今日短語
To be seen and not heard 乖乖聽話，少出聲
今日短語
“To be seen and not heard” 這個(gè)短語源自英國維多利亞時(shí)期的一句老話 “Children should be seen and not heard.” 它的字面意思是 “孩子要被看見，而不被聽見”，實(shí)際用來督促孩子們?cè)诖笕嗣媲皯?yīng)該保持安靜，行為端正。
“To be seen and not heard” 是被動(dòng)語態(tài)，因?yàn)閺?qiáng)調(diào)的重點(diǎn)對(duì)象是 “children（孩子）” 或與小孩處境相同的大人。根據(jù)上下文，這個(gè)短語也可以用來提醒大人 “不要多嘴”。
例句
My mother was very strict when we were little. She thought that my brother and I should be seen and not heard whenever our parents had guests.
我們小的時(shí)候，我母親非常嚴(yán)格。她認(rèn)為只要家里有客人，我和弟弟就應(yīng)該保持安靜，不吵鬧。
Attitudes to parenting have really changed in recent years. In our grandparents’ time, children were expected to be seen and not heard.
近年來，人們對(duì)養(yǎng)育子女的態(tài)度確實(shí)發(fā)生了變化。在我們祖父母的年代，人們希望看到孩子們不多說話，行為舉止端莊得體。
Our boss doesn’t really want to hear what we think about his ideas. In meetings, he would rather we were seen and not heard.
我們的老板并不想聽我們對(duì)他的想法有什么看法。開會(huì)時(shí)，他更希望我們能安靜點(diǎn)，不要多嘴。
