幽默的重要性

I was taught grammar by a nun who cracked small jokes throughout her lessons. I study for my exams by creating double entendres with vocabulary I need to know. I’ve always loved when my intellectual life gets invaded by humor. That’s why I search out scripts, autobiographies, short stories, anything written, really, as long as it touches upon humor in some way. I’ve read poems by musical comedian Bo Burnham. I picked up a copy of a cookbook written by YouTube star Hannah Hart, smiling at every food-related pun she wrote. I spent ages hunting down the autobiography of past SNL member Rachel Dratch, which I finally found in a used book store in New York City, tucked away in a corner in the shop’s basement.

我跟随一位修女学习语法，她很喜欢在课上讲些小笑话。我通过积累一些我需要知道的双关语来备战考试。我特别喜欢用幽默来填满我的精神生活。这就是我搜索剧本、自传、短文以及只要是和幽默搭一点儿边的任何文字作品。我曾读过音乐喜剧演员博伯翰的诗歌。我也曾无意间收获一本由著名油管明星汉娜·哈特所作的食谱影印本，被她所写的每一个和食物有关的双关语逗笑。我花几年的时间寻找前周六夜现场成员瑞秋·德拉彻的自传，终于在纽约的一家旧书店找到了，我激动得躲在商场地下室里快速研读起来。

In my opinion, humor is so fascinating because it is a short yet clever manipulation of some aspect of truth, usually holding the potential to capture the attention of many. Humor has the ability to touch upon serious subjects such as homophobia, racism, and mental health issues, along with so much more, and it not only can enhance the perspective of an author writing, but it can create a bigger impact of a written piece on those who read it.

在我看来，幽默感是特别吸引人的，因为它可以简短并聪明地处理一些往往有可能吸引很多人的事实。幽默有一种可以谈及一些严重的问题的特殊能力，比如说恐同症、种族歧视或是心理问题等等。它不仅可以提高作家的写作水平，还可以为读者们创造更深的印象。

My favorite piece of writing is a script entitled “Brotherly Love,” written by a man named Ean Miles Kessler. It’s a rather short script with only two characters, who are brothers. Set in a town called Lynchburg in Virginia, it portrays one brother right after he comes out as gay to the other brother. The humor that follows is crass and theatrical, but the underlying message of the piece; true love within a family is proven when each member accepts the others as they are; has the potential to strike a reader long after the piece has been finished. No matter what the audience believes about the morality of same-sex relationships, the piece distracts from the plot by using humor, so that even people who are homophobic would likely find the piece to be entertaining. By exposing these homophobic audience members to a piece that insults homophobia in a way that is not directly attacking the audience themselves, the message of the piece can enter the minds of the readers in a smooth manner. Instead of being a script, I would consider “Brotherly Love” to be an example of how humor can be used as a tool for gradual social change.

我最喜欢的一部作品是凯斯勒（Ean Miles Kessler）的《兄弟之爱》（Brotherly Love）。这是一个特别短的剧本，只有兄弟二人两个角色。故事发生在维吉尼亚的林奇堡，它讲述了一个人向他的兄弟出柜的故事。相继而来的幽默变得戏剧性，但是这个故事潜在的意思是在告诉我们在家庭中真正的爱是接受每一个成员不论他们怎样。不论观众对同性关系持有什么样的想法，这段故事都通过运用幽默的手法来转移观众对情节的注意力，所以即使恐同的朋友们也可以找到有趣的片段。通过不直接攻击的方式来向恐同观众展现谴责这种思想，可以让读者更加接受。我认为《兄弟之爱》与其说是一部剧本，倒不如说它是幽默如何成为社会变革的工具的示范。

There’s something so special about humor because it usually has that underlying message, that belief the author holds yet does not want to push directly down the throats of the readers. It festers in the mind of the audience as they finish reading a piece, but it’s only until the silliness of the humor wears off when it begins to show. It’s a gradual shift, and it gives the reader more time to process the points the author is making. Humor is a powerful instrument for change, and so every time I come across it in a written piece, I get very excited.

关于幽默还有很多特别的方面，因为它通常包含着很多层作者不想直接向读者们展现的潜在信息。幽默同样是一种渐进型转变，给读者更多的时间来消化作者的观点。幽默是应对变化的强力手段，所以当我每一次无意中在文章里发现幽默的手法时，我都会非常兴奋。

I’ve applied my experience with humor to the school environment, and so far, my ideas about the power of humor have only solidified. I got a smiley face next to the Beyonce reference I made in an English commentary. My French teacher talked to me about how much he liked one of my assignments, which was supposed to be a generic letter or diary entry from a character in a novel we were reading, when I decided to flip the story so that the setting was in outer space, the characters morphed into aliens. The real world can be bland at times; humor captures the attention of many, even if it does not receive positive reviews. As a thinker, I value being open-minded more than anything else. Humor is a way to achieve a level of open-mindedness among people who are not open-minded themselves. It’s underrated and entirely effective, and it manages to get points across without being overwhelming.

我也曾在校园生活中体会过幽默的快乐，并且到现在为止我对幽默的力量的看法只有一个。我的法语老师和我说他有多喜欢我的其中一份作品－是我们之前读过的一本小说中的一封信或是一篇日记；我决定将故事内容翻转，将它设定在外太空、所有的角色都是外星人。真实世界有时会变得乏味无聊；即使幽默感没能收获正面的反馈，它仍然吸引了很多人的注意力。作为一名思考者，我最珍惜的就是开放性思维。幽默感就是思维不太发散的伙伴们实现一定程度开放性思维的方式。它经常被低估但完全有效，并且它可以让人们的观点顺利被大家理解而非被淹没。