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本文节选自《经济学人》2019.02.16期Books & arts中的一篇关于语言交流的文章，告诉我们人们在交流时说的并不一定都是事实
本文共节选四段，建议大家先自主阅读原文，再学习精读笔记。
文末会总结此次学习写作可以使用的词句，读者也可自己总结。会定期将内容进行总结，做成word分享，希望大家也能坚持学习
1
One study at Stanford University looked at over 1,000 five-minute conversations between strangers; the researchers tagged bits of the exchanges by their function. Each tagged utterancewas more or less a complete bit of speech, ranging from “Me, I’m in the legal department” to a plain “No”. They found that just 36% of utterances even purported to be statements of fact.
looked at：look at something 除了仔细查看的意思外，还有 to think about, consider or study sth，是调查、研究的意思【写作推荐】词组
tagged：~ sth 做标记
bits of sth：……的部分。The best bit of the holiday was seeing the Grand Canyon假期中最精彩的片段就是参观大峡谷。bit 可以用part替换，the best part of the holiday……【写作推荐】词组
exchanges：除了交换的意思外，exchange还有“对话、交流、争论”的意思，阅读时不要有障碍，写作和可以替换。
utterance：说话，言论。指的是一个人说出来的某段话或言论。而conversation和exchange代表的“两个人以上的交流”
more or less：或多或少，有点儿
speech：也可以用来表述说话，发言。不过更常用的是对一群观众的演讲，发言，讲话
ranging from A to B：range from A to B：从A到B【写作推荐】词组
even：used to introduce a more exact description of sb/sth（引出更精确的说法），实际上，其实 如it’s an unattractive building, ugly even. 这栋建筑不美观，事实上，可以说是难看。
purported to be：purport to be 自称是，标榜是【写作推荐】词组
斯坦福大学的一项研究调查了超过1000例陌生人间的5分钟对话；调查者按其功能，给部分对话做了标记，每段被标记的话或多或少都是一句完整的发言，从“我，我在法律部门”到一个简单的“不”。他们发现，事实上只有36%的话据称是陈述事实。
2
What are speakers doing the rest of the time? The next biggest category (19%) was “Acknowledge (Backchannel)”: things like “Uh-huh”. A further 5% of utterances were “Agree—Accept” responses (“That’s exactly it”); 2% were“Appreciation” (“I can imagine”). People spend a lot of speech time simply letting the other person know they are listening. Conversation is co-operation.
The next biggest category：第二大类【写作推荐】数据分析类写作
acknowledge：to accept that sth is true 确认、承认某事（属实）
A further 5% of something：另外5%【写作推荐】数据分析类写作
Appreciation：appreciate 的名词形式，常见的意思是“感谢”，这里是另一个意思“理解、体谅”。这是一种带有同情的理解，a sympathetic understanding of something。
剩下的时间说话的人都在做什么？第二大类（占19%）是“确认（附和语）”：比如“嗯”这样的回答。另外5%的话是“同意—接受”这类回应（没错，就是如此）；2%是表示“理解”的话（我能想象得到）。人们花费大量说话的时间，仅仅是让别人知道他们是在认真听别人说话的。交流是一种合作。
3
In other words, conveying facts about reality is only one of language’s functions. It is also a tool to create new realities: in the case of a conversation, a social bond. Seen in this light, Mr Mallory’s lies look less like an aberration and more like an extreme form of social performance. He has not commented on the scandal in detail, but it may be that he didn’t so much want the world to think he had two doctorates as merely hope to be liked and admired. Most people want the same.
In other words：换句话说。很常见的词组，学生时代老师讲了好多好多好多……遍了。
conveying facts：convey: to make ideas, feeling, etc. known to sb传达思想、感情等Please convey my apologies to your friends 请向你的朋友们传达我的歉意【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
in the case of：在……情况下
Seen in this light：从这个角度看。词组原形为：in a good, bad, favorable, etc. light。从好（或坏、有利等）的角度看。if you see sth or put sth in a good, bad, etc. light , it seems good, bad, etc【写作推荐】同义互换
同义的词组还有
viewed from this angle；
from this point of view。
还可以变形为：
from my point of view从我的角度来看
aberration：反常，误差
commented on something：评论某事
in detail：详细地 discuss the problem in detail 详细地讨论这个问题
换句话说，传达事实只是语言众多功能中的一种。在谈话交流和社交情况下，这也是个制造新事实的工具。从这个角度来看， Mallory先生的谎言看上去反倒更像是一个极端的社交行为，而不像是种反常行为。他并没有对丑闻进行详细地评论，这可能是因为，他并不那么希望人们以为他拥有两个博士头衔，只是希望被喜欢和敬仰。大多数人也是和他一样的想法。
4
Outright fibs aside, language that isn’t strictly propositional might sometimes be called “expressive”. Take, for example, religious creeds. Many Christians today admit they doubt the miracles of the Bible. But they will happily recite the Nicene creed—a statement of faith that includes the physical resurrection of Jesus—and not feel they are lying or hypocrites. If a fact is being imparted, it is not “Jesus was resurrected” but rather “I am a Christian, and it is important that I say this.” Many thoughtful modern theologians join philosophers like Wittgenstein in seeing creedal statements this way. If they are right, atheists waste their breath when they debunkBiblical stories.
outright fibs aside：除了彻彻底底的谎言
outright 完全的，彻底的
fib谎言
aside（用于名词后）除…以外，used after nouns to say that except for one thing, sth is true. 如Money worries aside, things are going well. 除了钱令人发愁外，事情进展顺利。【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
propositional：命题式的
expressive：富有表现力的或意味深长的
religious creeds：宗教信条、教义。有一款著名的角色扮演类游戏叫做 《assassin’s creed》——《刺客信条》
resurrection：复活。动词形式是resurrect：~ sb 复活某人
hypocrites：伪君子、伪善的人
imparted：~ something：to pass information, knowledge, etc. to other people. 传递消息，传授知识等等。【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
theologians：神学研究者。 theo- 代表神的，上帝的。Theology：神学
atheists：无神论者
waste their breath：字面意思是浪费某人的呼吸。实意是指某人说了的话等于是白说，浪费口舌。
debunk： ~ sth批判；驳斥；揭穿…的真相to show that an idea, a belief, etc. is false; to show that sth is not as good as people think it is【写作推荐】词汇积累
难句分析
If a fact is being imparted, it is not “Jesus was resurrected” but rather “I am a Christian, and it is important that I say this.”
这句话的意思是：如果尼西亚信条确实是想传达一个事实的话，那这个事实并不是信条里说的字面意义上的话“耶稣真的死而复生了”，而是“我——说话的这个人——是一个基督徒，并且我通过背诵尼西亚信条来证明我是基督徒这个事实”。
除了纯粹是谎言外，那些严格说来不是命题类的语言，有时可能会被称为“意味深长的”。拿宗教教义举例，现在，很多基督徒承认他们怀疑《圣经》中的奇迹，但他们仍欣然背诵尼西亚信条——一种信仰，内容包括复活耶稣——他们不觉得自己是伪君子或是在撒谎。如果尼西亚信条确实想传达一个事实，那么这个事实并不是 “耶稣真的被复活”了，而是“我是一个基督徒，而且我这么说很重要。”很多思虑周密的现代神学研究者与Wittgenstein等哲学家们对教条的看法也是如此。如果他们是对的，那么无神论者驳斥圣经上的故事简直是浪费生命。
总结
looked at：look at something 除了仔细查看的意思外，还有 to think about, consider or study sth，是调查、研究的意思【写作推荐】词组
bits of sth：……的部分。The best bit of the holiday was seeing the Grand Canyon假期中最精彩的片段就是参观大峡谷。bit 可以用part替换，the best part of the holiday……【写作推荐】词组
ranging from A to B：range from A to B：从A到B【写作推荐】词组
purported to be：purport to be 自称是，标榜是【写作推荐】词组
The next biggest category：第二大类【写作推荐】数据分析类写作
A further 5% of something：另外5%【写作推荐】数据分析类写作
conveying facts：convey: to make ideas, feeling, etc. known to sb传达思想、感情等Please convey my apologies to your friends 请向你的朋友们传达我的歉意【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
Seen in this light：从这个角度看。词组原形为：in a good, bad, favorable, etc. light。从好（或坏、有利等）的角度看。if you see sth or put sth in a good, bad, etc. light , it seems good, bad, etc【写作推荐】同义互换
同义的词组还有
viewed from this angle；
from this point of view。
还可以变形为：
from my point of view从我的角度来看
outright fibs aside：除了彻彻底底的谎言
outright 完全的，彻底的
fib谎言
aside（用于名词后）除…以外，used after nouns to say that except for one thing, sth is true. 如Money worries aside, things are going well. 除了钱令人发愁外，事情进展顺利。【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
imparted：~ something：to pass information, knowledge, etc. to other people. 传递消息，传授知识等等。【写作推荐】词义精准解析运用
debunk： ~ sth批判；驳斥；揭穿…的真相to show that an idea, a belief, etc. is false; to show that sth is not as good as people think it is【写作推荐】词汇积累
本文交流类表达总结
交流，对话的表述
Conversation；Exchange都有交流，对话的意思，是两个人以上之间的对话
Utterance是言论，语言的意思，指的是一个人说出来的某段话或言论
Speech：也可以用来表述说话，发言。不过更常用的是对一群观众的演讲，发言，讲话
事实、消息的传递可以用的动词
Convey facts/information；Impart facts/information不同的是前者主要是使某种感情，思想为人所知；后者主要在pass——传递的这个动作上，如传授知识、技能等（impart knowledge）
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