新奇事件簿 科学家称男性比女性更风趣

Men are naturally funnier than women. This is the claim of a UK male professor, Sam Shuster. He conducted research on 400 different people as he unicycled around his town. He observed the reaction of onlookers¹ and discovered that men made more jokes about him than women, and that men’s jokes were more aggressive. He said three-quarters of male “jokers” mocked him and made nasty comments, while most women tended to tease him with a smile. He said: "The difference between the men and women was absolutely remarkable² and consistent." Professor Shuster believes the male hormone³ testosterone is the cause of men being funnier. He found that teenage boys were aggressive in their humor and this aggression⁴ changed with older men into a funnier form of joking.

男人天生比女人更风趣。这是英国男教授Sam Shuster的说法。他在小镇上骑单轮脚踏车时调查了400个人。他观察了旁观者的反应，发现男人跟他开的玩笑比女人更多，男人的玩笑更有侵略性。他说，四分之三的开玩笑的男人会嘲弄他，做出令人讨厌的评论，而大部分女人更倾向于微笑来取笑他。他说：“男人和女人之间的差别非常显著，非常一致。”Shuster教授相信，男性荷尔蒙睾丸素是让男人更风趣的原因。他发现，少男在幽默感方面更有侵略性，而随着年长，他们的侵略性变成更风趣的笑话形式。

Earlier research suggests women and men use humour differently. One study said women tend to tell fewer jokes than men and male comedians⁶ outnumber female ones. Another showed men look more for a punchline⁷. Men also use people they know as the subject of their jokes, often in a negative way. Married men seem to like hearing and making jokes about mothers-in-law. British comedian⁵ John Moloney disagreed with Professor Shuster’s findings. He said that in his 21-year career in comedy, he had never noticed that men were funnier than women. He stated: "The difference is that if a group of women were together and the conversation lulls⁸, they don't automatically start telling jokes, which men do. It then becomes a bit of a competition, but that doesn't mean to say men are funnier."

早些时候的研究显示，女性和男性的幽默方式有所不同。一项研究表示，女性说的笑话比男人少，男性喜剧演员的数量超过女性喜剧演员。另外一项研究显示，男性更追求笑点。男人更喜欢把他们认识的人作为笑话的主人公，当然通常是以负面的方式。已婚男士更喜欢听和说关于岳母的笑话。英国喜剧演员John Moloney不赞同Shuster教授的发现。他说，在他21年的喜剧生涯中，他从来没有注意到男人比女人更风趣。他表示：“男女之间的不同在于，一些女人聚在一起的时候，如果对话安静下来，他们不会自动开始讲笑话来圆场，而男人会。随后就变得有点像竞赛，但是这并不意味着男人比女人更风趣。”

1 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

4 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

5 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。

6 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

7 punchline   

n.（笑话、故事等的）结尾警语，点睛之笔

参考例句：

• Even then,the magical pause can strengthen the punchline.即使这样，有魔力的停顿依然可以增强笑点。
• A good joke or a mystery novel has along wind up to the final punchline.好的笑话或神秘小说都是一路曲折，直至最后的笑料或真相。

8 lulls   

n.间歇期（lull的复数形式）vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• It puts our children to sleep and lulls us into a calm, dreamlike state. 摇晃能让孩子进入梦乡，也能将我们引人一种平静的、梦幻般的心境。 来自互联网
• There were also comedy acts, impromptu skits, and DJ music to fill the lulls between acts. 也有充满在行为之间的间歇的喜剧行为，即兴之作若干，和DJ音乐。 来自互联网