【英语时差8,16】笑话的来源及演变（下）

Some people, like comedians¹, actually sit down and invent jokes. But the neat thing is that most jokes come about without anyone inventing them. Philosopher of science Daniel Dennett uses jokes as an example of how evolution works. Let’s say the President does something embarrassing. Someone comments on it in a funny way. Someone else repeats the comment with an embellishment to make it funnier. Someone else turns it into “What does the President say when…?” And so on. Jokes evolve. This is why you run across so many jokes you’ve heard before, though you may not know it until the punchline². They’ve gone through so many changes you may not recognize them at all. Then suddenly you say “Oh, I’ve heard this.” What you actually heard was a kind of joke ancestor.

1 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

2 punchline   

n.（笑话、故事等的）结尾警语，点睛之笔

参考例句：

• Even then,the magical pause can strengthen the punchline.即使这样，有魔力的停顿依然可以增强笑点。
• A good joke or a mystery novel has along wind up to the final punchline.好的笑话或神秘小说都是一路曲折，直至最后的笑料或真相。