肖雅琪

Elton John once sang， “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.”But in Canada，there arent many words that are more easily spoken. Or， thats the way it lookslike， say visitors to the country. And its something that Canadians admit1themselves. So why do they apologize2 so much， even when they dont need to？

Its part of Canadian culture3， say some people. That doesnt mean othercultures are less polite4. But saying sorry does at least show youre trying to benice—and many people think Canada is a polite country， so Canadian may be tryingto protect5 that idea.

For many Canadians， apologizing has become something they do withoutthinking， says a writer of the CBC. Even if someone walks into you in the streetand you arent at fault6， you may say sorry. She adds that it could be a way toavoid7 conflict8， and its often easier to say sorry than to shout at someone andhave a fight.

And according to some Canadians， when they say sorry， it doesnt always meantheyre really sorry. Sometimes it means they think that something bad happened9，but they dont think its their fault.

So how do you apologize and meanit？ A survey from 2020 found that only62% of Canadians actually think“I amsorry”is a good apology. And 80% think“I sincerely10 apologize” is the bestthing to say.

埃爾頓·約翰曾唱道：“抱歉似乎是最難的詞。”但是在加拿大，沒(méi)有什么詞比它更容易說(shuō)出口了?；蛘?，來(lái)這個(gè)國(guó)家的旅客說(shuō)，看起來(lái)就是如此。加拿大人自己也承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)。那么，為什么他們?nèi)绱祟l繁地道歉，即使他們并不需要這么做呢？

有些人說(shuō)，這是加拿大文化的一部分。這并不意味著其他文化不禮貌。但是說(shuō)對(duì)不起至少表明你在努力地表現(xiàn)出友好———而且許多人認(rèn)為加拿大是一個(gè)有禮貌的國(guó)家，所以加拿大人可能在試圖維護(hù)這種看法。

加拿大廣播公司的一位作家說(shuō)，對(duì)許多加拿大人來(lái)說(shuō)，道歉已經(jīng)成了他們不假思索就會(huì)做的一件事。即使有人在街上撞了你，你本身并沒(méi)有錯(cuò)，你也可能會(huì)說(shuō)對(duì)不起。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，這可能是避免沖突的一種方式，而且說(shuō)對(duì)不起往往比沖著某人大喊大叫和打一架更容易。

根據(jù)一些加拿大人的說(shuō)法，當(dāng)他們說(shuō)對(duì)不起時(shí)，并不意味著每次他們都是真的感到抱歉。有時(shí)說(shuō)對(duì)不起意味著他們認(rèn)為有不好的事情發(fā)生了，但他們并不認(rèn)為是自己的錯(cuò)。

那么你確實(shí)感到抱歉時(shí)該如何表達(dá)呢？2020 年的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有62%的加拿大人認(rèn)為“對(duì)不起”是得體的道歉用語(yǔ)。而80%的人認(rèn)為“我真誠(chéng)地（向你）道歉”才是最好的說(shuō)法。

Notes

1. admit. 承認(rèn)

2. apologize. 道歉apology . 道歉

3. culture . 文化

4. polite .有禮貌的

5. protect . 保護(hù)；防護(hù)

6. fault . 錯(cuò)誤

7. avoid. 避免袁防止

8. conflict. 爭(zhēng)執(zhí)；爭(zhēng)論；分歧

9. happen . 發(fā)生

10. sincerely.由衷地；真誠(chéng)地