经济学人206:美国式幽默-有趣的人

 　　American humour

　　美式幽默

　　Funny man

　　有趣的人

　　The talent of an American lyricist

　　一位富有天赋的美国抒情诗人

　　CALVIN TRILLIN made his reputation over four decades as the author of “US Journal” in the New Yorker, reporting extensively about serious and often tragic¹ subjects such as race relations and crime. He was also among the first writers to grasp that American cuisine² is a good way to understand the nation’s vigorous and various cultures. But Mr Trillin is incapable³ of resisting the temptation of comedy. The jokes kept on welling up and Mr Trillin made a parallel reputation as a writer of funny stuff.

　　卡尔文.特里林作为《纽约客》美国日报作者享誉盛名四十余载，广泛的报道种族关系和犯罪这类严肃而悲痛的题材文章。他是首位发现美国烹饪是了解美国朝气而丰富文化的良好途径的作家之一。但是特里林无法抗拒喜剧的诱惑，创作出许多笑话。因此，他也因创作滑稽有趣的作品而享有同等声望。

　　He belongs to a tradition that included distinguished⁴ journalists such as Art Buchwald in the Washington Post, and Russell Baker⁵ at the New York Times. Each might regard the idea as risible⁶, but their ability to deflate the reputations of self-important politicians and men of business makes classy moralists of them.

　　他是一位传统派作家，还有华盛顿邮报和纽约时报著名的新闻记者阿尔特?布克沃尔德和拉塞尔贝克。每位想法独特有趣，而他们有能力减少高傲政客和商业人士的声望和影响力，因此他们可称为优秀道德家。

　　The title of this collection of his humorous writings is the first of many jokes. Mr Trillin makes fun of the arrival in the Port of Galveston, Texas, in 1908, from somewhere “near Kiev”, of his father and his Uncle Benny. Apparently⁷, Jacob Schiff, an eminent⁸ German Jewish banker was embarrassed by the poor, huddled⁹ masses from eastern Europe cluttering¹⁰ up New York at the time and financed the detour¹¹ to the south-west. The thought is rather appalling¹², but Mr Trillin makes it work for him: “You can say what you want to about my Uncle Benny, but he never made his living as a money lender.”

　　幽默集锦是特里林第一部笑话作品。他取笑他的父亲和叔叔本尼从基辅附近的某个地方在1908年到达德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿。大批来自东欧的贫穷民众使纽约异常杂乱拥挤，杰出的德国犹太银行家雅各布.希夫很明显对此感到不安，并资助他们绕道去往美国西南部。这种想法非常令人震惊。但是特里林成功的为他开脱：你可以随便我评论我叔叔本尼，但是他从未以放贷人为生。

　　Although Mr Trillin graduated from Yale University (his father encouraged him to go east having read Owen Johnson’s 1911 tale, “Stover at Yale”), he was brought up in Kansas City, Missouri. This led him to found the Missouri School of Poetry, with a membership of two—himself and T.S. Eliot, who was born in St Louis. In truth, he is more at home in the School of Ogden Nash of Rye, New York.

　　虽然特里林毕业于耶鲁大学（他父亲在读完欧文.约翰逊的1911故事《耶鲁的柴火》这本书后，鼓励他去东部），但是他生长在密苏里堪萨斯城。这样，他与另一名成员创立了密苏里诗歌学派，另一名成员是生于圣路易斯的艾略特诗人。其实，他更多的还是待在纽约黑麦奥格登.纳什学校。

　　Mr Trillin describes himself as a “Deadline Poet” because of the rhyming verses he contributes regularly to the Nation. Happily, there are pages of them in this book. One sample, after a headline in the New York Times: “SEC Accuses Goldman of Fraud in Housing Deal”:

　　特里林称他自己为“死线诗人”，因为他定期在《国家》上发布诗歌。庆幸的是，这本书里摘录了许多他的诗歌。如在纽约时报大标题文章“证券交易委员会指控高盛房屋交易诈骗”。

　　They’re doing God’s work, their CEO said.

　　They’re the kings of the Street.

　　They are regal.

　　So now we must ask if God ever knew

　　That some of his work was illegal.

　　他们正做的是上帝赋予的工作，他们的首席执行官说道。

　　他们是街道国王。

　　他们是帝王。

　　因此我们现在必须问问上帝

　　问他是否知道他的一些工作是非法行为。

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

3 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

4 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

5 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

6 risible   

adj.能笑的；可笑的

参考例句：

• The entire proposal is risible.这个建议完全是荒唐可笑的。
• He drew a risible picture on the wall.他在墙上画了一张滑稽的画。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 eminent   

adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的

参考例句：

• We are expecting the arrival of an eminent scientist.我们正期待一位著名科学家的来访。
• He is an eminent citizen of China.他是一个杰出的中国公民。

9 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

10 cluttering   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• I'm sick of all these books cluttering up my office. 我讨厌办公室里乱糟糟地堆放着这些书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some goals will need to be daily-say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps de cluttering. 对这些目标，需要把他们变成我们日常事务的一部分。 来自互联网

11 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

12 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。