LYRICS
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam. And I'm Neil.
大家好。这里是 BBC 学习英语栏目的六分钟英语。我是萨姆。我是尼尔。
When Helen Russell was three years old, her new-born baby sister died suddenly.
海伦·拉舍尔三岁时,她刚出生的妹妹突然去世了。
Looking back at that sad time, Helen remembers making a big decision – she wanted to be happy.
回首那段悲伤的时光,海伦记得自己做了一个重大决定——要快乐。
She became a bestselling author and wrote a book called, The Atlas of Happiness.
她成为了一名畅销书作家,并写了一本名为《幸福地图》的书。
She got married, and even moved to the famously happy city of Copenhagen in Denmark.
她结婚了,甚至搬去了著名的幸福之城——丹麦的哥本哈根。
But the sadness Helen felt didn't disappear, and the longer she lived abroad,
但海伦的悲伤并没有消失,而且她在国外生活的时间越长,
the more she wondered whether her feelings were somehow connected to being born in England,
她就越想知道自己的情绪是否与出生在英格兰有某种联系,
into a culture where, traditionally, expressing your emotions was discouraged.
因为英国的传统文化不鼓励人们表达自己的情绪。
In this programme, we'll be investigating how the way people express sadness is influenced by their culture,
在本期节目中,我们将讨论人们表达悲伤的方式是如何受到各自文化背景的影响的,
and, as usual, we'll be learning some new, useful vocabulary as well.
像往常一样,我们还将学习一些新的、有用的词汇。
But first I have a question for you, Neil.
但首先我有个问题要问你,尼尔。
In English there are many idioms which describe being sad,
英语中,有很多表达悲伤的俚语,
including down in the dumps, meaning that you feel miserable and depressed.
包括“down in the dumps”(仿佛掉进垃圾堆里),形容人感到痛苦、沮丧。
Also, emotions are often associated with colours,
此外,情绪通常与颜色联系在一起,
for example you might go red with anger, or turn green with envy.
例如,你可能气得满脸通红,或嫉妒得脸色发青。
But which colour is associated with sadness?
但是哪种颜色与悲伤有关呢?
Is it a) yellow? b) blue? Or c) brown?
是 a) 黄色?b) 蓝色?还是 c) 棕色?
I think the answer is blue.
我认为是蓝色。
OK, Neil. We'll find out the later in the programme.
好的,尼尔。我们稍后将在节目中揭晓答案。
Around the world, cultures express emotions very differently.
在世界各地,不同的文化表达情感的方式截然不同。
In Spain, flamenco performers express their emotions with colourful displays of song and dance,
在西班牙,弗拉门科舞者用丰富多彩的歌舞来表达情感,
whereas in Japan, crying is considered weak and shameful.
在日本,哭泣被认为是软弱、可耻的。
To discover more about how British people express their feelings,
为了更多地了解英国人如何表达自己的情感,
Helen Russell interviewed, Thomas Dixon, a professor at the Centre for the History of Emotion,
海伦·拉舍尔采访了情感历史中心教授托马斯·迪克森。
for BBC World Service programme, The Documentary
下面请听BBC世界服务栏目《纪录片》的一个片段。
The word sad, as you will know, Helen, literally means sated or full.
你知道吗,海伦,悲伤这个词的字面意思是满足、充满。
So, it's earliest use is in English, it means being literally fed up, being full of something sad or sated means heavy and full.
所以,它在英语中最早是指受够了或者心里满是悲伤的事情。“sated”指心里装满了某事,心情沉重。
And then of course we have this huge vocabulary of
当然,还有很多词可以表示伤心,
melancholy, sorrow, grief, depression and many, many other terms, and they all mean slightly different things.
比如忧郁、悲伤、悲痛、沮丧等等,但它们的含义都略有不同。
Professor Dixon explains that the original meaning of the word sad was 'full' or fed up,
迪克森教授解释说,悲伤这个词最初的意思是充满了的或受够了的。
a phrase which today means being unhappy, bored or tired of something which has been going on for a long time.
“fed up”现在指的是对已经持续了很长时间的事情感到烦躁、厌烦或厌倦。
For example: everyone is fed up of Covid.
例如:大家都受够了疫情。
But fed up is just one of many words to describe feelings of sadness,
除了“受够了”,还有很多表达悲伤的词,
each with a slightly different meaning.
每个词的含义都略有不同。
One of them is melancholy, a kind of intense and thoughtful sadness.
比如“melancholy”(忧郁),指一种有感而发的强烈的悲伤之情。
Another is grief - a strong sadness often caused by the death of someone you love.
还有“grief”(悲痛),指一种强烈的悲伤之情,通常是因为你爱护的人去世而产生的。
In Irish culture, melancholy is expressed artistically in poems or songs.
在爱尔兰文化中,忧郁是通过诗歌或歌曲这种艺术形式表现出来的。
And in other cultures, India for example, grief can be expressed by professional mourners
在其他文化中,比如在印度,悲痛可以由专业的哀悼者来表达。
who are paid to cry by the family of the person who has died.
死者的家属可以雇佣哀悼者来痛苦悼念。
In England, however, big public displays of emotion are uncommon.
但在英格兰,大张旗鼓地公开表达情感是不常见的。
But according to Professor Dixon that wasn't always the case.
但根据迪克森教授的说法,情况并不总是如此。
Here he explains to BBC World Service programme, The Documentary,
他曾在BBC世界服务栏目的《纪录片》中解释:
how it was only quite recently, during the time of Queen Victoria and the British Empire,
这一现象由来不久,在维多利亚女王和大英帝国时期才出现。
that the English got a reputation for being repressed - unable to show their true feelings and emotions.
那时的英国人以隐藏感情而闻名,即不表达自己的真实情感。
By and large it's a Victorian, and then Edwardian, and 20th century characterization.
总的来说,这是维多利亚女王时代、爱德华七世时代以及20世纪盛行的英国风尚。
As you can imagine, it fits with the era of empire, of white British men going around the world conquering it,
可以想见,它符合帝国时代这一背景。当时,英国白人男性在世界各地征战,
and having a stiff upper lip and ruling over the people um… in other parts of the world,
喜怒不形于色,统治其他国家的百姓。
and believing themselves, the white Europeans, to be superior…
而且他们非常自信,认为欧洲白种人是优越的种族。
And one sign of that superiority, and Darwin writes:
而这种优越性的一个标志,正如达尔文所写:
Englishmen rarely caught cry except under the pressure of the acutest grief.
是英国人很少哭,除非过于悲痛。
Professor Dixon says the Victorians who ran the empire had a stiff upper lip.
迪克森教授说,在统御驾帝国的维多利亚女王时代,人们总是喜怒不形于色。
These men believed they were better than everyone else, and that to cry was a sign of weakness.
他们认为自己是最优秀的,而哭是软弱的表现。
When we cry, our top lip starts to wobble and so this gave rise to the idiom a stiff upper lip,
我们哭的时候,上嘴唇就开始抖动。这就是“a stiff upper lip”(僵硬的上嘴唇)这个习语的来历。
meaning to not show your feelings when you are upset, even though it is difficult not to.
意思是即使很难做到,难过的时候也不表现出来。
Fortunately, most Brits are less repressed nowadays,
幸运的是,如今大多数英国人不那么压抑自己的情绪了,
but it's still hard for some people, especially men, to express their feelings.
但有些人,尤其是男性,仍然不愿意表现出自己的感受。
Sometimes drinking alcohol gives people the courage to say what they are feeling,
有时喝酒能给勇气说出自己的感受,
but this is not so healthy and can even increase feelings of depression.
但这不太健康,甚至可能让人更加抑郁。
It's talking to someone about your feelings that can really help,
和别人讨论自己的感受是真的有帮助的,
and keep away the blues… and in saying that I think I've answered your question, Sam.
能让你远离蓝色的忧愁。我想我已经回答了你的问题,萨姆。
I asked Neil which colour is often associated with feeling sad.
我问尼尔,哪种颜色经常与悲伤联系在一起。
And I said it was blue. Which was of course the correct answer,
我说是蓝色。回答正确!
and it gives us another idiom about sadness – feeling blue.
这样我们就知道“feeling blue”也是一个表达悲伤的俚语。
OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme about the emotion of sadness,
好了,让我们回顾一下本期关于悲伤的词汇,
or in other words, feeling down in the dumps.
也可以说,“feeling down in the dumps”(仿佛掉进垃圾堆里)。
If you are fed up of something, you're unhappy, bored, or tired of it, especially if it's been happening a long time.
“fed up of something”,意为不开心、无聊或厌倦某物,尤其是已经存在了很久的事情。
Melancholy is a type of intense and thoughtful sadness
“melancholy”是一种有感而发的强烈的悲伤之情,
while grief is a strong sadness usually caused by someone's death.
而“grief”通常指由某人的死亡引起的强烈的悲伤之情。
The adjective repressed means unable to show your true feelings and emotions.
形容词“repressed”的意思是无法表达自己的真实感受和情绪。
And finally, the uniquely British idiom, to keep a stiff upper lip,
最后,英国特有的俚语“to keep a stiff upper lip”
means not to show your feelings when you're upset, even though it is difficult not to.
意为难过时即使很难,也不表露自己的情绪。
Hiding you feelings definitely won't make you happy,
隐藏自己的情绪肯定不会让你快乐,
but making friends and learning something new might,
但交朋友、学习新东西可能会让你开心,
so remember to join us again soon, here at 6 Minute English.
所以记得收听我们的6分钟英语哦。
Bye for now! Bye!
再见了!再见!
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