To trust or not to trust? That’s the question we often ask ourselves when we meet someone for the first time or encounter strangers. Trust: it’s about believing others, taking their word and seeing the best in them.

相信还是不相信?这是我们第一次见到某人或遇到陌生人时经常问自己的问题。信任:就是相信别人,相信他们的话,看到他们最好的一面。

I’m not one who trusts easily. Generally, I avoid talking to people I don’t know, be it at social occasions or on the streets.

我不是一个轻易相信别人的人。一般来说,我会避免和陌生人说话,无论是在社交场合还是在大街上。

Trust. It’s embedded within the unconscious rituals of everyday life: walking to work, we trust passer-bys won’t stab us. We trust shopkeepers will give us the correct change at the cashier. We trust no chef spat into food we ordered. Trust. It’s about going forwards: we trust and travel to get on with our lives. And whether we trust others usually depends on where we’ve been and where we’re from.

信任根植于日常生活中无意识的行为中:比如走路去上班,我们相信路人不会刺伤我们。我们相信店主会在收银台找给我们正确的零钱。我们不相信厨师会在我们点的食物上吐痰。信任是关于继续前进的:我们信任他人,并为继续生活而不断前进。而我们是否信任他人通常取决于我们去过哪里,来自哪里。

Sometimes we hesitate to trust those we barely know because we’ve always kept “stranger danger” in mind. Better safe than sorry taking someone’s words and actions for what they seem. As Indonesian-born blogger Marcella Purnama writes on growing up in one of the numerous crime ridden Asian cities, she “wasn’t really taught to be nice to strangers. When someone asks for help, ignore them.” Trust, in this sense, is influenced by our upbringing.

有时,我们会犹豫是否要相信那些我们几乎不认识的人,因为我们总是把“陌生人很危险”这句话记在心里。宁可信其有,不可信其无。印尼的博主玛塞拉.普尔纳玛曾写道,她在犯罪猖獗的亚洲城市之一长大,"没有人教过她要善待陌生人,人们只是提醒她当有人向她寻求帮助时,不要理睬他们"。从这个意义上说,信任受到了我们的成长环境的影响。
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When I went to primary school in Malaysia, my family lived in a high-security house. A massive wrought iron gate blocked our driveway’s entrance. A double-padlocked stainless steel grille gate blocked the front door of our house. ….sitting in the living room on a hot, humid weekend afternoon, the “ding” of an ice-cream pushcart filled the air. Mum and I hurried outside with some coins, and she flagged it down. I looked up at the tanned chap on the pushcart from behind the prison-like driveway gate, my hand feeling numb from clenching a cool icy pole packet. Instantly the ice-cream seller looked away, and my eyes darted to the ground. Never saw him again.

当我在马来西亚上小学的时候,我们住在一个戒备森严的房子里。一扇巨大的锻铁大门挡住了我们车道的入口,而我们家的正门是一扇双层不锈钢格栅门。在一个炎热潮湿的周末下午,我坐在客厅里,外面传来了冰淇淋推车走过的“叮叮”声。妈妈和我拿着一些硬币急忙跑到外面想去买冰淇淋,她示意商贩把推车停下来,我从监狱般的车道大门后面抬头和手推车旁那个晒得黝黑的小伙子对视了一下,卖冰淇淋的小伙子立刻把目光移开,我的目光也一下子瞥向了地面,再也没有看向他。

Time and time again cultural values play a part in whether we trust others, shaping the way we see the world. As a kid, I didn’t speak much and people stared at me – probably wondering why I was so quiet – and I shrank away, frightened. “The gweilos are only good at smooth talking,” dad also always said.

文化价值观一次又一次地影响着我们是否信任他人,影响着我们看待世界的方式。小时候,我不怎么爱说话,别人都盯着我看--可能是想知道我为什么这么安静--我吓得把身子蜷缩了起来。爸爸还常对我说,"那些鬼佬们只擅长花言巧语"。

And so in this diverse world, sometimes stereotypical perceptions get in the way of trust. In Australia, there is a lack of interpersonal trust between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Sometimes the “Us and Them” dichotomy stands between us of different heritage, sometimes racism. Or perhaps some of us are afraid of offending another culture or getting judged for our culture; we’d much rather keep to ourselves.

因此,在这个多元化的世界里,有时陈旧的观念会阻碍人们信任别人。在澳大利亚,土著和非土著澳大利亚人之间缺乏信任。"我们和他们"的二分法横亘在不同文化背景的我们之间,有时甚至达到了种族主义的程度。当然,有时也有可能是我们中的一些人害怕冒犯了别人的文化或害怕自己的文化受到别人的评判,我们更愿意保持我行我素。

At times whether we trust strangers depends on our personalities, not so much our background. We might simply be outgoing and others might gravitate towards that, and we in turn trust them. Or we might simply be shy and rather be alone.

有时候,我们是否愿意信任陌生人还可能取决于我们的个性,而不是我们的文化背景。有的人可能性格很外向,其他人可能会被其吸引,而他反过来也会信任他们。但有的人可能很害羞,宁愿自己一个人待着。

Whether we trust also depends on context. When we have things in common and click through mutual understanding. When one or the other is chatty, there’ll probably be light-hearted conversation to break the ice – little by little each of us opens up about ourselves and connect. In short, we trust when we’re comfortable around each other.

我们是否愿意信任陌生人也取决于环境。当我们有共同语言并通过相互理解而相处融洽时,当其中一人很健谈并能找到轻松愉快的话题来打破僵局时,我们彼此都会一点一点地敞开心扉,并试图建立联系。简而言之,当我们在彼此身边感到舒适时,我们就会信任对方。

When we trust someone new, we’re vulnerable. On one hand, you can’t really be sure if they have good intentions. On the other, going along with their word we might go on a new adventure, start a new chapter with them. That’s why we trust. To build bridges, build relationships from a single moment of faith. And perhaps we trust to earn trust back in return being the social creatures that we all are.

当我们选择信任一个以前不认识的人时,这有时会显得很莽撞,因为你还根本无法确定他们接近你是否出于好意。而相反,如果你选择尝试和他们相处下去,你也有可能会开始新的冒险,和他们一起开启新的篇章。这就是我们要信任别人的原因。搭建桥梁,建立关系,信任别人,我们相信我们可以赢得别人的信任作为回报,因为我们都是社会性生物。

When we trust someone, we take our chances. It’s a leap of faith. And a moment where we don’t wonder “what if”.

当我们信任别人时,我们就抓住了机会。这是一次信仰的飞跃。在这一刻,我们不再怀疑“如果……会怎样”。

Do you trust people you just met? Are you a people person?

你会信任刚认识的人吗?你是一个善于交际的人吗?