Comedy Across Borders
“Wonderful choice of tie today，” Sheila said to her coworker Thomas as he rushed into the office two minutes late for work.Everyone nearby burst out laughing while Thomas had a puzzled look on his face.He was in a hurry this morning and hadn't noticed the fresh coffee stain (污渍) right in the middle of his brightly colored tie!
Humour is defined as the quality of being amusing or comical, especially as expressed in literature or speech.Sounds pretty straightforward, right? But different cultures express humour in different ways.Complimenting a colleague's attire (衣服) following a mishap (不好的事情) like Thomas' is an example of sarcastic (讽刺的) humour, whereby the joker uses irony to poke fun at their unwitting (不知情的) subject.
Compared with this type of characteristically British dialogue, Americans tend to favor a more straightforward approach to comedy.For example, in the same scenario (情景) set in an American sitcom, the dialogue might go something like this：
[理解]
Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F)．
1．Sheila wants to tell Thomas that his tie matches his suit well by saying “Wonderful choice of tie today”． (F)
2．British humour is usually sarcastic. (T)
As Thomas rushed into the office two minutes late for work, his coworker Sheila glanced at him with a grin (露齿的笑)．“Late again？” she remarked.“Yes, sorry, I'm late.I gobbled (狼吞虎咽) my breakfast down as quickly as I could，” Thomas replied.Sheila laughed, “No wonder you've still got half your breakfast on your tie！”
Both the Sheila in our satirical (讽刺的) British tale and the Sheila from our unabashed (不加掩饰的) American tale use a unique style of humour to convey the same message: There's a coffee stain on your tie, Thomas.But each makes use of comedy in a different way.
So, the next time you see your friend arrive in class with a stain on his or her shirt, how would you choose to break the news to them? ,
[积累]
1．burst out laughing
突然笑起来；不禁大笑
2．puzzled adj. 困惑的；茫然的
3．define vt. 定义
4．straightforward adj.
坦诚的；坦率的；率直的
5．compliment n．& v.
赞美；称赞
