美国人的幽默

   美国人的幽默

Americans have a strong sense of humor.

       美国人是很幽默的。

　　Because everyone has ancestors, family and friends of every possible race, color, creed¹ and national origin, and because sensitivity to such differences has reached unprecedented² tenderness in recent years, it is considered rude to tell a joke that perpetuates³ an ethnic⁴, social, religious, sexual, or racial stereotype⁵. Nevertheless that still leaves plenty of material for humor, such as occupation, political persuasion⁶, or region of origin. For example: 

　　由于各人的祖先，家庭和朋友都有各自不同的种族，肤色，宗教信仰和民族渊源，又由于人们对这种不同之处的敏感在近几年来已经达到空前微妙的地步，因此，讲带有民族，社会，宗教，性或种族类别的笑话就被认为是很不礼貌的事。尽管如此，能构成幽默的素材仍然不少，如职业，政治信仰或出身地等。例如：

　　A Texan was boasting to an Arkansan about his ranch⁷. "Why, my ranch is so big," he said, "that if I start out in my truck in the morning to drive around it, it’s night by the time I get home." The Arkansan nodded understandingly and said, "Yep. I had a truck like that once." 

　　 有一个得克萨斯人对一个阿肯色人吹嘘自己的牧场。“嗨，我的牧场可大了，”他说，“要是我早上开着卡车出门饶它走一圈，回到家时就是夜晚了。”那阿肯色人点了点头，满理解的样子，说，“是啊，我有过一辆卡车也是那么大。”

　　The only group detested⁸ enough to be a suitable butt⁹ for barbed humor is lawyers. Lawyers are unpopular because they’re only consulted in times of distress¹⁰. Any lawyer joke is sure to draw a laugh. 

    唯一的一帮不讨人喜欢而适宜当讽刺幽默靶子的人是律师。律师之所以不得人心是因为人们只是在烦恼的时候才去找他们。任何有关律师的笑话肯定是引人发笑的。

　 "Did you hear that medical laboratories have started using lawyers instead of white rats? There are more of them and there are some things even a laboratory rat just won’t do." 

　　 你听说了吗？医学实验室已经不用白鼠而开始用律师了。律师比白鼠多。而有些事就是实验室的老鼠也做不了的。

　　Politicians are also fair game, but since approximately two-thirds of the nation’s congressional representatives are law school graduates, such jokes are really just a subset of the ’lawyer’ canon. 

　　 政治人物也是被讽刺的对象，不过既然约三分之二的国会议员都是法学院的毕业生，这些笑话也就是“律师全集”中的“分册”而已了。

1 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 perpetuates   

n.使永存，使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 )；使永久化，使持久化，使持续

参考例句：

• Giving these events a lot of media coverage merely perpetuates the problem. 媒体大量地报道这些事件只会使问题持续下去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Lack of water perpetuates poverty, increases the risk of political instability, and affects global prosperity. 水资源短缺导致贫穷，使政局不稳，且影响全球的繁荣。 来自互联网

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

6 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。

7 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

8 detested   

v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They detested each other on sight. 他们互相看着就不顺眼。
• The freethinker hated the formalist; the lover of liberty detested the disciplinarian. 自由思想者总是不喜欢拘泥形式者，爱好自由者总是憎恶清规戒律者。 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。