What does it mean to be complicit?

“Complicit”（同谋）的含义是什么？

If you're a frequent user of Dictionary.com, chances are you already know. The online dictionary reported multiple spikes in lookups for “complicit” over the past several months — and ultimately chose the adjective as its word of the year for 2017.

如果你经常使用在线词典（Dictionary.com）的话，你可能已经知道这个词的含义了。该在线词典称，在过去的几个月里“complicit”这个词的搜索量有过多次暴增，所以词典在线最终选择了该形容词作为2017年度词汇。

“As 2017 comes to a close, it's time for us to reflect on the words that impacted all of us this year,” Dictionary.com said in announcing its decision Monday. “The word complicit has sprung up in conversations this year about those who speak out against powerful figures and institutions and about those who stay silent.”

“2017年已临近尾声，我们是时候回顾一下今年影响了我们所有人的词汇了，”词典在线于星期一宣布了其决定。“不论是那些公然反抗权威人士和机构的人还是那些保持沉默的人，今年‘complicit’这个词都如雨后春笋般出现在人们的对话中。”

Dictionary.com defines “complicit” as “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.” And according to the dictionary, complicity — or in some cases, the refusal to be complicit — was pertinent to some of the biggest news topics of the year, from politics to National Football League players' anthem protests to the outpouring of personal experiences with sexual harassment and assault using the hashtag #MeToo.

词典在线把“complicit”这个词定义为“选择参与一项非法或可疑的行动，特别是与其他人一起；合作或参与了不法行为”。该词典表示，从政治到国家橄榄球联盟运动员奏国歌抗议，再到用话题标签“MeToo”（我也是）来倾诉有关性骚扰和性侵的个人经历，‘complicity’（同谋）（或者说在一些情况下，拒绝成为同谋）与今年的这几个最热门的新闻话题有关。

“We chose our Word of the Year, in part, because of noteworthy stories of those who have refused to be complicit,” the dictionary said. “In the face of oppression and wrongdoing, this refusal to be complicit has been a grounding force of 2017.”

“我们选择‘complicit’作为年度词汇，从某种程度上是因为那些引人关注的‘拒绝成为同谋’的事件，”该词典表示。“在压迫和不法行为面前，拒绝成为同谋成为2017年的一股基本的力量。”

Two of the three spikes in searches for “complicit” on Dictionary.com involved Ivanka Trump, the oldest daughter of President Trump and a current White House senior adviser. The first came March 12, the day after “Saturday Night Live” aired a sketch featuring “Ivanka Trump” (played by Scarlett Johansson) in a mock commercial for a fake perfume called “Complicit.”

‘complicit’这个词在词典在线上有过三次搜索量暴增，其中有两次都与伊万卡·特朗普有关，伊万卡·特朗普是特朗普总统的长女，目前也是白宫的一位高级顾问。其中第一次是在3月12日，在前一天的《周六夜现场》（美国一档喜剧小品综艺）节目中播放了一段推广一款名为“Complicit”香水的戏仿广告小品，广告的主角则是“伊万卡·特朗普”（由斯嘉丽·约翰逊饰演）。

“She's beautiful. She's powerful. She's . . . complicit,” a narrator purrs in a voice-over for the commercial, as Johansson-as-Ivanka glides around a formal reception in a rose gold sequined gown.

当约翰逊饰演的伊万卡穿着点缀着玫瑰金色的小亮片的礼服来到一场庄重的招待会上时，广告中的旁白低语道，“她很迷人。她很有权势。她是……同谋”。

“Complicit: The fragrance for the woman who could stop all this, but won't,” the commercial concludes. “Also available in a cologne for Jared.”

这则广告的结束语是，“同谋：为能阻止这一切却不作为的女人准备的香水。还有一款适合杰瑞德（伊万卡的丈夫）的男士香水。”

The following day, searches for “complicit” increased 10,000 percent on Dictionary.com. Rival online dictionary Merriam-Webster also reported a spike in lookups for the word after the SNL sketch, which has more than 8 million views on YouTube.

第二天，“Complicit”这个词在词典在线上的搜索量就增长了100倍。而与其竞争的在线词典韦氏词典也表示，在《周六夜现场》的小品播出后，这个词的搜索量暴增，而且这段小品在油管上的播放量已超过800万次。

Dictionary.com's second Ivanka Trump-related spike occurred after an April television interview in which the first daughter defended herself against the accusations.

有关伊万卡·特朗普的这个词汇在词典在线上的第二次搜索量暴增是在四月的一次电视采访后，当时关于那些对她的谴责，第一女儿伊万卡在采访中为自己进行了辩护。

“If being complicit is wanting to, is wanting to be a force of good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit,” she said in an interview. “I don't know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing.”

“如果想成为一股有益的力量，想产生积极的影响是同谋的话，那我是同谋，”她在一次采访中说道。“我现在处于一种非常特殊且史无前例的情况之下，我不知道那些可能会说我是同谋的评论家，如果他们发现自己处于这样的情况之下，他们的行为是否会与我现在所做的有所不同。”

She added: “I don't know what it means to be complicit. But you know, I hope time will prove that I have done a good job and, much more importantly, that my father's administration is the success I know it will be.”

她补充道：“我不知道“Complicit”的含义是什么，但是你知道的，我希望时间会证明我的工作做得很出色，更重要的是，我父亲领导的政府会像我所了解的那样取得成功。”

After the interview aired, searches for complicit spiked 11,000 percent, according to Dictionary.com.

据词典在线称，在该采访播出后，“Complicit”这个词的搜索量暴涨了110倍。

The third-largest spike in lookups for the word took place Oct. 24, after Sen. Jeff Flake announced that he would not be seeking reelection in 2018. In his retirement speech, Flake pushed back against Trump's presidency, as well as the divisive brand of politics:

这个词的第三次搜索量暴增是在10月24日杰夫·弗莱克参议员宣布不会谋求2018年连任之后。在他的退休演讲中，弗莱克抵制了担任总统的特朗普，也放弃了引起不和并败坏名声的政治事业：

It must also be said that I rise today with no small measure of regret. Regret, because of the state of our disunion, regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics, regret because of the indecency of our discourse , regret because of the coarseness of our leadership, regret for the compromise of our moral authority, and by our — all of our — complicity in this alarming and dangerous state of affairs. It is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end.

我得说，今天站在这里我很后悔，因为我们的不团结，因为我们政治活动的破败和破坏性，因为我们演说时的无礼，因为我们领袖的粗鄙，因为我们在道义上的妥协，而在这令人惊慌且危险的事态下，这是由我们所有人的同谋造成的。我们是时候该终止勾结并不再做出那些令人无法接受的让步行为。

Flake continued later: “The principles that underlie our politics, the values of our founding, are too vital to our identity and to our survival to allow them to be compromised by the requirements of politics. Because politics can make us silent when we should speak, and silence can equal complicity. I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit.”

弗莱克继续道：“支撑我们政治事业的原则以及我们所树立的价值观对我们的身份和生存都至关重要，所以我们不能允许它们被政治需求所连累。然而因为政治会使我们在应该发声的时候保持沉默，但沉默就等同于同谋。我要对我的孩子负责，对我的孙子孙女负责，所以总统先生，我不会成为同谋。”

The word also made an appearance in other noteworthy political stories this year. When members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned en masse in August, in protest of Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville , they wrote in an open letter to the president: “Your words and actions push us all further away from the freedoms we are guaranteed. Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions.”

今年这个词也在其他引人关注的政治事件中出现过。当总统的人文艺术委员会成员为了抗议特朗普对夏洛茨维尔的暴力事件的回应而集体辞职的时候，他们在致总统的一封公开信中写道，“你的言辞和行为使我们进一步远离了你向我们保证过的自由。对你那令人讨厌的花言巧语置之不理会让我们成为你的言辞和行动的同谋。”

Like many other online dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster and Oxford , Dictionary.com's “word of the year” does not have to be new or one that had the most lookups. Instead, it is meant to be a word that “embodies a major theme resonating deeply in the cultural consciousness.” Last year, the dictionary chose “xenophobia,” or the “fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers.”

就像韦氏和牛津等许多其他线上词典一样，词典在线的“年度词汇”不需要是新的单词，也不必是搜索量最多的词，而是能“体现在文化意识中产生深刻共鸣的一个重要主题”的单词。去年该词典选择了“xenophobia”(仇外）这个词，其含义就是“害怕或憎恨外国人、来自不同文化的人或陌生人”。

The cultural consciousness was no less dark through the eyes of those over at Oxford Dictionaries (which chose “post-truth” as its word of the year in 2016, after its use skyrocketed during a contentious “Brexit” referendum and a divisive U.S. presidential election) and at Merriam-Webster (where “surreal” edged out “fascism” to be the 2016 pick).

在牛津和韦氏词典上查词所体现的文化意识也很黑暗（牛津词典在2016年把“post-truth”（后真相）选为其年度词汇，在那之前，在备受争议的“英国脱欧”公投以及造成分裂的美国总统大选期间，这个词的搜索量曾急剧增长；而“”surreal”(超现实的）挤掉了“fascism”（法西斯主义）成为2016年韦氏词典的年度词汇）。

Compare that to 2015, when Oxford Dictionaries chose an emoji — the laughing-crying one — as its word of the year for the first time. If Dictionary.com's choice is any indication, we're a long way off from the laughing-crying emoji.

与2015年相比，当时牛津词典首次选择了一个表情符号，就是那个笑哭的表情，作为其年度词汇。如果词典在线的选择有任何暗示的话，那就是我们离笑哭表情的时代还有很长一段路。

“As many of you know from looking up the definition of complicit, there's nothing positive or good about it,” Dictionary.com said. “In fact, being complicit is decidedly negative, as it means that a person is involved with something that's wrong. Whatever your politics, this meaning is not up for debate.”

“你们中的许多人都通过查询complicit的定义而得知，这个词没有积极或有益的一面，”词典在线说道。“实际上，成为同谋显然是有害的，因为这意味着一个人参与了错误的事情。不论你的政见是什么，其含义都没什么可争论的。”

（翻译：Dlacus）