陈东红 - sympathy , empathy, compassion｜芽芽学英语

2024-07-22 12:08

「恻隐之心，人皆有之」，每个人多多少少都有与生俱来怜悯和同情「sympathise」他人的情感，所以我们多多少少都会有同理之心：见到人受苦我们会不自觉地为那个人感到难过，例如人看悲剧会落泪，读新闻时会为受害者感到难受，这些情绪的表现源于我们的本能情感，只是忙碌的生活和复杂的社会，这份「恻隐之心」往往变得迟钝，个人而言，同情心「sympathy」和同理心「empathy」的分别在于前者是一种与生俱来的情感，而后者是一种有意识的，需要练习的能力。

因此，次序和层次该是：「sympathy」→「empathy」→「compassion」——先有同情心，再有同理心「empathy」，然后层次提升至「compassion」。

让我们看看多个例句去了解这3个字：「sympathy」可以这样用：I had great sympathy for the victims. / I have no sympathy for him because I think he deserves it. / You could show some sympathy. / I told my sister what had happened but I didn\'t get much sympathy. / He showed no sympathy for my feelings。

「Empathy」呢？可以这样用：He has a total lack of empathy for anybody. / She was generous, friendly and showed grate empathy. / She had a deep empathy with animals. / She shows a lack of empathy for other people\'s situations. 。

上周说到「compassion」，它不只是包括了「sympathy」与「empathy」，还包括一份慈爱心，愿意和渴望用行动来减轻或消除他人的痛苦。「compassion」可以这样用：I survived. Someone or something had had compassion on me. / The old people are treated with great compassion in this town. / He had no pity, no compassion, no understanding of what the victims of war suffered. / At home, she was always taught that compassion and understanding came before judgment. 。

老子有句话我特别喜欢，「慈故能勇」，这个是「compassion」的最好表达，当我们拥有慈爱心的时候，便不知道哪里来的勇气，愿意「拔刀相助」。

陈东红
作者从事英语教育出版20年，任职于多家报社；现为教育顾问编辑、儿童刊物《BINGO!》出版人、专栏作者及到校讲师。

文章刊于《星岛日报》2024年7月22日教育版专栏「亲子同路」。