To be seen and not heard 乖乖聽話，少出聲

今日短語

“To be seen and not heard” 這個短語源自英國維多利亞時期的一句老話 “Children should be seen and not heard.” 它的字面意思是 “孩子要被看見，而不被聽見”，實際用來督促孩子們在大人面前應該保持安靜，行為端正。

“To be seen and not heard” 是被動語態，因為強調的重點對象是 “children（孩子）” 或與小孩處境相同的大人。根據上下文，這個短語也可以用來提醒大人 “不要多嘴”。

例句

My mother was very strict when we were little. She thought that my brother and I should be seen and not heard whenever our parents had guests.
我們小的時候，我母親非常嚴格。她認為隻要傢裡有客人，我和弟弟就應該保持安靜，不吵鬧。

Attitudes to parenting have really changed in recent years. In our grandparents’ time, children were expected to be seen and not heard.
近年來，人們對養育子女的態度確實發生瞭變化。在我們祖父母的年代，人們希望看到孩子們不多說話，行為舉止端莊得體。

Our boss doesn’t really want to hear what we think about his ideas. In meetings, he would rather we were seen and not heard.
我們的老板並不想聽我們對他的想法有什麼看法。開會時，他更希望我們能安靜點，不要多嘴。