词汇大师:当美国人要你“'Sensitivity'”时，他们神马意思

英语自学网

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本文讨论了sensitive及其派生词的在不同语境下的用法，蛮有趣的，来看看吧O(∩_∩)O~
本篇对话中，主持人的对话不需要听写，只需听写嘉宾的话
主持人对话①“I think that what I heard from you..."
主持人对话①“Geoff Nunberg is a linguist at the University..."

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Hint:
discourse
plural

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I think that what I heard from you, though, was that when it's in political discourse, it takes on another meaning, and that sensitive, in the word of being sensitive or not sensitive, is something personal. But when it goes beyond the personal -- is that what I'm hearing you say?"
"Yeah, I think in ordinary language it's a very difficult word, because, as you say, it can be either a criticism -- 'Don't be so sensitive!' -- or it can be a criticism to not have it. Men are always being accused by women of being insensitive, so that you can have too much sensitivity or too little sensitivity depending on the context.
"In political discourse, and particularly when it's used in the plural as sensitivities, in which case people are always talking about the feelings of a group rather than an individual, it's very often a way of suggesting that these are things you should avoid without thinking about why you should avoid them."
Geoff Nunberg is a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a contributor to public radio's "Fresh Air" program. And that's WORDMASTER for this week.