VOA常速英语2019--国外大学生成立单口相声俱乐部

For These Students, Learning¹ Is a Laughing Matter

Good evening, John Hopkins.It’s stand-up comedy night at Johns Hopkins University.First of all, I want to thank my parents for not showing up tonight.Yeah. They claimed they would be here for every man that made them proud.I guess we all know the answer to that question.The stand-up students might be a little nervous at the beginning of their set, but the experience is invigorating.Their jokes bring lots of laughter to usually busy, often stressed-out students.Comedy, as club member Ariella Shua says a serious work. We workshop it. So we go through it. Whoever’s reading will read all of their material and then we’ll go joke by joke and say what works² and what doesn’t. It starts as an individual project for yourself and then it becomes like a group effort. Writing jokes is really fun. It takes a lot of critical thinking, you know. It’s like...it’s like a process when you get from like this doesn’t work and this works.

晚上好，约翰霍普金斯的朋友们。这是约翰霍普金斯大学的单口喜剧之夜。首先，我要感谢我的父母今天晚上没有来看我表演。他们之前说自己会来看每一个令他们骄傲的人的表演。但是现在我们应该都了解这是什么状况了。表演单口相声的学生在开场的时候可能会有点紧张，但这种经历十分振奋人心。他们的笑话给总是很忙碌、经常压力很大的学生带来了很多笑声。俱乐部成员阿丽拉·舒雅称喜剧是一项严肃的工作。我们会对其进行研习，会不断进行整理。每一个人都要阅读他们的材料，然后我们就会一个接一个地讲笑话，讨论什么有笑点，什么没有笑点。最开始，这是一个单人的项目，后来发展成了团队合作。写笑话真的很有趣，这需要很多批判性思维。这就像是某种过程，你会意识到这个有笑点，这个没有笑点。

Since joining last year, I’ve started carrying a notebook around with me. And whenever I just have a thought in my head that seems like, oh like this is strange or I see something,or I overhear³ someone saying something really funny like in the library or something, I just write it down. Sophomore⁴ Harry⁵ Kuperstein says the club is a natural fit for his funny personality and stand-up helps him work on the skills he’ll need in the future as a neurosurgeon. Elements of say talking to patients as a doctor and I think that being able to script⁶ things or just have jokes like ready to go might help kind of smooth in those interactions⁷ or make you a better public speaker.

自从去年加入俱乐部以来，我开始随身携带笔记本。每当我脑子里出现了一个想法，比如说想到这个想法倒是很新奇，或者我看到了什么，或者我无意中听到某人说了一些很有趣的话，比如在图书馆或者别的什么地方，我就会把它写下来。大二学生哈里·库珀斯坦说，俱乐部很适合他风趣的性格，单口相声还能帮助他学习未来作为一名神经外科医生所需要的技能。医生要和病人进行交谈，我认为能够编写脚本或者是随时能够想出笑话，可能会帮助你更为顺畅地进行互动，或者能够让你成为一个更好的公众演讲者。

Since joining the club last year, computer science major Alex Hector Gomez has developed his own style of comedy. Not always tell the truth. Sometimes it’s just funnier to go up with your imagination which you can kind of like get stuck not doing if you just follow like what actually happened,also maybe don’t always go with your first idea.Despite the workshops and rewriting and run-throughs, some ideas just aren’t funny. And just because the club members are students performing for their fellow students, Benjamin Monteagudo says that doesn’t mean the audience cuts them any slack⁸. If you were performing very bad on stage, you throw tomatoes at them. So what if we make that, the whole concept⁹ of the show where we just let the audience throw tomatoes at us,so we spent our entire budget last year on a big box of foam¹⁰ tomatoes. So in addition to practicing stand-up, club members get lots of practice dealing¹¹ with comedy critics.

自从去年加入俱乐部以来，计算机科学专业的亚历克斯·赫克托·戈麦斯发展了自己的喜剧风格。并不需要总是说实话。有时候发挥自己的想象力会更有趣，如果你只是按照实际发生的事情去讲，就会有点像被困住了一样，也许也不需要总是按照你的第一直觉去讲。尽管进行了研讨、重新编写以及排练，但是有些段子就是不好笑。而且，本杰明·蒙特阿古多说，虽然俱乐部成员也是学生，他们在为其他同学表演，但这并不意味着观众们会放他们一马。如果有人在台上表演很差劲，那观众可以朝他们扔西红柿。如果我们把这个作为我们表演的整个概念，就是让观众可以朝我们扔西红柿，所以我们去年的全部预算都用于买一大箱泡沫西红柿。因此，除了练习单口相声之外，俱乐部成员还收获到很多与喜剧评论家打交道的实践经验。

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

3 overhear   

vt.无意中听到，偷听到

参考例句：

• I happened to overhear what he said.我碰巧听到他说的话。
• They stepped aside so that their child could not overhear their conversation.他们走到一边去，不让孩子听见他们的谈话。

4 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。

7 interactions   

一起活动( interaction的名词复数 )； 合作； 互相影响； 互动

参考例句：

• Only then will we be able to design appropriate interactions and interfaces. 只有那时，我们才能够设计合适的交互行为和界面。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• These interactions are typically supported by clear cursor hinting. 一般来说，清晰的光标暗示辅助支持这样的交互。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 slack   

adj.松弛的，萧条的，懈怠的；vt.使松弛

参考例句：

• Slack off those ropes there,there's a storm coming!把那里的绳索放松，暴风雨就要来了！
• Some are hard at work and some are slack in work.有的勤奋工作，有的则消极怠工。

9 concept   

n.概念，观念，思想

参考例句：

• A small baby has no concept of right and wrong.婴儿没有是非概念。
• He was asked to define his concept of cool.他被要求说明自己关于“酷”的定义。

10 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。