BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth:

好吧，贝丝，我稍后会在节目中透露答案。由于英国人以道歉而闻名，路易丝·马拉尼开始在英国诺丁汉大学研究道歉的语言也就不足为奇了。路易丝现在是社会语言学教授，路易丝接受BBC广播4台节目Word of Mouth的采访：

Professor Louise Mullany
And I was really interested in looking at how people apologise, particularly public figures so I did a lot of research in the workplace and looking at the media, and looking at politicians in particular, and one of the things that really interested me at the time was a lot of writers were talking about us entering an age of an apology, and there's a real sense that public figures in particular are called upon to apologise for multiple different things, and if they don't apologise then that's a big faux pas.

路易丝·穆拉尼教授和我很感兴趣看看人们如何道歉，尤其是公众人物所以我做了很多研究在工作场所，看媒体，特别是政客，和真正感兴趣的事情之一当时是很多作家谈论我们进入一个时代的道歉，有一个真正的感觉，公众人物尤其是呼吁为多个不同的事情道歉，如果他们不道歉，那是一个大的失礼。

Beth
Saying sorry is especially important in politics, and Professor Mullany studied the apologies of public figures – famous people, including politicians, who are often discussed in newspapers and seen on radio and television. When politicians make mistakes they are expected to apologise, and failing to say sorry is a faux pas – a remark made in a social situation that causes embarrassment or offence.

道歉在政治上尤其重要，马拉尼教授研究了公众人物的道歉——名人，包括政治家，他们经常在报纸上讨论，在广播和电视上看到。当政客们犯错误时，他们应该道歉，而不道歉是一种失礼——一种在社会场合会引起尴尬或冒犯的言论。

Neil
Most politicians hate apologising and with good reason. Saying sorry means taking responsibility, and the apology needs to be sincere. A good example of this is the apology Boris Johnson made to the House of Commons during the 'Partygate' scandal in the UK when he broke COVID lockdown rules and had to pay a fine - a sum of money paid as a punishment for breaking the rules. Here, Professor Louise Mullany, analyses the apology for BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth:

大多数政客都讨厌道歉，而且是有充分的理由道歉的。道歉意味着承担责任，道歉需要很真诚。一个很好的例子是鲍里斯·约翰逊在英国“公园门”丑闻中向下议院道歉，当时他违反了封锁规定，不得不支付罚款——作为违反规定的惩罚。在这里，路易丝·穆拉尼教授分析了BBC广播4台的节目《Word of Mouth》的道歉：

Professor Louise Mullany
It's very unusual in a political apology because he comes out and says, ‘I am responsible’, but there is the caveat that he wasn't certain that he was breaking the rules, he didn't realise which he continues to say in his apology that came out after the fine, so he repeats the apology, and he caveats it around other political events... and he uses humility when he was in the House the day after he paid his fine, and was very quick to say, ‘I've paid the fine, I’ve given the reparation, I’ve paid the money, let's draw a line under the whole business now’.

路易丝·穆拉尼教授非常不寻常的政治道歉，因为他出来说，“我负责”，但有警告，他不确定他违反了规则，他没有意识到他继续说道歉，罚款后，所以他重复道歉，他警告其他政治事件…支付罚款的第二天，他在众议院时，他很谦逊，很快说：“我已经付了罚款，我赔偿了，我已经付了钱，现在我们为整个行业划清界限。”

Beth
Boris Johnson claimed he didn’t know he was breaking the rules. His apology contained a caveat – a warning that what he said was limited, or not completely true. Eventually, Boris Johnson did apologise, but many people didn’t trust him and he couldn’t draw a line under the 'Partygate' scandal. If you draw a line under something, you try to move on from a bad situation and make a fresh start.

鲍里斯·约翰逊声称，他并不知道自己违反了规则。他的道歉包含了一个警告——警告说，他说的话是有限的，或者不完全正确。最终，鲍里斯·约翰逊确实道歉了，但很多人都不信任他，他也无法为“派对之门”丑闻划定界限。如果你在某件事上划清界限，你就会试图从糟糕的情况中出发，重新开始。

Neil
Apologising is hard work – the apology must be sincere, and often the person does something to show they mean it. Which reminds me that it’s time to reveal the answer to my question, Beth.

道歉是一件艰苦的工作——道歉必须是真诚的，通常人们会做一些事情来表明他们是认真的。这提醒了我，是时候揭示我的问题的答案了，贝丝。

Beth
Yes. You asked me how many times a day the average Brit says sorry, and I guessed it was six. Was I right?

是你问我平均每个英国人每天说多少次对不起，我猜是六次。我是对的吗？

Neil
Well, I’m very sorry, but that was… the wrong answer. The average Brit says sorry around eight times a day, making it probably the most over-used word in the English language. Sorry about that!

嗯，我很抱歉，但那是……错误的答案。一般英国人每天会说8次对不起，这可能是英语中使用最多的词。很抱歉！

Beth
Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme about saying sorry, starting with sarcastic, doing or saying the opposite of what you really mean, for example saying ‘I’m reeeally sorry!’, when you aren’t.

好吧，让我们回顾一下我们从这个节目中学到的关于道歉，从讽刺开始，做或说与你真正意思相反的词汇，例如说“我非常抱歉！””，而你却不是。

Neil
A public figure is a famous person whose life and behaviour is often discussed in the media and in public.

公众人物是指他的生活和行为经常被媒体和公众场合所讨论的名人。

Beth
A faux pas is a socially embarrassing remark or action.

失礼是一种让社会感到尴尬的言论或行为。

Neil
A fine is a sum of money paid as a punishment for doing something illegal or breaking a rule.

罚款是指因违法或违反规则而支付的一笔钱。

Beth
If you say something with a caveat, it contains a warning that what you have said may not be completely true or is limited in some way.

如果你说了一个警告，它包含了一个警告，你说的可能不完全正确，或者在某种程度上是有限的。

Neil
And finally, if you draw a line under something you consider it finished in order to move on and make a fresh start. I’m sorry to say that, once again, our six minutes are up and it’s time to draw a line under this programme! Goodbye for now!

最后，如果你在某些东西下面画了一条线，你会认为它已经完成了，以便继续前进，重新开始。我很抱歉地说，我们的六分钟结束了，是时候在这个节目下划界限了！再见了！

Beth
Bye!