Many people can roll their eyes, but adolescent girls have practically monopolized the ocular gesture as a form of communication. Adults on the receiving end of an eye roll are often offended, and sometimes that’s just what the girl had in mind. But frequently, it’s not. Eye-rolling serves a variety of purposes, and the meanings behind the mannerism tell us a lot about what it’s like to be a teenager.
翻白眼誰不會？然而女孩子們才是翻白眼的主力 – 實際上，她們壟斷了使用這種視覺姿態（表情包）的能力。她們一翻白眼，你就感覺被冒犯了 – 哈哈，光用眼神殺死你，這就是她們想要的。不過情況也不盡然。翻白眼背後還有很多微妙之處，待被挖掘。
Adolescents usually hate being told what to do, and will reflexively resist even suggestions with which they agree. Imagine a girl who is planning to put on her warmest coat when her well-meaning mother urges her to bundle up. If the teenager is developing normally, not a cell in her body is inclined to respond with a sincere, 「Great idea, Mom! I was just thinking the same thing.」 (And her mom might be stunned, or at least wonder what her daughter was up to, if she did.) But the girl still wants to be warm. Enter the eye roll! One spin around the socket while donning the coat and the girl advertises her resistance while doing as she intended all along.
青少年通常都討厭別人告訴他們該做什麼，就算是他們心裡頭同意，也會表現出一種消極抗拒或者無動於衷的姿態。想像一下，一個女孩子本來就打算穿上她最暖和的大衣出門，不識趣的媽媽開始「和善而堅定」的督促女兒快一點穿上 – 我敢打賭，只要是個正常發育的青少年，全身沒有一個細胞不會充滿抗拒。但是也不能為了跟媽媽對著幹就不穿自己最暖和的大衣啊 – 這時候，通過一個緩緩向上翻的白眼 – 女孩子既微妙的展示了自己的消極抗拒，又繼續做了自己本來就想做的事情。簡而言之，我不鳥你，我本來就要這麼做。
Given that the drive for autonomy is a central force during adolescence, taking orders can be especially annoying for teenagers. So how should a girl respond when her parents say she can’t go out for the evening until she unloads the dishwasher? She may see no point in fighting back, but still feel compelled to broadcast her objection. Again, ophthalmic calisthenics offer a useful solution. By rolling her eyes while putting away the plates, the girl establishes that she’s an independent state electing to yield, for now, to the regional power.
青少年熱衷於顯示自己對事物的主導權，接受成年人的命令簡直令他們難以忍受。那麼，如果父母對女兒說，你要是不把洗碗機裡的碗碟收拾好，就不能出去玩的時候，女兒內心顯然是崩潰的。然而，她清醒的認識到反抗毫無意義，但她又不願就此臣服- 怎樣才能展示自己內心的咆哮呢？這時候，眼部健美操就粉墨登場了！一邊收拾洗碗機，一邊翻個大白眼，女孩子通過這種方式宣告自己是個獨立的自治州，只不過暫時臣服於大國的淫威之下。
At other times, girls roll their eyes when adults poke at a sore spot. A teenager hurting over a fight with a friend might shoot a skyward look when a parent asks gently, 「How’s Julia? She hasn’t come over for a while?」 What seems to be a rude brush-off might actually be the girl’s valiant attempt to hold herself together. Teens can be easily overwhelmed by their own feelings, and they’re often ambivalent about leaning on parents for support. A girl might decide that irritating her dad with an eye roll beats dissolving into tears in his presence.
一個女孩子可能和她的朋友吵架了。這時候父母親可能會問起，「茱莉亞最近怎麼樣？好一陣子沒見她過來了啊。」回答家長的是個粗魯無禮的衛生球。家長可能感到受了冒犯- 啊，其實不是這樣的，這其實可能只是女孩子強忍眼淚，用不屑來表達自己堅強的一種方式。其實，青少年情感豐富又很脆弱，很容易被自己的情緒所淹沒，他們對於自己常常需要依賴父母的支持而感到羞愧和矛盾。一個女孩可能會認為，如果非要直視父親的話，眼淚會不受控制，傾巢而出。
Girls also use eye-rolling to communicate that an adult has crossed a line. If parents hold irrational expectations, make arbitrary rules, or recruit shame when ordinary anger would do, girls sometimes stick up for themselves by rolling their eyes. Teens who appear to be disrespectful rarely spur adults toward self-reflection, but eye-rolling may be the best defense a teenager can muster in a heated moment. When girls in my practice tell me about their fights at home, I’m often moved by how carefully they weigh the decision to sacrifice something in their relationship with their parent so as not to sacrifice something in themselves.
女孩們還經常會用向成年人翻白眼來表示，嗨！你已經讓我忍無可忍了。當父母對孩子有不合理的期望，或者任意制定規則，或者為了一點小事就大發雷霆的時候，女孩子用一個緩緩的白眼來表達自我防守。但實際上這種微妙的不尊重父母的行為很少會激起成年人的真正反思，取而代之的是父母的怒火被一扇三尺高。但翻白眼通常是青少年在這種激烈對抗時分能獲得的最佳防守。他們是多麼謹慎的衡量著利弊，在和父母的關係裡犧牲一點東西，以免犧牲自己的某些東西。
Of course, girls occasionally use eye-rolling as an immature act of aggression. They attack one another and adults with the dismissive, demeaning gesture and can provoke reasonable people into retaliatory responses. When eye-rolling is clearly meant as an insult, parents can try to raise the relational bar by saying, 「That’s rude. I’m trusting you』ll soon find a more mature way to let me know what you’re thinking,」 or something along those lines. But more often than not, teenage eye-rolling serves as an efficient solution to the typical challenges posed by adolescence. And it presents adults with a choice: We can take the behavior personally, or we can try to see things from their perspective.
當然，翻白眼是一種很不成熟的挑釁行為。他們以輕蔑，貶低的姿態來攻擊對方，這通常就是有意想要激起對方的怒火。我就是要冒犯你？你有能怎麼樣？當翻白眼很明確的是一種挑釁時，父母親可以試著這樣說，這樣很粗魯，我相信你很快就能找到一種更成熟的方式，讓我知道你在想什麼。
總而言之，翻白眼，是青少年一種獨特的生存之道。我們可以試著從他們的角度來理解這個世界。
其實，我們成年人，也是會翻白眼的...