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泛读教程3第二版thesecretlanguageofbarriersignals课文翻译

泛读教程3第二版thesecretlanguageofbarriersignals课文翻译
泛读教程3第二版thesecretlanguageofbarriersignals课文翻译

泛读教程3第二版T h e

S e c r e t L a n g u a g e

o f B a r r i e r

S i g n a l s课文翻译

-CAL-FENGHAI.-(YICAI)-Company One1

unit2

The Secret Language of Barrier Signals

障碍信号的秘密语言

People feel safer behind some kind of physical barrier. If a social situation is in any way threatening, then there is an immediate urge to set up such a barricade. For a tiny child faced with a stranger, the problem is usually solved by hiding behind its mother's body and peeping out at the intruder to see what he or she will do next. If the mother's body is not available, then a chair or some other piece of solid furniture will do. If the stranger insists on coming closer, then the peeping face must be hidden too. If the insensitive intruder continues to approach despite these obvious signals of fear, then there is nothing for it but to scream or flee.在某种物理障碍后面,人们感觉更安全。如果一种社会形势有任何威胁,那么立即就会有建立这种障碍的冲动。对于一个面对陌生人的小孩来说,问题通常是通过躲在母亲身后,偷看入侵者,看他或她下一步会做什么来解决的。如果母亲的身体不在,那么一把椅子或其他一些结实的家具就可以了。如果陌生人坚持要走近,那么偷窥的脸也必须藏起来。如果麻木不仁的入侵者不顾这些明显的恐惧信号继续接近,那么除了尖叫或逃跑,它就别无他法了。

This pattern is gradually reduced as the child matures. In teenage girls it may still be detected in the giggling cover-up of the face, with hands or papers, when embarrassed. But by the time we are adult, the childhood hiding, which decreased to adolescent shyness, is expected to disappear altogether, as we bravely stride out to meet our guests, hosts, companions, relatives, colleagues, customers, clients, or friends. Each social occasion involves us, once again, in encounters similar to the ones which made us hide as scared infants and, as then each encounter is slightly threatening. In other words, the fears are still there, but their expression is blocked. Our adult roles demand control and suppression of any primitive urge to withdraw and hide ourselves away. The more formal the occasion and the more dominant or unfamiliar our social companions, the more worrying the moment of encounter becomes. Watching people under these conditions, it is possible to observe the many small ways in which they continue to "hide" behind their mother's skirts. The actions are still there, but they are transformed into less obvious movements and postures. It is these that are the Barrier Signals of adult life.随着孩子的成熟,这种模式逐渐减少。在十几岁的女孩中,当她们感到尴尬时,用手或纸捂着脸,咯咯地笑,仍然可以发现这种情况。但是,当我们长大成人的时候,当我们勇敢地大步走出去迎接客人、主人、同伴、亲戚、同事、顾客、客户或朋友的时候,童年的隐藏,也就是青春期的害羞,预计将完全消失。每一个社交场合都会让我们再次遭遇类似的遭遇,这些遭遇让我们像受惊的婴儿一样躲起来,因为每次遭遇都带有些许威胁。换句话说,恐惧仍然存在,但是它们的表达被阻断了。我们的成人角色要求我们控制和抑制任何想要逃避和躲藏的原始冲动。场合越正式,我们的社交伙伴越占主导地位或越不熟悉,相遇的那一刻就越令

人担忧。在这种情况下观察人们,就有可能观察到他们继续“躲”在母亲裙子后面的许多细微之处。动作仍然存在,但它们被转化为不那么明显的动作和姿势。这些是成人生活的障碍信号。

The most popular form of Barrier Signal is the body-cross. In this, the hands or arms are brought into contact with one another in front of the body, forming a temporary "bar" across the trunk. This is not done as a physical act of fending off the other person. It is done, usually at quite a distance, as a nervous guest approaches a dominant host. The action is performed unconsciously and, if asked about it immediately afterwards, the guest will not be able to remember having made the gesture. It is always disguised in some way, because if it were performed as a primitive fending-off or covering-up action it would obviously be too transparent. The disguise it wears varies from person to person. Here are some examples:最常见的障碍信号形式是身体交叉。在这种情况下,手或手臂在身体前面互相接触,形成一个临时的“横杆”穿过躯干。这不是一种身体上的行为,以抵御另一个人。当一位紧张的客人接近占统治地位的主人时,通常会在相当远的距离内完成。这个动作是无意识地进行的,如果在之后马上被问及这个动作,客人就不会记得做过这个动作。它总是以某种方式被伪装起来,因为如果它是作为一种原始的防御或掩盖行动来执行,它显然会过于透明。它的伪装因人而异。以下是一些例子:

The special guest on a ceremonial occasion is getting off his official limousine. Before he can meet and shake hands with the reception committee, he has to walk alone across the open space in front of the main entrance to the building where the function is being held. A large crowd has come to watch his arrival and the press cameras are flashing. Even for the most experienced of celebrities this is a slightly nervous moment, and the mild fear that is felt expresses itself just as he is halfway across the "greeting-space". As he walks forward, his right hand reaches across his body and makes a last-minute adjustment to his left cuff-link. It pauses there momentarily as he takes a few more steps, and then, at last, he is close enough to reach out his hand for the first of the many hand-shakes.在一个正式场合,这位特别的客人要下他的官方豪华轿车。在与接待委员会见面握手之前,他必须独自走到举办活动的大楼正门前的空地上。一大群人前来观看他的到来,媒体的摄像机也在闪烁。即使对最有经验的名人来说,这也是一个有点紧张的时刻,当他在“问候空间”的中间时,这种轻微的恐惧就会表现出来。当他向前走的时候,他的右手伸过他的身体,在最后一刻调整了他的左袖扣。当他又走了几步时,它停了一下,最后,它离他很近,可以伸出手来,开始多次握手。

On a similar occasion, the special guest is a female. At just the point where a male would have fiddled with his cuff, she reaches across her body with her right hand and slightly shifts the position of her handbag, which is hanging from her left forearm.在类似的场合,特别来宾是一位女性。就在男人摆弄袖口的时候,她用右手在全身上下移动手提包的位置,手提包挂在她的左前臂上。

There are other variations on this theme. A male may finger a button or the strap of a wristwatch instead of his cuff. A female may smooth out an imaginary crease in a sleeve, or reposition a scarf or coat held over her left arm. But in all cases there is one essential feature: at the peak moment of nervousness there is a body-cross, in which one arm makes contact with the other across the front of the body, constructing a barrier between the guest and the reception committee.在这个主题上还有其他的变化。男性可以用手指拨弄钮扣或腕表表带,而不用指袖口。女性可能会把袖子上想象的折痕弄平,或者把围巾或外套重新放在她的左臂上。但在所有情况下,都有一个基本特征:在紧张情绪最严重的时候,会有一个身体交叉,一只胳膊在身体前部与另一只胳膊接触,在客人和接待委员会之间架起一道屏障。

Sometimes the barrier is incomplete. One arm swings across but does not actually make contact with the other. Instead it deals with some trivial clothing-adjustment task on the opposite side of the body. With even heavier disguise, the hand comes up and across, but goes no further than the far side of the head or face, with a mild stroking or touching action.有时障碍是不完全的。一只胳膊横着摆动,但实际上并没有与另一只胳膊接触。相反,它处理一些琐碎的衣服调整任务在身体的另一边。用更沉重的伪装,手向上和越过,但不超过头或脸的远侧,以一个温和的抚摸或触摸动作。

Such are the Barrier Signals of the greeting situation, where one person is advancing on another. Interestingly, field observations reveal that it is most unlikely that both the greeter and the greeted will perform such actions. Regardless of status, it is nearly always the new arrival who makes the body-cross movement, because it is he who is invading the home territory of the greeters. They are on their own ground or, even if they are not, they were there first and have at least temporary territorial "rights" over the place. This gives them an indisputable dominance at the moment of the greeting. Only if they are extremely subordinate to the new arrival, and perhaps in serious trouble with him, will there be a likelihood of them taking the "body-cross role".这就是问候的障碍信号,一个人向另一个人前进。有趣的是,实地观察显示,迎宾者和被迎宾者都不太可能做出这种行为。无论地位如何,几乎总是新来的人进行身体交叉运动,因为是他入侵了迎宾者的家园。他们是在自己的土地上,或者,即使他们不是,他们是先在那里的,并且至少对这个地方有暂时的领土“权利”。这给了他们在问候时无可争辩的优势。只有当他们极其服从新来者,而且可能与他有严重的麻烦时,他们才有可能扮演“身体交叉角色”。

These observations tell us something about the secret language of Barrier Signals, and indicate that, although the sending and receiving of the signals are both unconsciously done, the message gets across, none the less. The message says: "I am nervous but I will not retreat", and this makes it into an act of subordination which automatically makes the other person feel slightly more dominant and more comfortable.这些观察告诉我们一些关于屏障信号的秘密语言,并表明,尽管信

号的发送和接收都是在无意识中完成的,但信息仍然可以被传递。这句话的意思是:“我很紧张,但我不会退缩”,这就变成了一种服从的行为,自然而然地让对方觉得更有统治力,也更舒服。

The situation is different after greetings are over and people are standing about talking to one another. Now, if one man edges too close to another, perhaps to hear better in all the noise of chattering voices, the boxed-in companion may feel the same sort of threatening sensation that the arriving celebrity felt as he walked towards the reception committee. What is needed now, however, is something more long-lasting than a mere cuff-fumble. The favorite body-cross employed in this situation is the arm-fold, in which the left and right arms intertwine themselves across the front of the chest. This posture, a perfect, frontal Barrier Signal, can be held for a very long time without appearing strange. Unconsciously it transmits a "come-no-farther" message and is used a great deal at crowded gatherings. It is rather formally employed by bodyguards when standing outside a protected doorway.问候结束后,人们站在一起交谈,情况就不同了。现在,如果一个人离另一个人太近,也许在嘈杂的谈话声中听不清楚,那么这个被关在箱子里的同伴可能会感到一种威胁的感觉,就像这位即将到来的名人走向接待委员会时的感觉一样。然而,现在需要的是一种比袖扣摸索更持久的东西。在这种情况下,最受欢迎的身体交叉是手臂折叠,其中左臂和右臂缠绕在胸前。这种姿势,一种完美的正面障碍信号,可以保持很长时间而不会显得奇怪。在不自觉中,它传递出一种“不能再往前走”的信息,在拥挤的聚会上经常使用。当站在受保护的门口时,保镖会正式使用它。

The same device of arm-folding can be used in a sitting relationship where the companion is approaching too close, and it can be amplified by a crossing of the legs away from the companion. But perhaps the major Barrier Signal for the seated person is that universal device, the desk. Many a businessman would feel naked without one and hides behind it gratefully every day. Sitting beyond it he feels fully protected from the visitor exposed on the far side. It is the supreme barrier, both physical and psychological, giving him an immediate and lasting comfort while he remains in its solid embrace.同样的抱臂装置也可以用在伴侣靠得太近的坐着关系中,并且可以通过两腿交叉远离伴侣来放大。但对坐着的人来说,最大的障碍可能是那个通用的设备,桌子。许多商人如果没有钱,会觉得自己一丝不挂,于是每天都心怀感激地躲在背后。坐在它的远处,他觉得自己受到了完全的保护,不受暴露在远处的来访者的伤害。它是身体和心理上的最大障碍,给他一种立即和持久的安慰,而他仍然在它坚实的怀抱中。

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