近日，加拿大总理特鲁多引发风波热议。哪一个词呢？就是我们非常熟悉的mankind。事情是这样的：

前几日在加拿大举行的一次公众活动上，加拿大总理特鲁多在听取一位女性讲述志愿者服务的相关问题时，突然对这名女子所用的mankind一词提出了异议。他说应用“peoplekind”替代“mankind”表示人类，以体现包容性，以显示他对于“性别平等”的重视。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=q1333zloze7&width=500&height=375&auto=0

可以从视频里看到，当时他的这一说辞还赢得了不少女性参会者的掌声，可在网络上他却很快遭到了加拿大国内乃至美国和英国不少网友的抨击，被指纯属“男性说教”，过分追求“政治正确”，称他“为了政治正确连脑子都不要了”。

比如，英国知名媒体人皮尔斯·摩根就嘲讽特鲁多说，英语里根本没有“peoplekind”这个词，完全是特鲁多出于政治目的“凭空发明”出来的。

“人类已经被这加拿大总理杀死了”，摩根在他的文章中这样挖苦到。

摩根还搬出历史“打脸”特鲁多，称“mankind”这个词原本就是“性别中性”词语，因为古代英语把男性和女性分别称作“werman”和“wyfman”，并且这两个词里都有共同的成分“man”，于是这才有了“mankind”这个词来指代“人类”。

所以，这位英国媒体人最终用“蠢货”一词形容了这位加拿大总理，并把他的行为打上了“装X”（英文原文为“virtue-signalling”）的标签。

Justin Trudeau Regrets ‘Peoplekind’: ‘I Made a Dumb Joke’

LONDON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada is known for pushing boundaries on how politicians deal with gender and the language surrounding it. And he appeared to have done it again recently when he told a woman she should use “peoplekind” instead of “mankind.”

加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多(Justin Trudeau)以挑战政界人士如何处理性别及与其相关的语言的边界著称。最近他似乎又这样做了。他告诉一名女性，她应该说“人类(peoplekind)”而不是“男类(mankind)”。

But on Wednesday, days after video footage of the exchange spurred accusations of sexism, Mr. Trudeau told reporters that he had made “a dumb joke.”

但周三，在这段交流的视频录像激起了人们对性别歧视的指责。几天后，特鲁多告诉记者，他闹了一个“愚蠢的笑话”。

“You all know that I don’t necessarily have the best of track records on jokes.”

“你们都知道，从过往的纪录来看，我一向不是讲笑话的高手。”他说。

What was all the fuss about? Here’s a primer.

这件事是如何引发争议的？以下是前情提要。

Maternal love at the town hall

市政厅的母性之爱

The exchange occurred on Thursday in a town-hall-style meeting in Edmonton, Alberta. The unidentified woman complimented him for recognizing the “ability and power that women actually possess.”

上周四，艾伯塔省埃德蒙顿的一个市政厅式的会议上，一名无法确认身份的女子称赞特鲁多“承认女性的能力和权力”。

Then she said, “Maternal love is the love that’s going to change the future of mankind.”

然后她说：“母性之爱是改变人类(mankind)未来的爱”。

The prime minister interrupted her: “We like to say ‘peoplekind,’ not necessarily ‘mankind.’ It’s more inclusive.”

“我们应该说‘peoplekind’，而不是‘mankind’。这更具包容性。”总理打断她说。

The crowd cheered, footage shows.

视频显示，人群中爆发出欢呼声。

“We can all learn from each other,” he said, with a beatific smile.

“我们都可以相互学习，”他笑着说。

But others were not having it.

但其他人没有。

Critics pounce

批评声浪

[1]pounce

1) V-I If someone pounces on you, they come up toward you suddenly and take hold of you. (向某人) 猛扑

He pounced on the photographer, beat him up, and smashed his camera. 

他猛扑向那个摄影师，揍了他，并砸碎了他的相机。

2) V-I If someone pounces on something such as a mistake, they quickly draw attention to it, usually in order to gain an advantage for themselves or to prove that they are right. (对某事) 抓住不放

The Democrats were ready to pounce on any Republican failings or mistakes. 

民主党人准备要抓住共和党人的瑕疵或错误不放。

Much of the derision[2] came from British, Australian and American commentators, and from the conservative and far-right fringes. They accused Mr. Trudeau of “virtue signaling” and political correctness run amok[3].

大部分的嘲笑来自英国、澳大利亚和美国的评论家，以及保守和极右翼的阵营。他们指责特鲁多的“美德信号”和过于追求政治正确。

[2]derision: N-UNCOUNT If you treat someone or something with derision, you express contempt for them. 嘲弄

He tried to calm them, but was greeted with shouts of derision. 

他试图使他们安静下来，却遭到他们大呼小叫的嘲弄。

[3]run amok: Also, run riot or wild. Behave in a frenzied, out-of-control, orunrestrained manner. For example, I was afraid that if I left the toddleralone she would run amok and have a hard time calming down, or Theweeds are running riot in the lawn, or The children were running wild inthe playground. Amok comes from a Malay word for “frenzied” and wasadopted into English, and at first spelled amuck, in the second half of the1600s. Run riot dates from the early 1500s and derives from an earliersense, that is, a hound's following an animal scent. Run wild alludes to ananimal reverting to its natural, uncultivated state; its figurative use datesfrom the late 1700s.  四处胡作非为，横冲直撞，横行；失去控制

A conservative tabloid[4], The Toronto Sun, accused Mr. Trudeau of “mansplaining” and unfurled footage of what it called the “gaffe-tastic[5]” prime minister’s top three malfunctions.

保守小报《多伦多太阳报》(The Toronto Sun)指责特鲁多的“直男癌式的说教(mansplaining)”，并展示了它所谓的“失态”总理的三大失灵问题。

[4]tabloid: N-COUNT A tabloid is a newspaper that has small pages, short articles, and a lot of photographs. Tabloids are usually considered to be less serious than other newspapers. Compare . 通俗小报

The tabloids speculated as to whether she was having an affair, and with whom. 

那些通俗小报猜测她是否正有风流韵事，以及跟谁有。

[5]gaffe: an embarrassing mistake made in a social situation or in public 

〔在社交场合或大庭广众下的〕出丑，失礼，失言

The consul’s comments were a major diplomatic gaffe.

领事的评论是一次重大的外交失言。

The Australian conservative commentator Rita Panahi said Mr. Trudeau’s use of “peoplekind” was an attempt to “appease those desperate to find offense where none exists.”

澳大利亚保守派评论员丽塔·帕纳希说，特鲁多使用“peoplekind”是为了“满足那些无论怎样也要无中生有，找出冒犯之处的人 ”。

In Trudeau’s defense

支持特鲁多的人

Indeed, the woman herself laughed at the time. “There you go, exactly. Yes, thank you,” she told Mr. Trudeau.

那时候，那个女人自己也笑了起来。“你说得对，确实如此。是的，谢谢你，“她告诉特鲁多。

The debate comes as Canada has been pushing other gender neutral verbal expressions, including a Senate bill making the national anthem gender neutral. Though Mr. Trudeau wasn’t behind it, he was supportive.

加拿大一直在推动其他与性别中立有关的口头表达，其中包括使该国国歌性别中立的参议院法案。特鲁对此表示支持。

Fans note he is one of the first male leaders to brand[6] himself a feminist. His cabinet has an equal number of men and women. He nominated a woman to the Supreme Court and defended gender and social equality in a recent speech in Davos, Switzerland. 

他的粉丝们指出，他是自称是女权主义者的第一批男性领导人之一。他的内阁成员中男性和女性人数相当。他向最高法院提名了一名女性候选人。最近，在瑞士达沃斯的一次演讲中，他再次为两性平等和社会平等发声。

[6]brand: to describe someone or something as a very bad type of person or thing, often unfairly 给…加上〔往往是不公的〕恶名

Stealing that money has branded Jim for life – no one will trust him again.

吉姆偷了那笔钱，就一辈子背上了恶名，再也没有人信任他。

brand sb (as) sth

You can’t brand all football supporters as hooligans.

你不能给所有的足球迷都加上流氓的恶名。

But still, some people can’t seem to let go of “peoplekind.” And that raises a question.Is ‘peoplekind’ even a word?

但人们仍然要问，“peoplekind”是个英文单词吗？

No.

不是。

But humankind is.

但“humankind”是。

来源：纽约时报、环球时报