美國習慣用語 第853:explain away
我記得一個月前，我們辦公室來了一位新同事。但是最近一直沒看見她。問了其他同事才知道，她被炒魷魚了! 原來是，她工作拖拉，而且還推辭說是因爲自己患有維他命缺乏症。公司最終還是決定開除她。這也讓我想到一句習慣用語，那就是: explain away.
Explain是解釋的意思，explain away就是搪塞，辯解的意思。上面的例子裏，我的同事顯然試圖用缺少維他命來爲她的工作效率低下做辯解，in the end, that excuse couldn't explain away her inefficiency at work. 最終，她沒法再爲自己的低效率辯解。下面例子裏，我們的職業顧問要給我們一些工作中的建議，讓我們來聽聽看：
Are you having trouble finding employment because of gaps in your resume? Rather than explaining away why you were laid off or took time off, consider being honest. Let employers know why you lost your job or needed to stop working to raise a family or tend to a sick relative. Often a good reason will help you get hired again.
這段話是說：你是否也曾因爲簡歷裏有斷層而沒被僱傭呢？與其極力辯解自己爲什麼會被開除或者有段時間沒有工作，不如如實告訴僱主到底發生了什麼。告訴僱主你爲什麼丟了飯碗，或者必須停止工作來照顧孩子，或是照看生病的親人。真實的原因一般都能幫助你再找到下一份工作。
我覺得，大家一般都是害怕僱主不能理解他們的境遇，迫不得已，才編出各種故事來掩飾事實。與此相同的，如果你覺得工作太難或者有什麼不懂的地方，不如誠實地告訴你的老闆，rather than explaining away why you didn't finish the work, you should just go ahead and let your boss know what you don't understand.
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Explain away解釋，搪塞 。一般來說，父母最愛的都是自己的孩子，會對他們百般呵護。但是下面例子裏的這位母親卻不是這樣，讓我們來聽聽看:
The daycare worker asked the mom how her child had gotten such a terrible bruise. She said he'd fallen out of bed. But that didn't explain away some of the other marks found on his body. When investigators determined he'd been beaten by his mother, she stopped trying to invent reasons for her son's injuries.
這段話是說: 幼兒園的工作人員問這位母親爲什麼她的孩子身上有一塊特別嚴重的淤青。她說，這是孩子從牀上掉下來摔的。但這並沒有解釋清楚孩子身上的其他傷痕。調查人員最後得出結論，孩子是被媽媽打的，她這才停止爲自己孩子的傷痕尋找藉口。
據說全世界每天有數百萬孩子受到父母或者監護人的毆打或者虐待。所以如果你聽到了什麼或者懷疑什麼，千萬要站出來質問。Be suspicious when someone's trying to explain away a cause of concern, you may be saving a life! 對一些試圖辯解的人特別小心，你可能將挽救一條生命!
