中英双语新闻——104 Platonic friendship can be fun and liberating

 　　It’s a Friday night. Your girl friends are out at a bar and your boyfriend is playing soccer with his mates. Two text messages later, you’re eating pizza and watching action movies with three guy friends. Perfect.

 

　　正值周五晚上，你的闺蜜都去酒吧了，男友也和同伴们踢足球去了。两条短信过后，你就已经和三位男闺蜜一起边吃披萨，边看动作片了，这真是棒极了。

 

　　“Guy friends” have the potential to enrich your life in ways that female friends and boyfriends just can’t. For starters, they provide an insider’s perspective on how men think, feel and behave. When dealing¹ with male relatives, coworkers and even boyfriends, another man’s point of view can be incredibly useful. Three hours spent analyzing² a situation in a café with your girlfriends can’t compete with a quick chat to a guy friend.

 

　　与你的女性朋友和男友不同，“男闺蜜”可以通过另外一些方式来让你的生活变得更加多彩。首先，他们可以就男性的想法、感受以及行为给出一些内部人士的观点。在处理与男性亲属，同事，甚至另一半之间的关系时，另一位男性的观点会极其奏效。与其花三个小时同闺蜜坐在咖啡馆中一起分析状况，不如同男闺蜜的一次快速交谈。

 

　　“I love getting an alternative perspective from guy friends,” says Nellie Gaintsev, 22, an Interior Design student at The University of Technology, Sydney. “In particular, when I’m arguing with my boyfriend, my close guy friends provide me with an understanding of where he may be coming from.”

 

　　22岁的奈丽是悉尼科技大学室内设计专业的一名学生，她说：“我很喜欢从男性闺蜜那里得到一种全新的观点。尤其是在同男友吵架时，男闺蜜们能站在男性的角度能告诉我男友是怎么想的。”

 

　　Many women find that time spent with male friends can be a liberating³ and somewhat refreshing⁴ break from spending time with the girls. Without the judgmental gaze of other females, there is less pressure to dress up and compete for attention.

 

　　很多女性发现，花时间同男性友人相处，可以说是与女性朋友相处之后的一种释放，或者某种程度上是一次放松身心的休闲时光。因为少了其他女伴的那种主观的评判目光，你不必为穿着打扮和争抢风头而劳神。

 

　　“I think guy friends are a lot more laid back and easy going,” says Johanna Gibson, 22, a media student at the University of Sydney. “I find they’re more protective and generally look out for you in the same way that an older brother would.”

 

　　就读于悉尼大学传媒专业，22岁的乔娜?吉普森说：“我觉得男性朋友要随和得多，我发现他们更具有保护欲，会像大哥哥那样照顾你。”

 

　　Traditionally, girl-guy friendships are seen as hard to maintain. Most relationships between males and females that we come across in our day-to-day lives, whether in movies or books, are romantic by nature. These cultural images make girl-guy friendships seem impossible.

 

　　长久以来，人们都认为男女间的友谊很难维持。在书籍或电影中，我们日常生活中所遇到的大多数男女关系都会自然而然产生化学反应。这些文化意象让人觉男女间没有纯洁的友情。

 

　　Yet in reality, as gender⁵ roles loosen and equality becomes a norm in the workplace, it has become much more common for platonic⁶ friendships to blossom.

 

　　但在现实生活中，随着性别角色意识淡化，男女平等成为职场的规范，男女之间的柏拉图式友谊也更为普遍地肆意增长了。

 

　　“The belief that men and women can’t be friends comes from another era in which women were at home and men were in the workplace, and the only way they could get together was for romance,” explains psychologist Linda Sapadin to Psychology⁷ Today magazine. “Now they work together and share sports interests and socialize together.”

 

　　心理学家琳达?萨帕丁在接受《今日心理学》杂志采访时解释道：“男女不能成为朋友这种说法产生于另外一个时代，那时女人在家，男人工作，只有通过爱情他们才能呆在一起。而如今，男人和女人一起工作、享有共同的体育爱好，一起参加社交活动。 ”

 

　　Today, the main obstacle to cross-gender friendships is often jealousy⁸ from a romantic partner. To overcome this, communication is essential.

 

　　现如今，这种跨越性别的友谊所面临的主要障碍往往是另一半的嫉妒。想要克服这点，沟通交流尤为重要。

 

　　“My boyfriend has met all of my guy friends so he’s quite accepting of me hanging out with them,” says Nellie. “Because we’ve been dating so long, there’s a level of trust where he knows I will make the right decision when choosing who to be friends with.

 

　　“我的男友见过我所有的男闺蜜，所以对于我与他们一起打发时间这件事，他毫无怨言。”奈丽说，“我俩已经约会很长时间了，对彼此的信任已经到达了一定高度，他知道我能够在交友方面做出自己正确的选择。”

 

　　“He understands that the kind of time that I spend differs between guys and girls. When I’m out with the girls, we’re gossiping or talking about clothes but when I’m spending time with the guys, it’s different. I think their carefree and ‘whatever goes’ attitude can sometimes be exactly what I need.”

 

　　“他懂得我与男生和女生在一起时玩的不同之处。如果我和女伴们出去，我会聊聊八卦和衣服。但如果是和男生一起情况就不一样了，有时候他们那无所谓，放任自流的态度正是我所需要的。”

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

3 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

4 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

6 platonic   

adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的

参考例句：

• Their friendship is based on platonic love.他们的友情是基于柏拉图式的爱情。
• Can Platonic love really exist in real life?柏拉图式的爱情，在现实世界里到底可能吗？

7 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

8 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。