问责、责任、法律责任
📖 逐句对照翻译
This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Saeed in Iran about words that can express the idea of duty.
本周的《问老师》节目中，我们回答来自伊朗的赛义德提出的问题，关于能够表达责任概念的词汇。
Here is Saeed’s question:
这是赛义德的问题：
Dear teacher,
亲爱的老师，
What is the difference between accountability, responsibility, and liability?
问责、责任和法律责任之间有什么区别？
Especially from the point of view of law.
尤其是从法律的角度来看。
Sincerely, Saeed
诚挚的，赛义德
I’m happy to answer this question, Saeed.
我很高兴回答这个问题，Saeed。
All three of the words you ask about express the idea of duty.
你问到的这三个词都表达了责任的含义。
A duty is what a person must do because it is right and just.
义务是一个人必须做的事情，因为它是正确和公正的。
Let’s begin with the noun “responsibility.”
让我们从名词“责任”开始。
It is the most common word of the three, and we use it in everyday speech.
它是这三个词中最常见的，我们在日常对话中经常使用它。
However, when we talk about responsibility in legal terms, we are more likely to use the noun “duty.”
然而，当我们在法律语境中谈论责任时，我们更倾向于使用名词“义务”。
We often refer to a task when we use the word “responsibility” or its adjective form, “responsible.”
当我们使用“责任”一词或其形容词形式“有责任的”时，通常指的是某项任务。
The following examples show this:
以下示例说明了这一点：
It is a pilot’s responsibility to safely fly the airplane.
安全驾驶飞机是飞行员的责任。
A pilot is responsible for safely flying the airplane.
飞行员负责安全地驾驶飞机。
When we want to say that only one person or subject is responsible for something, we can use the adjective “sole,” spelled s-o-l-e, or the adverb “solely,” as in these examples:
当我们想表示只有一个人或一个主体对某事负责时，可以使用形容词“sole”（拼写为s-o-l-e），或副词“solely”，如下例所示：
Any mistakes are the sole responsibility of the writer.
任何错误均由作者本人负责。
The writer is solely responsible for what he or she posts on social media.
作者对其在社交媒体上发布的内容负全责。
To express the idea that someone should agree to having a duty, we can use the expression “take responsibility for,” as in the following example:
要表达某人应该同意承担某项职责，我们可以使用“take responsibility for”这个表达，如下例所示：
People must take responsibility for their own actions.
人们必须为自己的行为负责。
Accountability and liability
问责与责任
We usually use the noun “accountability” to refer to possible penalties or bad results people may face if they do not do their duty.
我们通常用名词“问责制”来指人们如果未能履行职责可能面临的处罚或不良后果。
To do this, we use the verb “hold” before the adjective “accountable,” as in this example:
为此，我们在形容词“accountable”前使用动词“hold”，如下例所示：
The problem was that no one in the office was held accountable for their actions.
问题在于，办公室里没有人对自己的行为负责。
We often use the noun “accountability” when discussing organizations.
在讨论组织时，我们经常使用名词“问责制”。
For example, if a business has a “system of accountability,” that means the company’s leaders and workers likely face a penalty if they do not carry out their duties.
例如，如果一个企业有一套“问责制度”，那就意味着公司的领导和员工如果没有履行职责，很可能会面临处罚。
“Liability” is the most specific term of the three nouns.
“责任”是这三个名词中最具体的术语。
If someone or some group has legal liability, that means they have a duty that can be judged in a court of law.
如果某人或某个团体负有法律责任，这意味着他们有一项可以在法庭上被裁决的义务。
We use the adjective form, “liable,” to say that a person or group can face legal penalties because they were not as careful as they should have been.
我们用形容词形式“liable”来表示，一个人或团体可能因未尽到应有的谨慎而面临法律处罚。
The following example shows this usage:
以下示例展示了这种用法：
The company was held liable for failure to warn about the danger of its product.
该公司因其产品未能警示危险而被追究责任。
Notice that we use the verb “hold” before the adjective “liable,” just like we do before the adjective “accountable.”
注意，我们在形容词“liable”前使用动词“hold”，就像在形容词“accountable”前一样。
There is also a common use of the noun “liability” in everyday speech that is not linked to legal issues.
名词“liability”在日常用语中还有一种常见用法，与法律问题无关。
We can say that something or someone is “a liability” if they make bad results more likely.
如果某人或某事更可能导致糟糕的结果，我们可以说他们是一个“负担”。
The following example shows this usage:
以下示例展示了这种用法：
That football player is getting old and is too slow.
那个足球运动员年纪大了，速度也太慢了。
He has become a liability for the team.
他已成为球队的负担。
For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
对于我们的读者和听众，你们对美国英语有什么疑问吗？
We want to hear from you!
我们期待您的来信！
Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
请发送电子邮件至learningenglish@voanews.com。
And please let us know where you are from, too.
也请告诉我们你来自哪里。
And that’s Ask a Teacher.
以上就是“问老师”栏目的全部内容。
I’m Andrew Smith.
我是安德鲁·史密斯。
Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.
安德鲁·史密斯为VOA英语学习频道撰写了这节课。
