As?a?gesture?of?good?faith,?think?twice?before?you?post

I?still?remember?my?father's?sheepish?expression?at?breakfast?the?morning?after?he'd?been?invited?to?have?dinner?at?a?colleague's?house.?Freshly?arrived?in?Brazil,?back?in?the?dark?ages,?before?the?ease?of?being?able?to?look?things?up?on?the?internet,?he'd?offended?his?hosts,?who?had?prepared?a?lavish?spread?of?Brazilian?delicacies,?by?making?a?hand?gesture?that?he'd?always?used?-?a?circle?with?the?thumb?and?index?finger.?He?had?always?understood?it?to?mean?"OK",?but?in?Brazil,?it?meant?something?quite?different.

我還記得我父親在被邀請到他同事家吃晚飯后的第二天早上吃早餐時窘迫的表情。那時候科技還不發達，上網查資料還沒有像現在這么容易，剛到巴西的他做了一個手勢，冒犯了為他準備了一大桌豐盛巴西美食的主人。那是一個他經常用的手勢——用拇指和食指比劃一個圓圈。他一直都把它理解為“OK”的意思，但在巴西，這個手勢有完全不同的意思。

sheepish????????????????????????? adj.窘迫的；難為情的；不好意思的

lavish????????????????????????? adj.大量的；給人印象深刻的；耗資巨大的；慷慨的

delicacy????????????????????????n.美味；優美；精致；微妙

To?make?matters?worse,?he'd?raised?his?fingers?to?his?lips?and?made?a?kissing?sound,?which?again,?he?meant?as?a?way?of?indicating?that?something?-?in?this?case?the?meal?he'd?just?been?asked?to?comment?on?-?was?delicious.

更糟糕的是，他還把手指舉到嘴邊，發出一個親吻的聲音。當時主人問他覺得飯菜怎么樣，他覺得這樣做是在表示某種食物很美味。但是他又錯了。

to?make?matters?worse? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 更糟糕的是

The?faux?pas?was?swiftly?forgotten.?My?father's?colleague?and?his?wife?understood?that?he?probably?wasn't?yet?aware?of?the?local?meaning?of?the?gesture,?and?after?gently?explaining?why?it?was?something?best?not?repeated?unless?you?planned?to?start?a?fight,?the?episode?was?filed?away?under?"things?not?to?be?done?in?Rio".

他這個失禮的小舉動很快就被忘記了。我父親的同事和他的妻子明白，他可能還沒有意識到這個手勢在巴西當地的含義。他們溫和地解釋了為什么最好不要再做這個手勢（除非你想打架），然后這個小插曲就被我父親歸類到“在里約不要做的事”之列了。

faux?pas? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 失禮

file away? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 歸檔

I?was?reminded?of?this?moment?myself?a?few?months?into?my?stay?in?China.?After?I?replied?to?a?colleague's?WeChat?message?with?a?Van?Gogh?sticker?that?I?thought?meant?"keep?fighting",?a?second?colleague?intervened,?telling?me?that?I?used?it?wrong.

在中國待了幾個月后，我自己的經歷讓我想起了我父親這件事。當時我用了一張梵高的表情包回復我一個同事的微信消息，我以為這個表情包是是“加油”的意思。然后第二位同事走過來告訴我，說我表情包用錯了。

intervene???????????????????? v.介入；干擾；出面；插嘴

"The?Chinese?version?is?a?bit?different,"?she?said,?taking?out?her?phone.?"See?these?characters?"?I?squinted?myopically?at?the?screen.?"They?mean?'I?will?hit?you',"?she?said.

“這個表情包的中文版有點不一樣。”她說著拿出手機，“你看到這些漢字了嗎？”我瞇著眼睛湊到屏幕上看。“這幾個字的意思是‘我要打你’，”她說。

squint???????????????????????? v.斜視；瞇著眼看 ?????????????

myopically? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? adv.近視地? ?

Life?is?full?of?crossed?meanings.?The?reverse?peace?symbol?popularized?by?hip-hop?has?a?very?different?meaning?in?the?United?Kingdom.?In?India,?you?beckon?to?a?person?palm?down,?not?up.?And?in?the?Middle?East,?you?never?use?your?left?hand?for,?well,?anything?public.

生活中充滿了復雜交錯的多重含義。嘻哈文化中流行的反V和平手勢，在英國有著非常不同的含義。在印度，你召喚某人時手掌要向下擺手指，而不是向上。在中東，你永遠不要用左手在公開場合做任何事情。

beckon? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? v.招手示意；舉手召喚；吸引；誘惑

As?adults,?we?understand?that?even?if?it?stings,?a?mistake?is?only?an?insult?when?it?is?deliberate.?Intention,?much?like?possession,?is?nine-tenths?of?this?law.?Yet?as?we?look?around?us,?so?much?friction?stems?from?misunderstanding,?and?history?is?full?of?the?unfortunate?outcomes?of?crossed?communication.

作為成年人，我們認為，即使冒犯會讓人不高興，但只要不是故意的，不小心的冒犯也算不上對他人的侮辱。就像一句法律諺語說的，“現實占有，敗一勝九”，交流的意圖很重要，它決定了是否是有意冒犯。然而，環顧四周，人與人之間有許多摩擦都源于誤會，歷史上也有許多跨文化溝通所帶來的令人遺憾的結果。

sting???????????????? v.刺；蜇；叮；（使）感覺刺痛

To?my?point,?then.?My?father's?pre-internet?Brazilian?faux?pas?was?forgiven?because?of?context?-?he?had?just?arrived,?he?could?not?know,?it?didn't?make?sense?that?he'd?be?deliberately?offensive.?But?when?context?is?absent?or?simply?differently?understood?-?especially?in?the?nuance-free?echo?chamber?that?is?social?media?-?perhaps?it?is?time?we?all?think?thrice?before?typing?or?talking,?especially?when?the?ramifications?can?be?much?more?severe?than?the?misuse?of?a?WeChat?sticker.

在我看來，我父親在巴西的失禮舉動能夠被原諒是因為當時的背景——那時候網絡還沒有普及，他又是剛到巴西，他不可能知道那些手勢有別的意思，而且他也沒有理由要故意冒犯主人。但是，當背景情況缺失或者他人對背景情況理解不同時——尤其是在社交媒體這種不存在細微差別的，高度同質化的“回聲室“中——也許我們是時候需要在打字或說話之前三思而后行了。尤其是當不小心說錯話的后果可能比誤用一個微信表情包要嚴重得多時，我們更要謹言慎行。

echo?chamber? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 回聲室

ramification? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? n.結果