语言与文风2019bbc.com
能救命的大白话：来自“很会说话的人”的经验
Simple words that save lives: lessons from “expert talkers”
导读
这篇 BBC 报道采访了紧急电话调度员，讲他们如何用最简单的措辞把惊慌的来电者拉回有效对话：把套话换成显得真正有兴趣的说法，把开放问题改成二选一的具体选项，并且不被对方的脏话激怒。对写作者来说，它具体展示了措辞如何改变听者的反应，也提醒我们对话写作里“一句话说错”的代价。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把套话换成有温度的具体说法，例如用“我想和你聊聊”代替“跟你说两句”，用“还有别的你想聊的吗”代替“还有别的吗”——套话只显得客套，不显得关心。
- 02
紧张场合别问开放式问题，直接给二选一（“是独立住宅还是公寓”），对方更容易给出有用信息；写对话时也可以让角色用具体选项逼出答案。
- 03
面对情绪激动的人，别把对方的话往心里去：关键是他“说了什么”，而不是他“怎么说”，把注意力从语气拉回信息本身。
- 04
同一句话由不同的人、用不同的语气说出来，结果可能完全相反——桥上的旁观者越劝越糟，换人介入才扭转局面，写冲突场景时别忽略“谁在说”这个变量。
HN 评论精选
摘出原文的换词建议：把套话换成显得真正有兴趣的说法，能换来更好的回应。
文章建议优先使用一些说法：“我想和你聊聊”（而不是“跟你说两句”）；“还有别的你想聊的吗？”（而不是“还有别的吗？”），为的是让对方给出更好的回应。文章说，“talk”和“anything”这类词只显示出表面上的开放（因为文化联想和陈词滥调），并非真的有兴趣。文章特别在开会的语境下提到第二句。我想拿它做个非正式实验，因为我在会上问“还有别的吗”时，反响通常平平。
flancian查看英文原文
The article tells us to prefer some phrases: - I want to speak with you (instead of: talk to you). - Is there something else you'd like to talk about? (instead of: anything else). To ellicit a better response from your interlocutors. The story goes that "talk" and "anything" show only apparent openness to engage in dialogue due to cultural associations/cliches, not actual interest. In particular they mention the second one in the context of meetings. I think I'll try that one as a very informal experiment as I tend to prefer "anything" when asking that in meetings and I don't get a great response usually.
提前预想对方会问的具体问题、准备好简短准确的答案，比临场组织措辞有效得多。
我认为紧急呼叫中心应该公布他们最常问的问题清单。我的孩子大致知道怎么、什么时候打 911，但肯定没被训练过怎么回答 BBC 这篇文章里提到的“这是独立住宅还是公寓”这类问题（我们家的正确答案是“独立住宅”，尽管通信地址里带公寓号）。也许我该做张海报，让他们紧张时也记得怎么做：一定要告诉接线员我们住的是独立住宅；一定要告诉接线员家里有五口人（不必提寄养的孩子没有血缘关系）；不要告诉接线员严格来说我们的鱼也算“宠物”；不要试图为 911 录音申请知识共享许可协议。
rurcliped查看英文原文
I think PSAPs should release a list of the most common questions they ask 911 callers. My kids basically know how and when to call 911, but they definitely aren't trained on the best answer to the "is this a house or an apartment" question cited in this BBC story. (In our case, the relevant answer is "house" even though our mailing address includes an apartment number.) Maybe I'd create a poster so they remember what to do under stress, e.g., DO tell the 911 operator that we live in a house, not an apartment DO tell the 911 operator that we have five people in our family (omit the detail that our foster child isn't biologically related) DO NOT tell the 911 operator that, technically, our fish are "pets" DO NOT attempt to negotiate a Creative Commons license for the recording of the 911 call
同一句话由不同的人说效果天差地别——措辞不是唯一变量，说话的人本身也决定结局。
我曾遇到一个想从桥上跳下去的人。我本能地一直跟他说话，因为我不知道还能做什么。可我说什么都让他更激动，最后他跑过马路到桥的另一边躲我。幸好我拦下一辆路过的救护车，一位急救员接手后局面缓和了一阵，直到警察到来。然而其中一名警察和我一样起了反效果，情况变得很危急；是他的女同事介入才让局面扭转。最后我坐在救护车里看事态发展，女警过来说，那人愿意上救护车，前提是“那个人”（指我）不在场。于是我告别了新认识的急救员朋友，离开现场。我怀疑他一开始并不真的要跳，但我会想：如果只有我在场，结局会不会更悲惨？
dazc查看英文原文
I once encountered someone who was contemplating jumping from a bridge. My immediate response was to keep him talking, no matter what, because I just didn't know what else to do? Everything I said agitated him more, to the point where he actually ran across the road to the other side of the bridge to get away from me. Fortunately, I managed to flag down a passing ambulance and a paramedic intervened. This seemed to calm things down for a while until the police arrived. However, one of the officers had the same effect as I had and the situation became quite desperate. His female colleague intervened though and that's when the situation turned around. I ended up sitting in the ambulance with the paramedics while the drama unfolded. Eventually, the policewoman came over and said the guy was willing to get into the ambulance so long as 'that man' is not there (meaning me). So I bid my farewell to my new paramedic friends and left the scene. I doubt he was going to jump initially but I wonder, if it was left to just me, whether the outcome would have been more tragic?
紧急沟通中应训练“不把对方的话往心里去”，因为人在危机中顾不上礼貌，而听众对语言的敏感度差异很大。
当被问为什么语无伦次时，他回答：“我他妈怎么知道？”被批评说脏话时他说：“我不在乎，你们问的都是什么蠢问题。”我理解有些人对脏话和攻击性语言特别敏感，另一些人不太在意。读到上面这段，两种人的世界就撞上了：语言敏感的人会站在调度员一边，另一些人则觉得莫名其妙，因为她似乎没在听对方说什么，只在意对方怎么说。社会上每个人都有责任保持礼貌，但紧急调度员不该对来电者抱这种期待。不是每个人都讲礼貌，但每个人打电话求助都理应得到帮助，不管他说话的方式如何。紧急救援不是客服——客服可以因为客户辱骂接线员而终止服务。我不是替霸凌者说话，也不是说讨厌脏话的人不该做某些工作。但我认为，如果工作内容是面对紧急状况中的公众，那么学会不把话往心里去，也许该是培训的一部分。
mekoka查看英文原文
When asked why she is incoherent, he replied: “How the hell do I know?” When chastised for cursing he said: “Well I don't care, ya stupid-ass questions you're asking.” It's my understanding that some people are particularly sensitive to cursing and aggressive language, while others don't really care much. When we read something like the above, both our worlds collide. The language sensitive people will relate with the dispatcher, while others will think what the hell, because it seems that she was not listening to what was being said, but rather focusing on how it was said. In society it's each person's responsibility to be civil and courteous, but emergency dispatchers should not expect this from callers. Not everybody is polite, but everyone deserves to expect help when they call for it, regardless of the way they talk. Emergency response is not customer service, where you can just tell a client that you'll have to drop them because they berated one of the phone clerks and that's against company policy. I'm not playing devil's advocate for bullies, nor saying that people who hate swearing shouldn't do certain jobs. But I believe that if the work is to be a public respondent to emergency situations, maybe learning to not take things so personally should be part of the training.
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