荀子曰:“流言止于智者。”古希腊的哲学家和教育学家苏格拉底也有办法让流言蜚语止于他。其实做智者十分简单:利用苏格拉底的“三重过滤”法则,仔细过滤听来的传言,将虚假、恶意又对自己毫无帮助的部分滤掉即可。
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed2) to hold knowledge in high esteem3).
One day an acquaintance4) met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test."
"The first filter is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true? "
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and ..."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"No, on the contrary ..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
Friends, use this triple filter each time you hear loose5) talk about any of your near and dear ones.
在古希腊,苏格拉底以高度尊崇学识而闻名于世。
一天,这位伟大的哲学家和一个老朋友碰面了。老朋友说:“你知道我刚听说了关于你朋友的什么事吗?”
“等等,”苏格拉底答道,“在你告诉我这件事情之前,我想先让你做个小测试——‘三重过滤’测试。”
“三重过滤?”
“没错,”苏格拉底接着说,“在你谈论我的朋友之前,不妨先用一点时间过滤一下你要说的话,这是有好处的。这也是我称其为‘三重过滤’的原因。”
“第一重过滤叫真实。你能百分之百确定你要讲的事情都是真的吗?”
“不能,”那人说道,“我也只是刚刚听说,而且……”
“好吧,”苏格拉底说,“这么说你并不确定事情的真伪。现在我们来进行第二重过滤——善意。你要说的是关于我朋友的好事吗?”
“不,恰恰相反……”
“那么,”苏格拉底接着说,“你想告诉我关于他的不好的事,但你又不能确定那是不是真的。不过你还是有可能通过测试的,因为还有最后一重过滤——实用。你要告诉我的关于我朋友的事对我来说有帮助吗?”
“没有,没什么帮助。”
“好吧,”苏格拉底总结道,“如果你要告诉我的事情既不真实又不美好而且对我没有任何帮助,那到底为什么要告诉我呢?”
朋友们,每当你听到关于亲密朋友的传言时,请使用这种三重过滤法加以鉴别。
1. filter [5fIltE(r)] n. 滤器
2. repute [rI5pju:t] vt. [常用被动语态] (一般看法中)把……称为,(普遍地)认为
3. esteem [I5sti:m] n. 尊敬,尊重
4. acquaintance [E5kweIntEns] n. 相识的人;[总称] 熟人
5. loose [lu:s] adj. 任意的;轻率的;不加约束的