Cathy来品味一下英国幽默。Insert

BBC Learning English – Ask About Britain 英国问答 About this script Please note that this is not a word for word transcript of the programme as broadcast. In the recording and editing process, changes may have been made which may not be reflected here. 关于台词的备注： 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。 1 British jokes 英国笑话 (laughter) Yang Li: 大家好我是杨莉，今天的英国问答节目里我们给大家介绍几个英国笑话，帮助 Cathy 来品味一下英国幽默。 Insert Hello，I'm Cathy from Jiangsu. I want to ask what is British humour like. Because people sometimes laugh but I don't find anything funny. All I want to know is how can I feel the language, laugh at jokes as other people do？Thank you. Yang Li: When it comes to jokes I can think of no better person than my colleague William Kremer. Hi Will. William: Hi Li. Is that a joke? Are you joking?! Anyway, I'm sure Cathy is not alone in not being able to understand English jokes because there are so many other things that you need in order to find something funny. Yang Li: 是的，就像老外对中国的相声也同样笑不起来一样。那么我们就从简单的开始 吧。 William: Now, one traditional kind of British joke always starts with a man talking to a doctor. Here's Richard: Insert Richard: “Doctor, doctor I feel like a pair of curtains” and the doctor says, “pull yourself together” Li: P-U-L-L? Richard: Yes, yes, so “pull yourself together” means get yourself better - you know, sort yourself out. But it also is what a pair of curtains does – so it’s a play on words Yang Li: 病人对医生说，医生啊，我感觉就像一对窗帘，意思是我觉得像散了架一样 a pair of curtains. 医生回答说，振作起来，pull yourself together. 这句话妙 就妙在一语双关 play on words 双关语。 William: Next you'll hear two jokes from our colleague Kaz. 2 Insert A man walks into a bar. Boiiing! It was an iron bar. William: This is again a play on words. The word bar has two meanings, a place where you drink, like a pub and a piece of metal. Yang Li: Bar 是双关语，既示酒吧，也表示铁条，铁柱子。翻译起来就是，一个人走进 酒吧，boiing 碰个鼻青脸肿，因为他那是个铁柱子 an iron bar. William: Kaz's next joke is about fish. Insert Q: What do you call a fish with no eye? A: Fsh Yang Li: 这个笑话是利用人们思维上的错觉，没有眼睛的鱼，叫什么鱼？其实这里的eye 英语字母 I 是同一个音，所以从 fish 这个词里去掉I 就成了 fsh. Yang Li: 欢迎大家继续收听《英国问答》，如何欣赏英国笑话和领悟英国幽默? Will, suppose I learn five hundred jokes by heart, would that enable me to understand English jokes? William: Well, you might learn something about British culture but I'm not sure you will actually understand the jokes because humour is so connected to things that are happening in the UK. And even if you do understand the jokes, I'm not sure you'd actually find them funny. Yang Li: 这是因为幽默常常同英国日常生活里的所见所闻有关。 William: British humour is partly banter, put-downs and insults. Yang Li: 英国幽默很多都是取笑逗乐 banter 和挖苦 put-downs and insults. William: British humour is also characterised by irony and sarcasm which is not always shared by other countries. Yang Li: 英国幽默还以嘲弄，讥讽而著名 irony and sarcasm. William: What people find funny has a lot to do with their age as well. Yang Li: 笑话和年龄也有一定关系。下面是三个英国人对幽默的不同解释。其中叫 Helen 的女士说， 她女儿觉得电视喜剧 Little Britain 特别搞笑 hilarious, 而 她却无动于衷 they leave her cold. Insert Helen: I’d say it’s more of an age group. My daughter finds shows like Little Britain hilarious whereas they just leave me cold. It very much 3 depends, I think, on your age and your upbringing and what sort of person you are. Man 1: English humour – it’s not about telling jokes. It’s about reactions and comments to things that are happening round about. Man 2: I would love to be able to think of sort of a great one-liner – a witty reaction. I think a lot of it is banter, a lot of it is put-downs and insults – I think the British are very, very good at insulting each other. Man 1: A lot of it is about sarcasm isn’t it? And maybe that’s one of the features of British people – we tend to have a sense of irony and sarcasm that isn’t shared by other countries – and that’s not good or bad it’s just a fact of – characteristics of British people, perhaps. Yang Li: So William, I'm not sure we've actually answered Cathy's question yet! Is it possible to learn to find British jokes funny? William: Well, I'm not sure it is, Li. I think you have to get really good at the English language and you have to get to know British culture quite well. But even if they do that, Chinese people don't always find British sarcasm that funny! Yang Li: Well to help you get really good at the English language, please log onto our tailor-made website at www.bbcukchina.com for more language tips. William: Good luck. And goodbye. Yang Li: Bye bye. (laughter)