Lies We Tell Kids

May 2008 Adults lie constantly to kids.

2008 年 5 月 大人经常对孩子撒谎。

I'm not saying we should stop, but I think we should at least examine which lies we tell and why.

我并不是说我们应该停止，但我认为我们至少应该检查我们说了哪些谎言以及为什么。

There may also be a benefit to us.

或许这对我们也有好处。

We were all lied to as kids, and some of the lies we were told still affect us.

我们小时候都被骗过，有些谎言至今仍然影响着我们。

So by studying the ways adults lie to kids, we may be able to clear our heads of lies we were told.

因此，通过研究成年人对孩子撒谎的方式，我们也许能够清除头脑中被告知的谎言。

I'm using the word "lie" in a very general sense: not just overt

我在非常普遍的意义上使用“谎言”这个词：不仅仅是公开的

falsehoods, but also all the more subtle ways we mislead kids.

谎言，还有我们误导孩子的所有更微妙的方式。

Though "lie" has negative connotations, I don't mean to suggest we should never do this—just that we should pay attention when we do.

虽然“谎言”有负面含义，但我并不是说我们永远不应该这样做——只是我们在这样做时应该注意。

[ 1 ] One of the most remarkable things about the way we lie to kids is how broad the conspiracy is.

[1] 关于我们对孩子撒谎的方式，最引人注目的事情之一就是阴谋的范围之广。

All adults know what their culture lies to kids about: they're the questions you answer "Ask your parents." If a kid asked who won the World Series in 1982

所有成年人都知道他们的文化对孩子来说意味着什么：这些问题就是你“问你的父母”所回答的问题。如果一个孩子问谁赢得了 1982 年世界职业棒球大赛

or what the atomic weight of carbon was, you could just tell him.

或者碳的原子量是多少，你可以告诉他。

But if a kid asks you "Is there a God?" or "What's a prostitute?" you'll probably say "Ask your parents." Since we all agree, kids see few cracks in the view of the world presented to them.

但如果一个孩子问你“有上帝吗？”或“什么是妓女？”你可能会说“问你的父母。”我们都同意，孩子们在呈现给他们的世界观中几乎看不到任何裂缝。

The biggest disagreements are between parents and schools, but even those are small.

最大的分歧发生在家长和学校之间，但即使是很小的分歧。

Schools are careful what they say about controversial topics, and if they do contradict what

学校对有争议的话题的言论非常谨慎，如果确实有矛盾的话，

parents want their kids to believe, parents either pressure the school into keeping quiet or move their kids to a new school.

父母希望他们的孩子相信，父母要么向学校施加压力，要求他们保持安静，要么将孩子转移到新学校。

The conspiracy is so thorough that most kids who discover it do so only by discovering internal contradictions in what they're told.

这个阴谋是如此彻底，以至于大多数发现它的孩子只是发现了他们被告知的内部矛盾。

It can be traumatic for the ones who wake up during the operation.

对于在手术过程中醒来的人来说，这可能会造成创伤。

Here's what happened to Einstein: Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached

爱因斯坦的遭遇是这样的：通过阅读流行的科学书籍，我很快就明白了

the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true.

坚信圣经故事中的许多内容不可能是真实的。

The consequence was a positively fanatic freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies: it was a crushing impression.

结果是一种积极狂热的自由思想，加上年轻人被国家故意通过谎言欺骗的印象：这是一个令人震惊的印象。

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