善意的謊言有時(shí)是美麗的。當(dāng)我們?yōu)榱怂说男腋：拖Ｍm度地說一些小謊話的時(shí)候，謊言即變?yōu)槔斫?、尊重和寬容，具有神奇的力量。美?guó)短篇小說《最后一片葉子》或許就是善意謊言的代表：當(dāng)生病的老人望著凋零衰落的樹葉而凄涼絕望時(shí)，充滿愛心的畫家用精心勾畫的一片綠葉去裝飾那棵干枯的生命之樹，從而維持了一段即將熄滅的生命之光。然而，我們不能以“善意”為借口而隨意說謊，無論出發(fā)點(diǎn)是什么，謊言很多時(shí)候都會(huì)造成不可收拾的殘局。

老亞伯拉罕·林肯說：“做人以誠信為本?！?/p>

“Honesty is the best policy，” says old Abraham Lincoln.

事實(shí)一定總是最好的嗎？

Surely the truth is always best?

在美國(guó)，坦率的人通常受到尊重。

In America， straightforward

people are usually respected.

要表現(xiàn)真正的你需要勇氣。

It takes courage to express the real you!

但是有時(shí)事實(shí)會(huì)傷害到其他人。

But sometimes， the truth might hurt someone else.

你不必用事實(shí)給人當(dāng)頭一棒。

You don’t have to beat people over the head with the truth.

用溫和的方式闡述事實(shí)。

Phrase the truth in a kind way.

與其說：“那太糟糕了！”不如試試：“或者你可以做得更好一些？”

Instead of “That was just awful!”， try “Maybe you could work on it a little bit?”

但是，小心的措辭和徹頭徹尾的謊言界線在哪里？

But then， where’s the line

between careful phrasing and 2)outright lies?

有時(shí)候，稍微“扭曲一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)事實(shí)”會(huì)更好些。Sometimes， it might be better to“bend the truth” a little bit.

畢竟，善意的謊言有什么害處？

After all， what’s the harm in a white lie?

隱瞞一些事實(shí)可能也使艱難的狀況有所改善。Hiding some facts might also

make a difficult situation go

smoothly.

如果你撒了一個(gè)謊，你就會(huì)在將來撒更多的謊來掩飾它。

If you tell one lie， you might have to “cover” it by telling more lies in the future!

不誠實(shí)的表現(xiàn)很快就會(huì)失控。

Being dishonest can get out of hand pretty quickly.

沒人喜歡被騙，盡管你是出于好意。

Nobody likes being lied to， even if you meant well.

那么，或者我們應(yīng)該堅(jiān)持實(shí)事求是。

So， maybe we should just stick with the truth.

對(duì)某些事實(shí)撒謊甚至是違法的。

It’s even illegal to lie about some things.