为什么俄罗斯人不笑 [美国媒体]

-------------译者：tera-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



Here’s something that has always puzzled me growing up in the U.S. as a child of Russian parents.

作为在美国长大的俄罗斯裔，有一点总是很困惑我。

Whenever I or my friends were having our photos taken we were told to say “cheese” and smile.

每当我或者我朋友在照相时，有人就会叫我们说“起司”，要笑。

But if my parents also happened to be in the photo they were stone-faced. So were my Russian relatives in their vacation photos.

但是如果我的父母也在照片里面，他们就板着脸。我那些俄国亲戚们在游玩照片里面都这样。

My parents’ high-school graduation pictures show them frolicking about in bellbottoms with their young classmates looking absolutely crestfallen.

我父母的高中毕业照片里，所有人穿着喇叭裤，看上去都很沮丧。

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It’s not just photos: Russian women do not have to worry about being instructed by random men to “smile.” It is Bitchy Resting Face Nation seemingly forever responding “um I guess?” to any question the universe might pose.

不光是照片，俄罗斯的女人也不用担心被男人要求做“笑脸”。似乎面瘫脸总是在对着所有问题回应“我猜猜看”。

This does not mean we are all unhappy! Quite the opposite: The virile ruler the vodka the endless mounds of sour cream—they are pleasing to some. It’s just that grinning without cause is not a skill Russians possess or feel compelled to cultivate. There’s even a Russian proverb that translates roughly to “laughing for no reason is a sign of stupidity.”

这并不是指我们不高兴！相反：阳刚统治者的伏特加，大块美味的酸奶油，很多人都喜欢。但是没什么原因就微笑，这技巧俄罗斯人不懂，或者感觉做着难受。甚至有个俄罗斯谚语，粗糙的翻译是“没有理由的笑是犯傻的表现”。

-------------译者：tera-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

Russians’ fondness for the gentle scowl seems even more unusual to expats than its actual climatic cold. And the cultural difference cuts both ways: Newcomers to America often remark on the novelty of being smiled at by strangers.

对外来人事来说，俄罗斯人皱眉头的癖好比气候严寒还要奇怪。而且文化不同的冲击在两边都有：新来美国的俄罗斯人总是在讨论被陌生人微笑。

So why is this? Why do some societies not encourage casual smiling? I got my answer or at least part of one when I stumbled across a new paper by Kuba Krys a psychologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In some countries smiling might not be a sign of warmth or even respect. It’s evidence that you’re a fool—a tricky fool.

那么为什么会这样呢？为什么有些社会不鼓励随意微笑？我在报纸上浏览波兰科学院的心理学家 Kuba Krys 写的一篇文章中找到了一知半解。在一些国家，笑并不会被当做热情或尊重。而会显得你是个傻瓜-一个诡异的傻瓜。

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Krys focused on a cultural phenomenon called “uncertainty avoidance.” Cultures that are low on this scale tend to have social systems—courts health-care systems safety nets and so forth—that are unstable. Therefore people there view the future as unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Krys  专注研究一种叫“回避不确定性”的文化现象。这方面很低的文化容易形成一种不稳定的社会系统-博取安全系统。因此那些人们视未来不确定，不可控。

Smiling is a sign of certainty and confidence so when people in those countries smile they might seem odd. Why would you smile when fate is an invisible wolf waiting to shred you? You might in those “low-UA” countries even be considered stupid for smiling.

笑是一种确定，自信的表现，所以在那些国家人们笑会显得奇怪。不可见的命运会把你撕碎，你还在笑？在那些“回避不确定性”低的国家里，笑会显得傻。

Krys also hypothesized that smiling in corrupt countries would be um frowned upon. When everyone’s trying to pull one over on each other you don’t know if someone’s smiling with good intentions or because they’re trying to trick you.

Krys  也假设在腐败国家里，笑显得不好。要是有人笑着把我拉过来，你不知道他是好意还是想骗你。

-------------译者：tera-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



To test this theory Krys had thousands of people in 44 different countries judge a series of eight smiling and non-smiling faces on a scale of honesty and intelligence. He compared their answers to the country’s rankings of uncertainty avoidance from a 2004 study of 62 societies and ratings of corruption.

为了证明这个理论，Krys 让来自44个国家的几千个人判断八个笑和不笑的脸，说出他们诚实和智慧的程度。他将这个结果同2014年针对62个国家所进行的“不确定性规避”排名以及腐败排名进行了比较。

He found that in countries like Germany Switzerland China and Malaysia smiling faces were rated as significantly more intelligent than non-smiling people. But in Japan India Iran South Korea and—you guessed it—Russia the smiling faces were considered significantly less intelligent. Even after controlling for other factors like the economy there was a strong correlation between how unpredictable a society was and the likelihood they would consider smiling unintelligent.

他发现德国，瑞士，中国，马来西亚的笑脸比不笑脸被点评为更加聪明。但是，日本，印度，伊朗，韩国，和你猜猜-俄罗斯的笑脸看上去没有不笑脸聪明。即使控制了经济等其他变量后，社会的不可控程度和微笑会被当成不智慧的可能性之间也存在着非常强烈的关联。

“This research indicates that corruption at the societal level may weaken the meaning of an evolutionary important signal such as smiling” Krys writes.

Krys写到“这个研究表明社会腐败程度可能会削弱人们重要的进化信号-笑-的含义”。


-------------译者：tera-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

yes it is true on May 28 5:08 PM said:
Russians are just pathetic and sad idiots. A smile is a sign of happiness well being and genuine (not fake) self confidence. Russians have none of these qualities so it makes sense that they discourage each other from smiling. It is little wonder everybody who can leave gets out and that the population is so miserable that the country has one of the biggest rates of alcoholism and drink themselves to death. Russia also has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the world and its no coincidence.

俄罗斯人只是一群可怜悲哀的蠢货。笑是快乐，真正（不是假的）的自信的标志。俄罗斯人不具备这些品质，所以他们不鼓励笑。难怪能出国的人都走了，人口十分悲惨，那个国家还有最高的酗酒症比例，可以一直喝到死。俄罗斯也是世界人口寿命最低的国家之一，这一切都不是巧合。

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 47  14 jamesxxxxxxxx on May 28 10:58 PM said:
@yes it is true: Russians may be something or the other but it's not what you are indicating.
In typical American bigotry which usually stems from a positive yet completely naive and uninformed view of the rest of the world - you are wrong.
I'll bet $100 you've never been to Russia you don't speak another language and you've never lived or been for any extended period in a culture that is not your own.
Go and live in France for 2 years. You will change your view of *everything* because you'll realize just how vastly different cultures are and how everything affects everything.

是的：俄罗斯人是有点那什么但不是像你说的那样。
典型的美式偏执，往往源于一种乐观却十分单纯的世界观 - 你错了。
我赌$100你从没去过俄罗斯，你不说其它语言，从没在其它文化圈里生活过。
去法国呆两年。你会改变对“所有”的理解，因为你会意识到文化间有多么不同，一物如何影响着一物。

-------------译者：宁不凡-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

 6  8 barry drake on May 30 2:21 AM said:
@jamesxxxxxxxx: The communists knocked the Russian smile out -- they do it to everyone.
Refer North Koreans

 共产者剔除了俄罗斯人的笑容--他们对每个人这样做。
就像北朝鲜人一样。

 0  0 Smile faces on May 30 3:26 AM said:
@yes it is true: Even 3 days old baby is smile too. Try to tickle the legs.

@ 确实如此：试着在腿上挠痒痒的话，连出生3天的小宝都会笑。

 11  28 rggsdgsgsdg on May 28 5:28 PM said:
The reason is the sad state of their teeth.

 原因是他们牙齿的情况不太好。
 
 11  26 Old-timer on May 28 5:30 PM said:
Bad teeth is another reason.

 牙不好是另一个原因。
 
 14  22 Uncle_Eccoli on May 28 5:33 PM said:
So these places are so corrupt twisted hopeless and socially backward that the populations are culturally cynical toward SMILING? That is truly pathetic and contemptible. Entire nations of defeated losers.

所以这些地方如此的腐败扭曲绝望和社会落后以至于形成了排斥微笑的文化？这真是可怜可耻。
整个国家遍地失败者。

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 32  11 jamesxxxxx on May 28 11:01 PM said:
@Uncle_Eccoli: "socially backward that the populations are culturally cynical toward SMILING?"
You don't understand other cultures.
An Italian friend of mine is always annoyed when you speak to Americans for the first time in a professional context sometimes they are so ebullient and happy. I didn't know what he meant until living in another culture.
What upsets him is that the 'positivity' is not authentic - and it's often not the case.
Even if you are in a bad mood - in America you 'put on your best face' it's just 'being professional' - but in other cultures it's just a form of lying and misrepresentation.

@Uncle_Eccoli: “社会落后以至于民众形成排斥微笑的文化？”
你不了解其他的文化。
当你第一次给美国人说专业范畴时，我的一个意大利朋友总是恼火，但是有时他们是那么的热情和快乐。直到在另一种文化环境中生活过后，我才道他是什么意思。
令他恼火的是“积极”是不可靠的-并且时常不是如此。
在美国即使你心情不好，你也要显现出你最好的一面，这只是一种职业修养，但在其他文化中，这中形式只是撒谎和虚伪。

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 3  1 Isee on May 30 2:46 AM said:
@jamesxxxxx: Business insider is openly anti Russian. Insulting other cultures is not supposed to an American standard. Although what the heck chief editor of this "journal" was sued for wall street fraud. People check this out

《商业内幕》公开反俄。侮辱其他文化不应该是一个美国标准。见鬼的是该“杂志”主编因华尔街欺诈案被起诉。大家可以去搜一下。

In 2002 then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer published Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget gave assessments about stocks which allegedly conflicted with what was publicly published.[6] In 2003 he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[7] He agreed to a permanent ban from the securities industry and paid a $2 million fine plus a $2 million disgorgement

2002年，时任纽约州总检察长的爱略特.斯皮策公布了美林证券的电子邮件，在这封邮件中，布洛吉特给出了与公开报告相冲突的股票分析。2003年，他因证券欺诈被美国证券交易委员会指控，被终身禁止从事证券行业，并被罚款200万美元及需缴纳200万美元非法所得。

-------------译者：maggicqueen99-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

 51  8 Neighborly Jim on May 28 10:31 PM said:
It also bothers me that here in America that I am expected to smile even if there is nothing worth smiling over. Perhaps I am having a bad day but jerks get upset and whiny if I do not smile. Smiling is over rated.

这一点也让我很烦：在美国即使没有什么值得笑，人们也会期待我笑。也许哪天我心情糟透了，但是如果我不笑，傻帽们会生气和烦躁。微笑的意义实在被夸大了。
 
 42  9 vanuatu on May 28 11:13 PM said:
A hypocrisy is so deep in American culture that people are not even recognizing it. Fake smiles tears ...

在美国文化中，虚伪深到人们甚至没有意识到。含着泪的假笑…
 
 34  7 Meaningless Smiles on May 29 4:54 PM said:
If you grin or smile at everything then it is meaningless and has no real value in human communication. If a Russian smiles then it probably is real. I am American and I do not understand most of the grinning people here. I have lived for years in Europe and find that the smiles there are more sincere.

如果你对任何事，都要么咧嘴笑要么抿嘴笑，那么它就毫无意义，而且在人类交际中也毫无价值。如果一个俄罗斯人微笑，那么它可能是真实的。我是美国人，我不理解这里大部分咧嘴笑的人。我在欧洲生活了多年，发现那里的笑容更真诚。

-------------译者：maggicqueen99-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

  5  6 Percival Dovetonsils on May 29 8:04 PM said:
In America at least women see men who don't smile as being more masculine.

在美国，至少女人们认为男人不笑更阳刚。
 
 15  1 TG on May 29 9:12 PM said:
The first histogram suggests the whole thesis is incorrect - Japan rates lowest on the "smiling is a sign of intelligence" scale but "there was a strong correlation between how unpredictable a society was and the likelihood they would consider smiling unintelligent" - I really don't think that Japan is a markedly unpredictable society!

解读第一个直方图，就知道全文的逻辑是错误的----日本选“微笑是智慧的标志”的人最少，但“在'社会不可预知的程度’和'他们认为微笑是不智慧的可能性‘之间有很强的相关性 ”，我真的不认为日本是一个明显的不可预知的社会！

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 18  2 Janice Johns on May 30 1:54 AM said:
Hmmm... how about asking some Russians why they don't smile in photos? And what if there's a difference between the expression on their face just before the photo is taken? I know many Russians and have traveled in Russia and find that though they keep serious (not mistrusting) expressions on their faces when out and about in public they may be frolicking at home and laughing and yet the moment the photo is taken they wipe their smiles for the photo. Furthermore I don't see anything here about why a country like France doesn't bear public smilers - and their "UA rating" is higher. Finally consider the male-female dynamic. In many countries if a woman or girl smiles and/or makes eye contact with a man it may be perceived as showing sexual interest. A good reason NOT to go around smiling in public and completely unrelated to this so-called UA factor!!! Such a subjective and poorly reasoned through/controlled for study...

 嗯。。。要不问问一些俄国人为什么他们拍照的时候不笑？然后如果是他们的表情在拍照的那一刻才发生的变化呢？我认识很多俄国人，也到俄国旅游过，发现虽然他们外出时或是在公共场所时总是保持严肃（不是不信任）的表情，但他们可能在家都会嬉笑打闹，只是会为了照相把笑容收起来。像法国这样的国家不容忍人们在公共场合微笑，可是其“不确定性规避”的水平更高，这是为什么呢，没有给出解释。最后考虑一下男女互动关系。在很多国家如果一个女人或女孩对一个男子微笑或眼神接触，很可能被认为是性暗示。所以这是一个不在公共场合微笑的好理由，也和所谓的“不确定性规避”无关！！！这对于研究来说也太主观太不合理了。

-------------译者：maggicqueen99-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

 13  1 ETOPS on May 30 2:25 AM said:
I spent some time living abroad in Ukraine and Belarus some years ago before all this unpleasantness began. As an American I would often smile and be what we consider "friendly" and would often be met with scowls or open suspicion.

我在国外生活了一段时间，几年前在乌克兰和白俄罗斯呆过，直到所有不愉快的变故开始才回来。作为一个美国人，我常常微笑，按照我们认为的“友好”行事时，经常会遇到皱眉或公开的质疑。

As I got to know some of the locals one of them told me over drinks that I shouldn't smile so much. Of course I asked why and his response really made me think about America's "always smile" philosophy. He told me that only crazy people are happy all the time most of the time we are simply getting by and our face should reflect that attitude. A smile should be reserved for genuine pleasure and happiness not the facade we put on to please others around us. In short in Slavic culture if you smile all the time you're probably trying to hide something sinister and most people think that when presenting a false smile you're trying to somehow swindle them.

和当地居民混熟以后，有个人在喝酒时告诉我，我不应该笑这么多。我当然问他为什么，他的反应真的让我反思起美国的“永远微笑”的哲学。他告诉我，只有疯子才会一直开心，大部分时间我们只是得过且过，我们的脸部表情应该反映这种态度。笑容应该留给真正的快乐和幸福，而不是作为挂在脸上的假象来取悦周围的人。总之，在斯拉夫文化中，如果你一直笑那你可能隐藏了什么阴险的东西，大多数人认为，当你皮笑肉不笑时，你大概想欺骗他们。
 
 2  1 BeauCharles on May 30 2:55 AM said:
@ETOPS: I live in the Sacramento metro area (home to about 100000 Russian and Ukrainian immigrants). You'd be surprised how fast they drop that dour outlook in California.

回楼上：我住在萨克拉门托市区（约有10万名俄罗斯和乌克兰移民定居）。你会惊奇地发现，他们在加利福尼亚有多快就不再象老家那样板着脸。