林丹出大事了，于是吃瓜群众们又开心了！

Busybodies should get a life

吃瓜群众要是没什么事情的话，就去找点事情做吧。

So everybody's been talking about Lin Dan's affair, and it seems like everybody has an opinion.

最近每个人都在谈论林丹出轨的事情，似乎每个人都很有见地。

A similar thing happened here in New Zealand. One of our heroes, Aaron Smith, (a member of the best team in the world, the All Blacks) had an "encounter" with a woman in a public toilet, which was recorded by a couple. The witnesses then sent the recording to the media, and the story was all over the internet.

类似的事情在新西兰也有。 亚伦·史密斯是我们的“爱豆（偶像）”（世界上最好橄榄球球队，全黑队的成员）前不久，他被爆出与一个女人在一个公共卫生间做让人羞羞的事情，这一行迹被一对夫妇记录下来了之后，被公诸于众，于是故事传遍了整个互联网。

The witness said that sports stars are treated like royalty and held in very high regard, so they should be subject to a higher standard of scrutiny.

目击者说，“体育明星们受到全民爱戴，因此他们应该受到更高的审查标准。”

A lot of New Zealanders were angry, not at Smith, but at the witnesses! In fact, the husband later apologised to Smith for all the trouble he caused, but the wife didn't say anything.

很多新西兰人很生气，不是在生史密斯的气，而是因为这对夫妇目击者，他们干涉了别人的隐私！ 事实上，目击者丈夫后来为他们所造成的所有麻烦，向史密斯道歉。他妻子对这件事情只字未提。

The witness also told media that he was glad their identities were private, because so many people on social media had criticised them for interfering in someone else's business.

目击证人也告诉媒体，他很庆幸他们的身份未被公开，因为社交媒体上有那么多人批评他们干涉了别人私事。

This is an interesting cultural difference. New Zealand used to be a very conservative country, but now is a very open country. The prevailing philosophy seems to be "live and let live".

这是一个有趣的文化差异现象。新西兰过去是一个非常保守的国家，但现在是一个非常开放的国家。普遍的哲学似乎是“活着，生活”。

Meanwhile in China, Confucianism is still the underlying thinking around family and relationships. So, people have a lot of opinions to share, even if they don't know Lin Dan or his situation at all. Everyone has an opinion; everyone's an expert.

同时在中国，儒家思想仍然是家庭和亲密关系的基本思想。所以，人们借此机会有很多意见要分享，即使他们不认识林丹和他的情况。人人都要发表意见，人人都是专家。

There is something crazy that happens to society when a person becomes famous. Maybe it's our mix of jealousy and admiration that makes us treat famous people with a special kind of cruelty.

当一个人变得有名的时候，社会上会发生一些疯狂的事情。也许是我们嫉妒心和崇拜的小情怀作祟，使我们用更加严格的标准看待我们的“爱豆”。

We adore them when they're good; we punish them hard when they are bad. There is no neutral ground: you are either God or the devil. And yet, the truth is, we are all human.

他们一本正经的时候，我们喜欢他们;当他们犯错误时，我们会用高标准、严要求去对待他们。没有中立面，非常绝对，不是天使就是魔鬼。然而，事实上，我们都是普罗大众。

Surely we have room in our hearts for a little compassion. But maybe that would let us see our own imperfections, and that's the reason we have celebrities - so we don't have to look at our own imperfections.

当然，在我们的心里也有一点同情的空间。于是这也会暴露我们自己的缺陷。所以说我们还是需要名人 -这样我们就不必审视自己的缺陷了呀。

What do you think? Am I making excuses for Lin Dan? Or am I making a good socio-cultural commentary?

你有什么感想？我是在为林丹找借口吗？还是我做了一个很好的社会文化评论？