从小孩子的撒谎到善意的谎言再到存心欺骗的谎话,再到程度和后果都更严重的谎话,比如诈骗、误导或谬论,如何表达这些性质不同的谎话?
Lie指的是说话者有意欺骗听者的虚假陈述,可以作名词“谎话"或动词“说谎"。
例:
He looked at me, eye to eye, and told me that he didn't use my car on the weekend. I know he is lying.
他看着我的眼睛告诉我他周末没有用我的车。我知道他在说谎。
另一种说谎可以用fib来形容,这种谎话和lie类似,但没那么重要,也没什么影响,通常用来表示小孩子的说谎,可以用作名词或动词。
例:
Who ate the last apple, don't tell a fib, I want you to tell me now.
谁吃了最后一个苹果,别撒谎,我要你现在就告诉我。
你还可以用white lie来表示“善意的谎言”,这是一种无害或无伤大雅的谎言,通常用来避免伤害某人的感情。
例:
I had to tell her that the dress looking beautiful, but it was a white lie as I didn't want her to feel embarrassed.
我不得不告诉她那条裙子看起来很漂亮,但这是个善意的谎言,因为我不想她感到尴尬。
Swindle可用作名词或动词,名词时通常指听信某人的谎话被骗钱财的情况,即骗局、诈骗。
I lost a lot of money in the insurance swindle during the 1990s.
我在二十世纪九十年代的保险骗局中失去了很多钱。
用作动词时,swindle指的是欺骗的行为。
He swindled her out of her life savings, I hope he gets caught and goes to jail.
他骗光了她一辈子的积蓄,我希望他被抓住并被送去坐牢。
如果你mislead某人,那么你是有意给他们一个错误的概念或印象。
I think he has misled me. I am sure he told me the party was Saturday, not today, as he doesn't want me to be there.
我觉得他误导了我。我肯定他告诉我聚会是星期六,不是今天,因为他不想我出现。
Fallacy指的是基于一种错误或不全面观点之上的信仰,类似于中文中的'谬论'。
The idea that all babies can walk when they are one is a fallacy.
所有婴儿一岁时都会走路的说法是个谬论。