2017适合平民玩的网游:英美幽默大不同

除了拼写不同外的英美幽默大不同

It’s often dangerous to generalize, but under threat, I would say that Americans are more “down the line.” They don’t hide their hopes and fears. They applaud ambition and openly reward success. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog.We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it. Americans say, “have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because we don’t want to sound insincere but I think it might be for the opposite reason. We don’t want to celebrate anything too soon. Failure and disappointment lurk around every corner. This is due to our upbringing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, “it won’t happen for you.”

要概括英美幽默有什么不同是很危险的事情，但是冒着生命危险我还是要说美国人更直白。他们不会隐藏他们的希冀与恐惧。它们对雄心壮志和成功会大加赞赏。而我们英国人则对生活中的失意者更有好感。我们会安慰他们直到他们不再悲伤。我们会只为取乐而扳倒权威。美国人不论真心与否都会对你说“祝你今天愉快”。我们则害怕说这个。因为我们不想被认为假惺惺，但原因也许正好相反。我们不想过早庆祝什么，因为失败或不幸随时可能降临。这跟我们受的教育有关。美国人一出生就被灌输他们会成为下一届总统的思想。英国人则被告知“你没那么好命”

There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don’t use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don’t use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out.

英国人普遍认为美国人不懂反讽。事实并非如此，不过美国人确实很少用反讽。他们会在喜剧中用些，但也不像英国人平日用的那样多。我们每天用反讽就和用介词一样频繁。我们拿它戏弄朋友。对于我们来说，反讽既是自我保护的屏障也是攻击别人的利器。不在必要时刻我们都尽量掩藏真诚。不论对喜欢还是不喜欢的人，我们都无情地嘲笑。重要的是，有时甚至对自己也如此。我们的无礼和吹嘘都充满了自嘲。它就像是我们的标志。

This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t. You just have to know which one it is.

有时候，要是说话的对象不习惯反讽，说话者会被认为很恶毒。但其实不是这样，这只是打闹的方式。它就是我们喜欢你对你友好的标志，但要是不喜欢你我们就自我爆发。你就需要判断到底是哪一种。

I guess the biggest difference between the U.S. version and the U.K. version of The Office reflected this. We had to make Michael Scott a slightly nicer guy, with a rosier outlook to life. He could still be childish, and insecure, and even a bore, but he couldn’t be too mean. The irony is of course that I think David Brent’s dark descension and eventual redemption made him all the more compelling. But I think that’s a lot more palatable in Britain for the reasons already stated. Brits almost expect doom and gloom so to start off that way but then have a happy ending is an unexpected joy. Network America has to give people a reason to like you not just a reason to watch you. In Britain we stop watching things like Big Brother when the villain is evicted. We don’t want to watch a bunch of idiots having a good time. We want them to be as miserable as us. America rewards up front, on-your-sleeve niceness. A perceived wicked streak is somewhat frowned upon.

我想最大的不同正好体现在了美国版和英国版的《爆笑办公室》里。我们把迈克尔·斯科特塑造成一个有美好前途的有为青年。他很孩子气，没有安全感甚至有些无趣，但是他又不是很恶毒。讽刺的是，大卫·布兰特的堕落和最后的回头是岸使他更加吸引观众眼球。根据以上理由我认为英国版的更有意思。英国版以凄惨和悲情开头，但结局却是意想不到的大团圆。美国广播网让你不单单娱乐大众，它让人真心喜欢你。而在英国，当恶棍被驱尽的时候，我们就不再看《老大哥》了。我们不想看一群傻瓜过着美好的日子。我们希望他们和我们一样悲惨。美国人喜欢呈现美好的事物，对邪恶的事物则十分厌恶。

Recently I have been accused of being a shock comic, and cruel and cynical. This is of course almost solely due to a few comments I made as host of this years Golden Globes. But nothing could be further from the truth.

最近我被控诉成一个残忍，愤世嫉俗的喜剧演员。这只是我在主持金球奖时的几句发言引起的。不过这已经够离谱了。

I never actively try to offend. That’s churlish, pointless and frankly too easy. But I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. That way you’ll never have to apologize. I hate it when a comedian says, “Sorry for what I said.” You shouldn’t say it if you didn’t mean it and you should never regret anything you meant to do. As a comedian, I think my job isn’t just to make people laugh but also make them think. As a famous comedian, I also want a strict door policy on my club. Not everyone will like what I say or find it funny. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are enough comedians who try to please everyone as it is. Good luck to them, but that’s not my game, I’m afraid.

我并非有意冒犯。因为这样是无礼，无意义的，而且也太简单了。不过我想你懂我什么意思。说实话，任何人都不应该被冒犯。这样你就永远不用道歉。我讨厌听到喜剧演员说“抱歉刚说了那些话”既然你不是那个意思就不要说出来，要是你就是那个意思就不要后悔说出来。作为一个喜剧演员，我希望我的工作不仅引人发笑，也能让他们思考。作为一个著名喜剧演员，我的俱乐部有严格的入门制度。不可能所有人都喜欢我说的话或者觉得很有意思。我也不会因此就换一种方式。有很多喜剧演员都试图讨好所有人。我只能祝他们好运，因为我跟他们不是一路人。

I’m not one of those people who think that comedy is your conscience taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off and I can justify everything I do. There’s no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There’s nothing that you should never joke about, but it depends what that joke is. Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn’t necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt, for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject, the angst and discomfort of the audience is what’s under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged. I don’t like racist jokes. Not because they are offensive. I don’t like them because they’re not funny. And they’re not funny because they’re not true. They are almost always based on a falsehood somewhere along the way, which ruins the gag for me. Comedy is an intellectual pursuit. Not a platform.

我并不赞同大多数人的想法，即喜剧中无需良知。我的良知从来不休息，并且我对所每一件事都黑白分明。喜剧里不会强调有哪些事物你不能拿来开玩笑，不过这取决于笑话本身。消化的来源不分好坏。笑话的主题并不是笑话的关键。你可以在没有种族歧视的时候拿种族开玩笑。种族主义本身就是一种底线。例如，在讲一个所谓的禁忌话题的时候，听众的焦虑与不安是被放大的。我们的偏见是受到挑战的。我不喜欢种族主义的笑话，不是因为他们冒犯了什么，而是因为那一点也不好笑。不好笑是因为那些都是不真实的。它们是根据一些谎言编造的，而我认为这破坏了笑话的意义。喜剧是对知识的探索，而非一个展示虚假的平台。

As for cynicism, I don’t care for it much. I’m a romantic. From The Office, and Extras to The Invention Of Lying and Cemetery Junction, goodness and sweetness, honour and truth, love and friendship always triumph.

对于那些愤世嫉俗的，我就更不在意了。我是个浪漫主义者，从《爆笑办公室》，《谎言的诞生》到《友情十字路口》，其中美好与友善，诚实与真实，爱情和友情永远是最后赢家。

For me, humanity is king.

依我之见，人性才是王道

Oh and for the record I’d rather a waiter say, “Have a nice day” and not mean it, than ignore me and mean it.

对了，我宁愿服务生违心地对我说“祝你今天过得愉快”，而不是打从心底地忽视我

Gervais is a comedian, actor and producer. The views expressed are his own.

格维斯是个喜剧演员，演员兼制片人。以上仅代表他个人观点