研究人员分析了来自五大洲、讲八种不同语言的当地居民之间的互动后发现，英国人说“谢谢”的频率高过所有人。但这种表达感激的方式有多重要呢？

 

Around the world there are a variety of ways to express gratitude¹ in thousands of different languages. Here in England, children are taught from a young age that they should say "thank you" whenever possible, with "what's the magic word?" being a familiar phrase with parents across the nation.

在世界各地，上千种不同语言中有各种各样表达感激之情的方式。在英国，孩子们在很小的时候就被教导说，只要有机会就应该说“谢谢”。家长们用家喻户晓的“那个神奇的词是什么？”这句话教育孩子要记得说“谢谢”。

 

Now scientists have looked at languages across five continents and found that officially no one expresses gratitude more than the British. But not as much as you may think – we only say 'thank you' just one in seven occasions² that we should do.

现在，科学家们已经研究了五大洲的多种语言，发现没有人比英国人表达感激之情的次数多。但实际次数可能没你想的那么多，我们只在七分之一该表达感谢的场合中说“谢谢你”。

 

Russians only thanked each other 3% of the time and Italians only 14%. But Giovanni Rossi of the University of Helsinki and a lead author of the study said that this wasn't just people being rude.

俄罗斯人在交流时感谢彼此的比例是3%，而意大利人也只有14%。但赫尔辛基大学的乔瓦尼·罗西和这项研究的主要作者说，这不仅仅只因为人们比较粗鲁。

 

Giovanni and his fellow scientists suggest that English children might be coerced³ by adults to enter into a politeness routine⁴ when their parents might not even do the same.

乔瓦尼和他的同事们认为，英国的孩子可能是被成年人强迫养成一种礼貌习惯，然而他们的父母甚至可能不会这般礼貌。

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