2015年6月四级听力小故事（3）英式幽默和基因有关

今年四级听力第二部分的第三篇文章简直就是一个彻头彻尾悲伤的故事啊！！！所以说天杀的英式幽默一不小心就要倾家荡产事业全无的节奏对吗！！！有研究表明，英国人的幽默是深值于基因中的，所以人家说了这种毒舌到死喜欢冷嘲热讽的技能是天！生！的！而且其他国家的人还get不到……真是醉了……

The British have a talent for caustic satire and painful put-downs: fact. Not one of the more provocative statements from The Office's David Brent, but the finding of a piece of researchthat is likely to ignite controversy on both sides of the Atlantic.
英国人天生就会冷嘲热讽还有不留言面丢下让你痛苦万分的羞辱是千！真！万！确！的！没有比《办公室笑云》（英剧）中的大卫·布兰特更气人的吐槽了，但是researchthat的一份研究很可能要点燃大西洋两岸的舆论热火。

A survey of more than 4,000 twins suggests that humour regarded as typically British – sarcasm and self-deprecation – is linked to genes found in British men and women, but not shared, for instance, by Americans.
一份由4000多对双胞胎参与的调查显示，被认为是很典型的英式幽默，即讽刺挖苦还有自我贬低，和英国男女的基因构造大有关联，但是这种幽默别人get不到，比如美国佬。

While telling jokes and looking on the bright side of life – which researchers dubbed positive humour – is common to both sides of the Atlantic, only in the UK did they discover genetic links with negative humour – biting sarcasm and teasing.
研究员认为正面的幽默，也就是在讲笑话和看待生活中光明美好一面的时候，这种幽默大西洋两岸的人民都能懂，但是只有在英国发现基因和负能量幽默联系到了一起：（包括）冷嘲热讽还有戏弄。

They say it may explain why the British like aggressively sarcastic or denigrating humour such as Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and, of course, The Office.
他们说，这或许就能解释，为什么英国人那么喜欢显山露水的挖苦别人还有诋毁性的幽默，比如《弗尔蒂旅馆》、《布拉凯德》，当然了，还有《办公室笑云》（均为英国喜剧）。

"It is possible that differences exist between these nations in their sense of humour and that these may be the result of different genetic and environmental influences," said Dr Rod Martin, one of the researchers.
“不同国家的幽默存在差异大有可能，这些都也许是不同基因构造和环境影响的结果，”其中的一名研究员罗德·马丁说道。

The study looked at genetic and environmental contributions to humour in nearly 2,000 pairs of UK twins. A second US study examined the humour of 500 sets of North American twins.
近乎2000对英国双胞胎参与到了“基因和环境对幽默感的影响”调查之中。还有500组北美双胞胎参与了另一份美国对于幽默的研究。

The results revealed that positive humour – saying funny things, telling jokes, a humorous outlook on life – was linked to genes and was shared by twins in the UK and US.
结果表明，说一些好玩的事儿啦，讲讲笑话啦，诙谐幽默的人生观这些正面的幽默和基因息息相关，而且英美两国的双胞胎都有。

However, negative humour – teasing and ridicule, as well as more offensive, racist or sexist forms of humour, together with self-disparaging humour – appeared to be genetically linked only in Britain.
但是负能量的幽默（比如戏弄别人嘲笑别人，还有更无礼的、带有种族歧视和性别歧视的幽默，包括自嘲的幽默），显然只存在于英国人的基因中。

2015年6月英语四级答案汇总

大学英语四级考试