早安英文 第92期:美国人对于喜剧的定义

 crosstalk n. 相声

variety show n. 综艺节目

genre¹ n. 流派

by far 迄今为止

butt² of the joke 笑柄

tongue in cheek 轻松搞笑的

pat down 轻轻拍打

stamp v. 跺脚

Bugs³ Bunny 兔八哥

In China, when people talk about comedy, they think of shows like crosstalk or some other variety show. What is comedy in the United States？

在中国，当人们谈到喜剧的时，大多都会想到相声或者其他的综艺节目。那么在美国，喜剧又是什么呢？

Of all the different genres⁴ of entertainment, Comedy is by far the most subjective⁵.

目前为止，喜剧是所有娱乐节目中最具有主观性的。

It’s hard to get people to laugh because everyone thinks of funny as something different.

很难找到观众的笑点，因为每个人的笑点都不一样。

What is it about comedy that draws people to the theatre?

为什么人们愿意花钱去剧院看一场喜剧？

Going to see a comedy, especially a tongue in cheek one, gives us a chance to laugh at things that may not be socially acceptable to laugh at.

去剧院看一场喜剧，特别是那些无厘头的剧，为我们创造了一个释放自己天性的机会——我们可以不要在乎世俗的眼光，开心地笑一笑就好。，当真？

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

5 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。