如何克服小孩子傲娇（锻炼毒舌有利于情绪健康）

所有家长都希望自己的孩子言谈适当，举止得体。但当儿女进入青春期时，不少家长都会因为孩子突然冒出来的“冷嘲热讽”、

“毒舌金句”而感到头疼。

“毒舌”，网络流行语，字面意思是“vicious tongue”，比喻说话刻薄、犀利，可以翻译为“sharp tongue”，表示“A tendency to speak in a malicious or highly critical manner”。

近期，科学家发现：学会讽刺，其实是大脑发育成熟的标志之一。讽刺和其他语言现象的区别何在？对沟通而言，讽刺意味着什么？

Your teen's being sarcastic? It's a sign of intelligence

By David Robson

Psychologists and neuroscientists have found that sarcasm requires the brain to jump through numerous hoops to arrive at a correct interpretation, requiring more brainpower than literal statements.

心理学家与神经学家发现，大脑要穿越重重难关，才能对带讽刺的言语作出适当阐释。相比字面意思清晰的表述，这会消耗更多的脑力。

And although it's often dismissed as juvenile snark, sarcasm is actually evidence of maturity – as it takes years for a child's developing brain to fully grasp and master it. An understanding of sarcasm's use in humour develops particularly late – at around nine or ten years of age on average.

尽管人们常常认为挖苦讽刺是一种不足为道的幼稚表达，但它实际上是心智成熟的证据。因为孩子的大脑需要经过好几年的发育，才能完全掌握并熟练运用这项技能。对于运用在幽默中的讽刺，人们的理解力会发展得更晚一些，大约要到9岁或10岁的年纪。

As a form of humour, sarcasm may also help us to deal with frustration or stress. It can be a way of letting off steam. Intriguingly, studies have found that depressed and anxious individuals' use of sarcasm increased over the Covid-19 pandemic – which may reflect this coping mechanism.

作为一种幽默，讽刺也可以帮助我们应对挫折与压力。它可以是一种情绪宣泄方式。有意思的是，研究发现：抑郁或焦虑的人，在新冠疫情期间会更多的使用讽刺性语言。兴许，这也是这一应对机制的一种体现

In general, though, the primary motivation of sarcasm will be linguistic – to add colour to the messages that we hope to convey.

不过总的来说，讽刺的主要动机还是出于语言表达，是为了给我们想要传达的信息增添几分色彩。

It may initially feel like a shock when parents notice their children deploying sarcasm. Parents may feel particularly helpless when dealing with a teenager who injects it into almost all interactions, as if they struggle to express any sincere emotions.

当家长注意到自己的孩子在言辞中表现出讽刺时，起初也许会感到震惊。而让父母们无可奈何的是，有的青少年可能会在几乎每次交流中都添几句冷嘲热讽，仿佛对他们而言，表达真实情绪是难上加难。

But should we blame teens for wielding this versatile tool? Perhaps it's better seen as the useful practice of a vital ability.

但是，当青少年们舞弄着“一语多义”这个工具时，我们应该责备他们吗？也许，把它看作是对一种关键能力的有用练习，会更好一些。

（应版权方要求，此内容仅对英国以外地区开放。）

生词好句

1.jump through hoops

If you have to jump through hoops, you have to complete many difficult steps to achieve something.

拓展:

I had to jump through a lot of hoops to change my ID on my bank account.

我费了好大劲才更改了银行账户的ID。

I had to jump through hoops to reset my password on my work email.

我费了好大劲才重置了我工作邮箱的密码。

2.snark

英 [snɑːk] 美 [snɑːrk]

n. critical comments that are made in order to hurt someone's feelings

拓展:

snarky

adj. criticizing somebody in an unkind way

'snarky comments' are comments that hurt another person, or make that person look stupid.

The teacher punished any student who made snarky comments to others.

老师惩罚对别人恶语相向的学生。

He appeared on TV and made some snarky comments about his ex-boss.

他出现在电视上，尖刻地评论了他的前老板。

3.grasp

英 [ɡrɑːsp] 美 [ɡræsp]

v. If you grasp a difficult thing (like an idea), you understand it.

拓展:

If you fully grasp something, you completely understand it.

We have fully grasped the importance of his scientific work.

我们已充分认识到了他的科学工作重要性。

I didn't fully grasp the idea until I'd read the article a second time.

直到我把这篇文章再读一遍，我才完全领会了它的意思。

4.let off steam

If you let off steam, you do or say something that helps you to lose strong feelings or energy or you express your feelings of anger or excitement without harming anyone.

拓展:

I went for a long walk to let off steam.

我想发泄一下，去散了很长时间的步。

He let off steam by yelling at the sales assistant.

他对销售助理大喊大叫以发泄怒气。

5.intriguingly

英 [ɪnˈtriːɡɪŋli] 美 [ɪnˈtriːɡɪŋli]

adv. to say that something happens in a way that is very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious

拓展:

His new book is intriguingly titled, 'The Revenge of the Goldfish', which is strange because there are no fish in the story.

他的这本新书有一个很有趣的标题《金鱼的复仇》，这很奇怪，因为故事里没有金鱼。

Intriguingly, the teacher found that some students got higher scores if they did less revision at home.

有趣地是，老师发现一些学生如果在家不怎么复习，反而会得到更高的分数。

6.though

英 [ðəʊ] 美 [ðəʊ]

conj. nevertheless/however

拓展:

I still find English hard to understand; I can understand more than last year, though!

我仍然觉得英语很难理解；不过比去年有进步。

The film was OK, I still think the book was better than the film though.

电影还不错，不过我还是觉得书比电影好。

7.primary motivation

A primary motivation is the main reason for doing something

拓展:

The company will move their factories abroad. Their primary motivation is to save money.

这家公司将把工厂迁到国外。他们的主要原因是为了省钱。

The school will reduce the number of study hours each day. Their primary motivation is to give students more free time.

学校将减少每天的学习时间，他们的主要动机是给学生更多的自由时间。

8.initially feel like a shock

the first time you have this shocked feeling

拓展:

It is often used with 'after the initial shock' to talk about how you feel after the feeling of being shocked at first.

After the initial shock, my mum accepted my new hairstyle.

在最初的震惊后，我妈妈接受了我的新发型。

After the initial shock of discovering their daughter had failed the exam, her parents started to make a new plan for her future.

在最初得知女儿考试不及格的震惊后，她的父母开始为她的未来制定新的计划。

9.deploy

英 [dɪˈplɔɪ] 美 [dɪˈplɔɪ]

vt. If you deploy something, you use something in an effective or skilful way.

拓展:

My job doesn't really allow me fully to deploy all of my skills and talents.

我的工作确实不能充分发挥我所有的技能和才干。

Students need to deploy a range of skills and techniques in the practical exam.

在实际考试中，学生需要运用一系列的技能和技巧。

10.wield

英 [wiːld] 美 [wiːld]

vt. If you wield something like a tool (either a physical or abstract thing) , you hold it and are able to use it.

拓展:

to wield great power = to hold a lot of power

He's not actually the CEO. He wields great power in the company, though.

他不是真正的首席执行官。不过他在公司里掌握着很大的权力。

She's the most important female politician in the government, she wields great power in many different departments.

她是政界最重要的女政治家，在许多部门都有很大的权力。

,