国家地理:用吐槽的方式谈科学效果更好（5）

Late-night humor may be particularly effective at debunking¹ scientific misconceptions because it avoids triggering the backlash that traditional science communication efforts can elicit². And late-night humor can spark science engagement as well. A national survey by researchers Lauren Feldman, Anthony Leiserowitz, and Edward Maibach found that watching satirical comedy programs went hand in hand with paying more attention to science stories. Furthermore, the researchers concluded that satirical shows had the biggest impact among the least educated viewers, thereby³ helping⁴ to narrow a gap in attention to science.

深夜幽默可能对于揭露科学上的错误观念方面特别有效，因为它避免了传统科学传播可能引起的强烈反响。深夜秀也可以激发公众对科学参与度。研究人员劳伦·费尔德曼、安东尼·莱丝洛威茨和爱德华·梅巴克进行的一项全国调查发现，观看讽刺喜剧节目与更加关注科学故事可以同步发展。此外，研究人员得出的结论是，讽刺节目在文化程度最低的观众中影响最大，从而缩小了关注科学人群的差距。

Though late-night satirical humor can boost science interest and awareness⁵, it has its limits. Science is complex, and conveying that complexity⁶ in a few minutes while cracking jokes can be a challenge.

尽管深夜讽刺幽默秀可以提高科学兴趣和意识，但其自身有局限性。科学是复杂的，在开玩笑的几分钟内灌输这种复杂性可能会是一个大挑战。

At its best, late-night satire⁷ encourages viewers not only to follow science but also to think critically about it. An episode of Last Week Tonight made that point with a poke⁸ at how news outlets⁹ cover scientific studies. Host John Oliver warned against "thinking that science is à la carte and if you don't like one study, don't worry, another will be along soon." He ridiculed¹⁰ media coverage¹¹ of science that oversimplifies and sensationalizes findings, misuses¹² statistics, and cherry-picks results. And he parodied¹³ such presentations with his own brand of "TODD talks" -- for Trends, Observations, and Dangerous Drivel.

最好的情况是，深夜讽刺秀鼓励观众不仅了解科学，还要学会思辨。《上周今夜秀》中的一集通过对新闻媒体报道科学研究的方式进行抨击，从而说明了这一点。主持人约翰·奥利弗警告称，“把科学想作按菜单点菜，如果您不喜欢一项研究，请不要担心，很快就会有另一项研究。”他嘲讽媒体对科学的报道过分简化，同时夸大了研究结果、滥用统计数据，并择优挑选结果。他还在自己的TODD演讲（T代表潮流，O代表观察评论，DD代表危险的胡话）中模仿了这些报告。

The members of his audience may be laughing, but they seem to be learning as well.

他的观众可能一边在笑，一边也在学习。

1 debunking   

v.揭穿真相，暴露( debunk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The debunking of religion has been too successful. 对于宗教的揭露太成功了。 来自互联网

2 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

3 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

6 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

7 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。

8 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。

9 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 misuses   

n.用错，滥用( misuse的名词复数 )；误用者v.使用…不当( misuse的第三人称单数 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misuses his horses by giving them loads that are too heavy. 他给它们过重的负荷来虐待他的马。 来自互联网
• He often misuses his authority to tyrannize his underlings. 他常用手中的职权凌轹下属。 来自互联网

13 parodied   

v.滑稽地模仿，拙劣地模仿( parody的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• All these peculiarities of his style have been parodied by his assailants. 他的所有这些风格特征都受到攻击者模仿嘲弄。 来自互联网
• The above examples are all slightly parodied versions of classical dance steps. 上述例子都可以说是经典舞步的模仿版本。 来自互联网