学术英语原文4单元.docx

His Politeness Is Her PowerlessnessDeborah TannenThere are many different kinds of evidence that women and men are judged differently even if they talk the same way. This tendency makes mischief in discussions of women, men and power. If a linguistic strategy is used by a woman, it is seen as powerless; if it is used by a man, it is seen as powerful. Often, the labeling of “women’s language” as “powerless language” reflects the view of women’s behavior through the lens of men’s.Because they are not struggling to be one-up, women often find themselves framed as one-down. Any situation is ripe for misinterpretation. This ambiguity accounts for much misinterpretation by experts as well as nonexperts, by which women’s ways of thinking, uttered in a spirit of rapport, are branded powerless. Nowhere is this inherent ambiguity clearer than in a brief comment in a newspaper article in which a couple, both psychologists, were jointly interviewed. The journalist asked them the meaning of “being very polite.” The two experts responded simultaneously, giving different answers. The man said, “Subservience.” The woman said, “Sensitivity.”Both experts were right, but each was describing the view of a different gender.Experts and nonexperts alike tend to see anything women do as evidence of powerlessness. The same newspaper article quotes another psychologist as saying, “A man might ask a woman, ‘Will you please go to the store?’ where a woman might say, ‘Gee, I really need a few things from the store, but I’m so tired.’” The woman’s style is called “covert,” a term suggesting negative qualities like being “sneaky” and “underhanded.” The reason offered for this is power. The woman doesn’t feel she has the right to ask directly.Granted, women have lower status than men in our American society. But this is not necessarily why they prefer not to make outright demands. The explanation for a woman’s indirectness could just as well be her seeking connection. If you get your way as a r