美国习惯用语 | damage control

上周末我们家庭聚会,表哥喝多了,说了一些对姑姑不敬的话,不久就传到了我姑姑的耳朵里。几乎就在同时,表哥也意识到自己犯的错,赶紧去向姑姑赔罪,还特别送了鲜花。他这一系列及时补救的做法让我想到了一句习惯用语,那就是:damage control。

我们都知道,damage这个词本身是“破坏,损坏”的意思,而control则是“控制”。连在一起,damage control的字面意思是“损害控制”,也就是“采取措施将造成的损害降到最低”。

就像上面的例子里,我表哥又道歉又送花,试图把损害降到最低:

  • My cousin told my aunt that he was sorry and sent her flowers. It's damage control.

下面的例子里,我们来听听看这个叫Drake的人怎么搞砸了他的晋升:

  • There were some doubts about whether Drake would be an effective Union president. Then, he made a racial remark in a speech at an assembly. At first, he ignored critics. Later, he tried to make a joke of it before deciding to offer a public apology. In the end, his attempts at damage control weren't successful. He lost out on the promotion.
    大家对于德雷克能不能成为一个好的工会主席很怀疑。就在这时候,他在一次集会发言时,说了一句带有种族歧视色彩的话。起初,他根本不理会别人的批评。之后他试图用玩笑来掩盖这次错误,最后实在没办法才公开道歉。结果,他试图控制损害程度的努力并不成功,没有得到升职。

专家们建议,一旦你意识到自己做错了什么事或者说错了什么话,就应该马上补救,一分钟都不能等。越早对自己造成的损害负起责任,挽救局势的可能性就越高。

刚刚我们谈到,如果做错了什么事情,就应该马上进行damage control,尽量把伤害降到最低程度。下面的例子里,这位足球妈妈就意识到了自己的错误。她做了什么来补救呢?

  • My wife knew she was wrong. She should never have told our daughter's soccer coach that he'd made a lot of bad calls at the game. Fortunately, she wasted no time explaining how she'd been inappropriate, followed by offering him an invitation to dinner at our house. Thanks to my wife's damage control, the coach isn't upset anymore.
    我太太知道她做错了。她不应该指责我女儿足球教练在比赛中决策失误。好在,她一点也没耽搁,马上去跟教练解释,说自己这种做法不合适,还邀请他来我们家吃饭。她这么努力把造成的损害降到最低程度,教练也就不再生气了。

所以说,越快补救,损害就越小!damage control这个短语最初出现在20世纪50年代,那时候,这个短语只限于用在把一个船只事故的损害降到最低。慢慢地,人们开始把这个短语引伸出来使用,到现在,damage control可以用在任何需要进行补救的场合中。