英文幽默赏析论文.doc

英文幽默赏析 学院： 专业： 姓名： 学号：英文幽默赏析 众所周知，对于我们大多数中国学生而言，英语是我们的第二语言。可见英语是相当重要的，不管是对我们学习还是对于我们的生活，掌握好这门英语都是我们必须做到和做好的。 英语不仅是读者大量汲取英语语言文字信息、语言文化信息的手段，也是获取其他边缘学科知识的一种有效途径。生活中我们存在很多幽默，英语中也不缺乏，它存在大量的语言文字幽默，不仅给我们读者提供一些消遣和娱乐，还提供娱乐之外的一些思考。作为英语读者，我们必须学会欣赏语言，尤其是语言中的幽默美，所以我们一定要提高阅读兴趣、阅读鉴赏能力，从而增强跨文化交际的能力。 幽默是人类特有的产物。无论是关于什么的幽默，都是与这个社会的主体活生生的人有关。因此，幽默蕴含着深刻的人生哲理，体现着人们对事物的豁达的和积极向上的人生态度。不知道大家听说过这个没有：George Meredith曾在他的喜剧论中写道：衡量一个国家的喜剧的标准，是要看它能否引起含蓄思想的笑。 大家肯定都听说过马克吐温吧，他是位美国非常著名的幽默大师。相传有一天，他被邀请去一个小镇做演讲，于是有个年轻人告诉他他叔叔从来没笑过。马克吐温善意的叫年轻人把他的叔叔带到演讲厅，因为他确信能使这位老人发笑。那最终年轻人的叔叔笑了没有呢？ That evening the young man and his uncle sat in the first row. Mark Twain spoke directly at the old man. He told some rather funny stories,which made everyone in the hall laugh. But the old man never even smiled.Mark Twain told the funniest stories he knew.Still the old mans facial muscle didnt move at all.At last Mark Twain stopped. He felt very tired and discouraged. Some days later,Mark Twain told a friend of his about what had happened.“Oh”,said his friend,”I know that old man. He has been deaf for years. 相信大家都能读懂里边的意思，最终那位年轻人的叔叔也没有笑，是因为他已经听不见好多年了。 读完这个幽默故事，笑过之后，它能引发我们什么样的思考呢？这就类似于我们中国的一个成语故事对牛弹琴（讽刺讲话人不看对象，徒费精力）。同时，也告诉我们过于自负的人，往往容易成为别人的笑柄。英语幽默的欣赏幽默在具体的语境下产生的语言艺术，因此它的发起者和主要对象应该是人或者是由人所造成的事。我们欣赏幽默，就必须了解幽默的表现形式。下面也是一则很幽默的英语小故事：Weather PredictA film crew was on location deep in the desert. One day an old Indian went up to the director and said, Tomorrow rain. The next day it rained. A week later, the Indian went up to the director and said, Tomorrow storm. The next day there was a hailstorm. This Indian is incredible, said the director. He told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather. However, after several successful predictions, the old Indian didnt show up for two weeks. Finally the director sent for him. I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow, said the director, and Im depending on you. What will the weather be like? The Indian shrugged his shoulders. Dont know, he said. Radio is broken. 语言是表达思想的工具，修辞则是语言表达的艺术。一般的语言只能把基本的问题说清楚，若要把抽象的问题具体化、形象化，具体问题深刻化，说话者必须借助于各种修辞手段。而这些经过润色过的语言艺术形式正是制造幽默的有效途径。如说话者往往通过扩大本体和喻体所代表的事物的差距中求类似来产生比喻幽默，而且本体和喻体之间的差距越大，两者之间建立的联系越和谐自然，就越新奇，幽默感就越强。而幽默感越强，语言的表达效果就越好。利用语言文化差异当文化背景不同、风俗习惯不同和语言不同的人在一起交流时，很容易由于本身存在的文化差距(culture gap)而产生文化冲击（culture shock）和文化幽默。在英语中，有很多幽默都是从这种跨文化交际中衍生的。 One day a middle-aged woman telephoned her doctor.“Doctor,” she said, “Im having a lot of trouble with my shoulder. It hurts all the time and I cant sleep at night.” “Come in this afternoon.” said the doctor, “and Ill have a look at it.” That afternoon the woman went to the doctors office. He gave her a very thorough examination, asked a lot of questions, and listened carefully to her answers.“Well, my dear,” he said, “It looks like you have arthritis.” “Arthritis?”she said.“Oh, no! What am I going to do?” “Dont worry,” he answered, “Ill give you a prescription and the pain will go away Then the doctor took out his pen, wrote a prescription, and handed her his bill for fifty dollars. The woman opened her pocketbook, wrote out a fifty-dollar check, said goodbye, and left. The doctor mailed the check to his bank, but a week later he was surprised to find that the check was returned to him, marked “Insufficient Funds”. He telephoned the woman immediately.“Im very sorry to have to tell you this.” he began, “but your check came back this week.”“Oh, really?”said the woman,“ Thats quite a coincidence.”“What do you mean?”asked the doctor.“Well, ”said the woman, “so did my arthritis. 英语幽默有着深刻的内涵和多种作用，通过不同形式表现出来并给人以多种人生启迪。因此，我们要学会欣赏英语语言的字、词、句、语篇及文化内涵等方面的幽默，增强阅读兴趣，从而提高阅读欣赏能力和跨文化交际能力。参 考 文 献1 Minsky,M. Frame System Theory A.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,1975.2 伍谦光。语义学导论M. 长沙：湖南教育出版社，1991.3 柯平。语法比较的标准Z . 中国英汉语比较研究会第四次全国学术研讨会专辑 。 2000