Spoke volumes? 胜过千言万语

Reader question:

Please explain this sentence, “spoke volumes” in particular: “But the numbers of patients spoke volumes about the urgent need for action.”

My comments:

To take action or not to take action?

Yes, you get it, the speaker advocates for action, because the need for action is great and urgent.

“Volumes” suggests that the need is great, large in quantity.

That’s what “volume” means, a large number or amount of something. For example, when we talk about a volume, we often refer to a thick book with a large number of sheets or pages.

In our example, to paraphrase, if you ask the question whether some urgent action is needed, all you need to do is look at the numbers of patients currently waiting for treatment.

Obviously, the numbers of patients are large. And the sooner they get treatment, the better. Hence, the urgent need for action is great (The number of patients spoke volumes).

In sum and in short, if something speaks volumes, it says, tells, explains, reveals a lot, even though what is said, told, explained, revealed is often not specified (because the answer is readily inferable).

Here are a few media examples:

1. In case you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below are portions of a statement published in The Des Moines Register by Rob Tibbetts, father of Mollie Tibbetts, in response to some politicians’ attempts to exploit her death to promote their own racist policies.

Mollie Tibbetts, as you undoubtedly know, is the 20-year-old Iowa college student who was tragically and senselessly murdered last July. Her accused murderer is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. That Mr. Tibbetts could compose and issue such a statement in view of his tremendous loss, speaks volumes to the outstanding character of the man. We could all learn from him.

“The Hispanic community are Iowans. They have the same values as Iowans. The person who is accused of taking Mollie’s life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people. To suggest otherwise is a lie. To the Hispanic community, my family stands with you and offers its heartfelt apology. That you’ve been beset by the circumstances of Mollie’s death is wrong. We treasure the contribution you bring to the American tapestry in all its color and melody. And yes, we love your food.

“Given that, to knowingly foment discord among races is a disgrace to our flag. It incites fear in innocent communities and lends legitimacy to the darkest, most hate-filled corners of the American soul. It is the opposite of leadership. It is the opposite of humanity. It is heartless. It is despicable. It is shameful.

“Instead, let’s turn against racism in all its ugly manifestations both subtle and overt. Let’s turn toward each other with all the compassion we gave Mollie. Let’s listen, not shout. Let’s build bridges, not walls. Let’s celebrate our diversity rather than argue over our differences. I can tell you, when you’ve lost your best friend, differences are petty and meaningless.

“We can get our country back, but we have to call out the bully on the playground once and for all.”

Mr. President, you would do well to read this and heed Mr. Tibbetts’ wisdom. Then we can truly make America great again.

- Tibbetts’ father speaks volumes, BillingsGazette.com, October 5, 2018.

2. The story of Grace Millane – the backpacker murdered in New Zealand – is unspeakably sad, and its terrible denouement came quickly. What began as concern for a missing person swiftly became a murder investigation, and then the process of identifying a body. Details were scant and our focus turned to the sorrowful words of New Zealand’s prime minister. No one demanded an apology from Jacinda Ardern, but she gave one anyway.

“There is this overwhelming sense of hurt and shame that this has happened in our country,” she said, “a place that prides itself on our hospitality.”

I can’t of course speak for the Millane family, for whom this apology was intended. I can’t imagine it really dents their grief. But we all heard it too, and it spoke volumes: it told of Ardern’s personal capacity for compassion and humility, and it confirmed New Zealand as a place that has a sense of collective pride in a culture of hospitality, and a shared despair at a murder that so grievously undermined that tradition.

It’s hard to imagine Britain managing anything comparable. Not that we don’t have strong instincts of responsibility. I saw that, in a different context, in 2015, when I travelled around the UK speaking to people who wanted to offer their time, resources and front rooms to Syrian and other refugees. And when, last month, a 15-year-old Syrian refugee was savagely bullied in Huddersfield, there again was that sense of communal horror – and an outpouring of sympathy and anger that led to more than £150,000 being raised to help his family.

We have, like all countries with Abrahamic religious traditions – and in fact all other world faiths – a strong moral code to look after strangers. In England, we have had well-codified Anglo-Saxon cultural and legal rules regarding hospitality and responsibility from at least the sixth century. But we seem to have either become used to the idea that newcomers are not necessarily expected to be safe in Britain, or felt no responsibility when appalling events have taken place. Take the awful case of Kamil Ahmad, a vulnerable Kurdish man who was seeking asylum in Bristol. Ahmad was ignored by the police, then murdered by a violent racist neighbour. It took multiple investigations and official reports before any of the organisations concerned offered an apology. Nothing was heard from our political leaders.

- Jacinda Ardern’s heartfelt apology spoke volumes about compassion, by Afua Hirsch, TheGuardian.com, December 12, 2018.

3. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then some well-crafted silent facial expressions should easily be worth a 95-minute play, right?

I don’t know if that was the calculus playwright Bess Wohl had in mind when writing “Small Mouth Sounds.” I do know that the 2016 script, now on stage at the Jungle Theater, is slyly funny, heartfelt and eminently watchable.

That last descriptor sounds like faint praise, I know. But “Small Mouth Sounds” is a play that especially rewards your powers of observation. The action is set at a bucolic retreat center, where a half-dozen disparate individuals have gathered for a silent encounter under the tutelage of a famous (but nameless and sort of hapless) New Age-y instructor.

The script — which uses words sparingly — feeds us enough morsels of information that we think we know these people. Joan (Christina Baldwin) and Judy (Faye Price) are a middle-aged couple trying to reinvigorate their relationship. Jan (Jim Lichtscheidl) is a guy who found this spiritual path later in life, and so is an especially studious disciple.

Of the younger retreatants, Rodney (Eric Sharp) is a yogi looking to buff up his already finely tuned …er … enlightenment. Ned (Michael Curran-Dorsano) is one of those socially awkward, hard-trying dudes who can’t quite seem to get things right. And Alicia (Becca Hart) is an angular, iPhone-addicted millennial, not quite as confident as her scrupulously accessorized presence would suggest.

Director Lauren Keating takes a less-is-more approach, giving us plenty of time to form opinions about these characters as the never-seen teacher (Jay Owen Eisenberg, in a pricelessly affected vocal performance as a wizened, asthmatic crone whose biorhythms have clearly hit a triple-low) drones on.

It’s a real delight to watch this company convey character: As they sit in green folding chairs at the beginning of the retreat, Baldwin presents as an earnest earth-mother, wearing her emotions on her sleeve. Price carries herself with the I’m-trying-not-to-roll-my-eyes patience of the partner dragged along. Sharp is engaged in his own silent monologue with the barest of self-important smirks. Curran-Dorsano imparts the quiet desperation of someone trying to remember where he left his keys. Lichtscheidl is intent, trying not to nod off. And Hart’s brain is clearly stuck between the text she just received and the one she absolutely must send.

There’s more, of course, to all of these character’s stories; complications and crises large and small that are gradually revealed up until the very last line of the play. The quietly confident meld of playwright, performers and director doesn’t answer all of our questions. Rather, it asks us to revisit our assumptions about who these characters are, where they’re going and what they want.

That demands some work on the part of the audience, but “Small Mouth Sounds” makes the labor light. It’s a play so knowledgeable and so lovingly forgiving of the human condition that it can speak volumes while saying very little.

- Review: ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ at Jungle Theater speaks volumes while saying little, by Dominic P. Papatola, TwinCities.com, May 18, 2019.

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣 编辑：丹妮）