When World War II was drawing to a close, a historically important document (i.e. the Potsdam Proclamation) was signed to urge Japan to accept an unconditional surrender. In the following press interview, the prime minister of Japan declared that his government would take a mokusatsu (黙殺) policy to this statement. Mokusatsu can be used in Japanese to express either “make no comment” or “ignore”. The choice of one meaning over another depends much on one’s understanding of the situation in question. When translating the word into English, western interpreters at the interview chose the latter meaning. The strong attitude suggested by the policy led the American Government to make a awful decision--- dropping two atomic bombs in Japan and killing numerous innocent citizens. Recalling the miserable event, some critics believe that it is cross-cultrual miscommunication that led to this disaster.
大意就是说，二战临近结束时，由反法西斯国家签署的《波兹坦公告》催促日本无条件投降。但日本首相宣布该政府将mokusatsu (黙殺)公告。这个这一日语单词翻译为中文是“不听，不理”，翻译成英文有“make no comment（不予置评）” 和 “ignore（忽视，忽略）”两种译法，但它们语体色彩完全不同。结果由于西方翻译者选择了后者（大家也知道美国是比较自以为是的国家），导致了最终原子弹的爆发。。。
