国家地理:用吐槽的方式谈科学效果更好(3)

It's not hard to see why the relationship between satire¹ and science would be symbiotic². Late-night hosts may occasionally poke³ fun at scientists, portraying⁴ them as oddballs working on obscure projects. Much more often, however, the hosts promote a positive image of science. Take Colbert, whose NASA-themed humor led the space agency to name a zero-gravity treadmill⁵ after him; or Kimmel, whose show features science demonstrations⁶ with exploding pumpkins⁷ and flying Ping-Pong balls. By making science entertaining to audience members with little knowledge of the topic, late-night television could be a gateway⁸ to science engagement. But if these viewers do tune⁹ in to science topics, will their opinions change?

不难看出讽刺与科学之间共生关系的原因。深夜主持人有时会嘲笑科学家，将他们描绘成从事晦涩项目的怪人。不过主持人常常会更多地宣传科学的正面形象。以科尔伯特为例，他以美国航空航天局（NASA）为主题的幽默，使NASA以他的名字命名了零重力跑步机。再如坎摩尔秀以爆炸的南瓜和飞行的乒乓球的科学演示为特色，让科学知识变得有趣。通过让对科学知之甚少的观众感到有趣，深夜电视秀可以成为一条了解科学的途径。但是如果这些观众收看科学话题，他们的观念会改变吗？

Our first experiment in 2013 tested how watching a clip from The Daily Show or The Colbert Report influenced audience members' beliefs about climate change. Viewers who saw Jon Stewart say that global warming is real came away more certain that climate change is happening. Colbert's show had a similar effect, even though some viewers misinterpreted his deadpan¹⁰ humor and mistook the host for a real climate change doubter.

我们在2013年进行的第一个实验，测试了观看《每日秀》或《扣扣熊报告》中的片段如何影响观众对气候变化的看法。当观众听到乔恩·斯图尔特说全球变暖是真实的，他们更加确定气候变化正在发生。科尔伯特的节目也对观众产生类似的效果，虽然某些观众误解了科尔伯特的冷幽默，认为他是真正的气候变化怀疑论者。

1 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

2 symbiotic   

adj.共栖的，共生的

参考例句：

• Racing has always had a symbiotic relationship with betting.赛马总是与赌博相挂钩。
• Engineering completely new symbiotic relationship is obviously not an imminent possibility.筹划完全新的共生关系显然是可能性不大。

3 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

4 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

6 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

7 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

8 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 deadpan   

n. 无表情的

参考例句：

• Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默，因此更有趣。
• She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上，故意一 脸严肃，没有一丝的笑容。