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Euphemism and exaggeration are both dangers, but extremism is the bigger threat.
委婉语和夸大其辞都很危险，但极端主义是更大的威胁。
George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”, published in 1946, took aim at the bureaucrats, academics and hacks who obfuscated their misdeeds in vague, jargon-packed writing.
乔治·奥威尔在1946年发表了文章《政治与英语语言》，将矛头对准了那些故意用含糊不清、充满行话的文字来掩饰罪行的官僚、学者和写庸俗文章的人。
Abstractions, euphemisms and clichés all served as “the defence of the indefensible”. Orwell lamented how “Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers.
抽象概念、委婉语和陈词滥调都是“在辩护不可辩护之言行”。奥威尔悲叹道：“数百万农民被剥夺了农场，只能带上自己扛得动的东西在路途上艰难跋涉，而这却被称为人口转移或边境整顿。
People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements.”
人们未经审判就被监禁多年，或者被一枪打中后脑勺（实施死刑），或者被送到北极的伐木营地而死于坏血病，这都被称为消除不可靠因素。”
If Orwell were writing today, he would find plenty of euphemisms to complain about. On October 7th an open letter from a clutch of student groups at Harvard University vaguely described the “unfolding violence” in Israel without ascribing blame to Hamas.
如果奥威尔在现代写作，他会发现大量值得抱怨的委婉语。10月7日，哈佛大学的一些学生团体发表了一封公开信，含糊其辞地描述了以色列“正在发生的暴力事件”，且没有将责任归咎于哈马斯。
Abstract brutality “unfolding” shocks rather less than a clearer description of Hamas slaughtering 1,200 Israelis, nearly all civilians, including many children.
抽象的残暴行为“正在发生”，这听起来要比清晰明了地描述哈马斯杀害了1200名以色列人（几乎都是平民，其中包括许多儿童）更不那么令人感到惊骇。
As a onetime contributor to the BBC, it is easy to imagine Orwell defying the broadcaster’s refusal to use the word “terrorism”.
笔者作为曾经为BBC撰稿的写作者，不难想象奥威尔会如何对BBC拒绝使用“恐怖主义”一词而表示蔑视。
Orwell had no trouble doling out his medicine to both sides; he would have also had harsh words for those describing the “collateral damage” buried in Gazan rubble, another abstraction designed to prevent readers picturing dead children. Around 13,000 Palestinians have died since October 7th.
奥威尔完全可以给双方都开药，对于那些把埋在加沙废墟中的遇难者描述为“附带破坏”的人，奥威尔也会厉声谴责，附带破坏也是一个抽象概念，目的是防止读者去想象儿童死去的画面。自10月7日以来，大约有13 000名巴勒斯坦人死亡。
Orwell’s famous essay had a long lead time: he was paid in December, and it appeared in print the next April. Today, however, billions of people can publish their thoughts instantaneously.
奥威尔的这篇著名文章过了很久才发表：他在12月拿到了稿酬，文章在第二年4月才见刊。然而，如今，数十亿人可以立刻发表他们的想法。
The desire to grab attention seems to incentivise stylistic sin. The social-mediafication of writing has steered the tone from the offence of euphemism to its twin offence of exaggeration.
吸引眼球的欲望似乎会助长文体上的罪行。写作的社交媒体化将文体罪行从委婉语变成了夸大其辞。
Taking what they no doubt believe to be an Orwellian starting point—the danger of being too soft in their language—keyboard warriors cannot resist the temptation to reach for the most inflammatory words available.
键盘侠们认为“语言过于柔和会带来危险”（他们无疑认为这是很奥威尔式的态度），在此起点之上，他们无法克制地想要使用最具煽动性的字眼。
What used to be called chauvinism, then sexism, is now “misogyny”, a word once reserved for actual hatred of women.
过去被称为大男子主义、然后被称为性别歧视的东西，现在变成了“厌女症”，而这个词过去是专门用来表示厌恶女性。
Those who do not ascribe to left-wing views on race are accused not of bias, prejudice or even racism, but of “white supremacy”, a phrase that just a decade ago was reserved for neo-Nazis.
那些不发表左翼种族观点的人不会被指责有倾向性、有偏见，甚至有种族歧视，而是被指责认可“白人至上”，而这个词在十年前只能用来形容新纳粹主义者。
