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幽默是一切智慧光芒，照耀在古今哲人的靈性中間。凡有幽默的素養(yǎng)者，都是聰敏穎悟的。他們會(huì)用幽默手腕解決一切疑難問題，并把每一種事態(tài)安排到從容不迫，恰到好處!

本期《英文觀止》欄目將帶大家感受幽默之于民族文化的重要性。

賞析批注

Humor is a state of mind. More than that, it is a point of view, a way of looking at life. The flower of humor blooms whenever in the course of development of a nation there is an exuberance of intellect able to flay its own ideals, for humor is nothing but intellect slashing at itself. In any period of history, when mankind was able to perceive its own futility, its own smallness, and its own follies and inconsistencies, a humorist appeared, like Chuangtse of China, Omar Khayyam of Persia, and Aristophanes of Greece. Athens would be infinitely poorer had there been no Aristophanes, and the Chinese intellectual heritage would be infinitely less rich had there been no Chuangtse.

1

Humor is a state of mind. More than that, it is a point of view, a way of looking at life.

humor，指“幽默；幽默感；幽默的話”，e.g. He showed flashes of humor that delighted the audience.

句子分析：作者用“humor is a state of mind, a point of view, a way of...”這樣一個(gè)句子來定義humor，深層次地剖析了humor在人的一生中扮演著重要的角色。簡(jiǎn)明扼要，總領(lǐng)下文。

本句譯為：幽默是心境之一狀態(tài)，更進(jìn)一步，即為一種人生觀的觀點(diǎn)，一種應(yīng)對(duì)人生的方法。

2

The flower of humor blooms whenever in the course of development of a nation there is an exuberance of intellect able to flay its own ideals, for humor is nothing but intellect slashing at itself. In any period of history, when mankind was able to perceive its own futility, its own smallness, and its own follies and inconsistencies, a humorist appeared, like Chuangtse of China, Omar Khayyam of Persia, and Aristophanes of Greece.

exuberance， 指“精神煥發(fā)，精力旺盛”，e.g. She needs to try and control her natural exuberance. 她需要盡力控制自己天生的旺盛精力。

flay，指“剝皮；嚴(yán)厲批評(píng)；痛斥”，e.g. She was well-known for flaying public officials in her daily column. 她因在每日專欄里批判政府官員而出名。

slash，指“（用利器）砍，劈”， e.g. We had to slash our way through the undergrowth with sticks. 我們揮舞著木棍一路劈砍，才在密林里開出了一條路，穿了過去。

perceive，指“意識(shí)到；覺察到”，e.g. The patient was perceived to have difficulty in breathing. 發(fā)現(xiàn)病人呼吸困難。

futility，指“徒勞；無效, e.g. Shame, compunction, sense of futility flooded his whole being. 羞恥、內(nèi)疚和徒勞的感覺把他整個(gè)人都淹沒了。

folly，指“愚蠢；愚笨”，e.g. Giving up a secure job seems to be the height of folly. 放棄一份穩(wěn)定的工作似乎愚蠢至極。

inconsistency，指“不一致；出入”，e.g. There is some inconsistency between the witnesses’ evidence and their earlier statements. 證人的證詞與他們先前的陳述有些出入。

句子分析：“whenever in the course...slashing at itself.”闡述了在民族發(fā)展過程中幽默存在的必然性以及幽默在民族發(fā)展的過程中所發(fā)揮的重要作用?！發(fā)ike Chuangtse of China, Omar Khayyam of Persia, and Aristophanes of Greece. ”作者用莊子，亞里士多德的具體例子來論證了大幽默家對(duì)民族發(fā)展所做的巨大貢獻(xiàn)。同時(shí)也起到了承上啟下的作用。

本句譯為：無論何時(shí)，當(dāng)一個(gè)民族在發(fā)展的過程中生產(chǎn)豐富之智慧足以表露其理想時(shí)則開放其幽默之鮮葩，因?yàn)橛哪瑳]有旁的內(nèi)容，只是智慧之刀的一晃。歷史上任何時(shí)期，當(dāng)人類智慧能領(lǐng)悟自身之空虛、渺小、愚拙、矛盾時(shí)，就有一個(gè)大幽默家出世，像中國(guó)之莊子，波斯之歐瑪尓·海亞姆，希臘的亞里士多德。

3

Athens would be infinitely poorer had there been no Aristophanes, and the Chinese intellectual heritage would be infinitely less rich had there been no Chuangtse.

infinitely，指“及其；無限地”e.g. Your English is infinitely better than my German. 你的英語比我的德語好太多了。

intellectual，指“智力的；腦力的”e.g. There are two methods to comprehend the object of intellectual property. 對(duì)于知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)客體，我們可以從兩個(gè)層面來理解。

heritage，指“遺產(chǎn)”，e.g. The building is part of our national heritage. 這個(gè)建筑是我們民族遺產(chǎn)的一部分。

句子分析：這兩句從中國(guó)和雅典民族入手，假想倘若中國(guó)沒有莊子，雅典沒有亞里士多德，那么他們民族的文化和精神遺產(chǎn)將會(huì)貧乏和遜色很多。用這樣假設(shè)的方法從反面論證了幽默大師們給民族文化帶來的巨大貢獻(xiàn)。上下文正反論證，環(huán)環(huán)相扣，聯(lián)系緊密。

本句譯為：雅典民族倘沒有亞里士多德，精神上不知要貧乏多少，中國(guó)倘沒有莊子，智慧的遺產(chǎn)也不知將遜色多少。