【英语时差8,16】“笑”看发展（上）

Last time we discussed joke evolution. Philosopher of science Daniel Dennett uses jokes to illustrate¹ how evolution works. Very few people actually sit down and make up jokes. But everyone is always telling jokes. Where Do They Come From? They come from earlier forms of jokes that get embellished² every time a new person passes them on. Gradually they change into new jokes. But sometimes you can still see the family resemblance to the earlier joke in the later development. That’s why we find ourselves saying “You know, when I heard that joke it wasn’t about President Obama, it was about President Bush. It went like this…” Or some such thing. This is a great example of evolution in action. Every time a joke is passed on, it’s like a new generation being born.

1 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

2 embellished   

v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色

参考例句：

• The door of the old church was embellished with decorations. 老教堂的门是用雕饰美化的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stern was embellished with carvings in red and blue. 船尾饰有红色和蓝色的雕刻图案。 来自辞典例句