学术综合英语unit4.pdfVIP

His Politeness Is Her Powerlessness Deborah Tannen There 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. 他这样说是彬彬有礼，她这样说是低微无能 黛博拉·塔嫩 各种各样的证据表明：即使女性和男性说话方式相同，人们对他们的看法还是不同。这 种倾向导致有关女性、男性和有无能耐的讨论纷争不断。女性说话讲究方式方法被认为是低 微无能，而换成男性则被认为是有能力的表现。视女性的语言为低微无能者的语言常常反映 出男性看女性行为的视觉角度。 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. 女性不为高人一等而拼搏，往往就被认为是低人一等。在任何情况下都极易发生误会。 这也说明了为什么专家和非专家常常把女性以友善语言表述出来的思维方式曲解成低微无 能的表现。没有什么能比一家报社刊登的采访片段更能清楚地说明这种根深蒂固的歧义。采 访对象是一对心理学家夫妇，当记者问他们“表现得非常有礼貌”的含义时，这两位专家同时 给出不同的答案。男性回答说：“服从。”女性回答说：“敏感。”两位专家都是正确的，只不 过每个人描述的是不同性别的观点。 Experts and nonexperts alike t