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Funny Man Jon Stewart Named Winner of Mark Twain Prize for Humor

American television star and political commentator¹ Jon Stewart has been named winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The award is presented by the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It honors people who have influenced others in the field of the performing arts.

Stewart, whose birth name is Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, is 59 years old. He rose to fame as a standup comedian² and host of several talk shows. His popularity grew most after he joined The Daily Show in 1999. He hosted the satirical news program for 16 years on the Comedy Central television channel. Through exploration and sharply funny criticism of politics and culture, Stewart came to influence what many people thought about some issues in the United States.

In 2004, Stewart gained wide attention for an appearance on a CNN political debate show called Crossfire³. The comedian said the hosts of the show, a conservative and a liberal, did not provide honest, productive arguments. He told the two men that they had a "responsibility to the public discourse⁴" and were failing at it.

"You're doing theater when you should be doing debate," said Stewart in an openly hostile exchange with one host. "What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan⁵ hackery⁶."

Stewart's appearance made him even more popular with the public than before. Crossfire was cancelled three months later.

Since retiring from The Daily Show in 2015, Stewart has become a supporter of several social causes. He is active in efforts to get better health care for emergency workers in New York City who responded to the 9-11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

More recently, he returned to television as host of The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+.

"For me, tuning⁷ into his television programs over the years has always been equal parts entertainment and truth," Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said in a statement. He "demonstrates that we all can make a difference in this world through humor, humanity, and patriotism," she added.

Stewart will be presented with the award during a ceremony on April 24. The event will include speeches from other comedians⁸ and surprise guests.

Words in This Story

comedian –n. a person who performs in front of other people to make them laugh by telling jokes and acting⁹ in a funny way

host –n. a person who talks to guests on a television or radio show

satirical –adj. relating to a form of humor that is meant to show that someone or something is fooling, weak or bad

discourse –n. the use of words to exchange thoughts and ideas

partisan –adj. a person who strongly support a group, leader or cause

hackery –n. the activity of producing a large amount of something that is not of good quality mainly to make money

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

4 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

5 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

6 hackery   

n.两轮牛车

参考例句：

7 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。