内容正文:
Comedy
Across
Borders
“Wonderful
choice
of
tie
today,”
Sheila
said
to
her
co-worker
Thomas
as
he
rushed
into
the
office
two
minutes
late
for
work.
Everyone
nearby
burst
out
laughing
while
Thomas
had
a
puzzled
look
on
his
face.
He
was
in
a
hurry
this
morning
and
hadnt
noticed
the
fresh
coffee
stain
( 污渍)
right
in
the
middle
of
his
brightly
colored
tie!
Humour
is
defined
as
the
quality
of
being
amusing
or
comical,
especially
as
expressed
in
literature
or
speech.
Sounds
pretty
straightforward,
right?
But
different
cultures
express
humour
in
different
ways.
Complimenting
a
colleagues
attire
(衣服)
following
a
mishap
(不好的事情)
like
Thomas
is
an
example
of
sarcastic
(讽刺的)
humour,
whereby
the
joker
uses
irony
to
poke
fun
at
their
unwitting
(不知情的)
subject.
Compared
with
this
type
of
characteristically
British
dialogue,
Americans
tend
to
favor
a
more
straightforward
approach
to
comedy.
For
example,
in
the
same
scenario
( 情景)
set
in
an
American
sitcom,
the
dialogue
might
go
something
like
this:
As
Thomas
rushed
into
the
office
two
minutes
late
for
work,
his
co-worker
Sheila
glanced
at
him
with
a
grin
(露齿的笑) .
“Late
again?”
she
remarked.
“Yes,
sorry,
Im
late.
I
gobbled
(狼吞虎
咽 )
my
breakfast
down
as
quickly
as
I
could,”
Thomas
replied.
Sheila
laughed,
“ No
wonder
youve
still
got
half
your
breakfast
on
your
tie!”
Both
the
Sheila
in
our
satirical
( 讽 刺 的 )
British
tale
and
the
Sheila
from
our
unabashed
(不加掩饰的)
American
tale
use
a
unique
style
of
humour
to
convey
the
same
message:Theres
a
coffee
s