What"s so funny?

　John McCrone reviews recent research on humour

　The joke comes over the headphones: " Which side of a dog has the most hair? The left." No, not funny. Try again. " Which side of a dog has the most hair? The outside." Hah! The punchline is silly yet fitting, tempting a smile, even a laugh（這個(gè)笑料很愚蠢，但是仍然足以讓人發(fā)笑，甚至大笑）. Laughter has always struck people as deeply mysterious, perhaps pointless. The writer Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: "unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose".

　笑話(huà)從耳機(jī)中傳出來(lái)：“狗哪一邊的毛最多？左邊。”不對(duì)，不好笑，再猜。“狗哪一邊的毛最多？外邊。”哈！這個(gè)笑話(huà)的關(guān)鍵語(yǔ)句有些荒唐，卻很合適，令人宛爾，甚至捧腹大笑。笑一直讓人類(lèi)感到神秘，或許笑沒(méi)有什么意義。作家 Arthur Koestler 稱(chēng)笑為奢侈的反射作用，“笑的獨(dú)特之處就在于它沒(méi)有明顯的生物學(xué)目的。”

　 Theories about humour have an ancient pedigree. Plato expressed the idea that humour is simply a delighted feeling of superiority over others. Kant and Freud felt that joke-telling relies on

　building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured by the ludicrousn

　ess of the punchline. But most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle"s belief that jokes are based on a reaction to or resolution of incongruity, when the punchline is either a nonsense or, though appearing silly, has a clever second meaning.

　幽默理論有著悠久的歷史。柏拉圖認(rèn)為幽默就是一種因感到比別人優(yōu)越而體會(huì)到的快樂(lè)的感覺(jué)。康德和弗洛伊德認(rèn)為講笑話(huà)時(shí)需要營(yíng)造一種精神上的緊張氣氛，最后抖開(kāi)笑話(huà)的包袱，讓其滑稽有趣之處化解這種緊張氣氛。但是大多數(shù)當(dāng)代幽默理論家最終都采納了亞里士多德的觀(guān)點(diǎn)：笑話(huà)的基礎(chǔ)就是一種對(duì)不和諧情況的反應(yīng)或解釋?zhuān)@種情況下笑話(huà)的關(guān)鍵語(yǔ)句或者沒(méi)有什么特殊意義，或者貌似荒唐卻聰明地隱含了第二層含義。

　 Graeme Ritchie, a computational linguist in Edinburgh, studies the linguistic structure of jokes in order to understand not only humour but language understanding and reasoning in machines. He says that while there is no single format for jokes, many revolve around a sudden and surprising conceptual shift. A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation that is also apt.

　愛(ài)丁堡的計(jì)算語(yǔ)言學(xué)家 Graeme Ritchie 在研究笑話(huà)的語(yǔ)言結(jié)構(gòu)，不僅為了理解幽默，同時(shí)也為了了解機(jī)器的語(yǔ)言理解能力及推理能力。他說(shuō)，盡管笑話(huà)沒(méi)有固定的模式，但是許多

　歷史老照片不能說(shuō)的秘密慈禧軍閥明末清初文革晚清

　 笑話(huà)都是圍繞某個(gè)出其不意的概念轉(zhuǎn)換展開(kāi)的。喜劇演員會(huì)描述一個(gè)情景，然后給出一個(gè)出人意料卻又恰如其分的解釋。

　 So even if a punchline sounds silly, the listener can see there is a clever semantic fit and that sudden mental "Aha!" is the buzz that makes us laugh. Viewed from this angle, humour is just a form of creative insight, a sudden leap to a new perspective.

　所以，即使笑話(huà)的關(guān)鍵語(yǔ)句聽(tīng)起來(lái)有些無(wú)聊，聽(tīng)眾卻可以意識(shí)到其中有一個(gè)機(jī)靈恰當(dāng)?shù)恼Z(yǔ)義，而心頭掠過(guò)的“對(duì)呀”這一恍然大悟的感嘆就是令我們發(fā)笑的信號(hào)。從這個(gè)角度看來(lái)，幽默就是一種創(chuàng)造性的洞察力，一種向新視角的突越。

　 However, there is another type of laughter, the laughter of social appeasement and it is

　important to understand this too. Play is a crucial part of development in most young mammals. Rats produce ultrasonic squeaks to prevent their scuffles turning nasty. Chimpanzees have a "play-face" - a gaping expression accompanied by a panting "ah, ah" noise. In humans, these signals have mutated into smiles and laughs. Researchers believe social situations, rather

　 than cognitive events such as jokes, trigger these instinctual markers of play or appeasement. People laugh on fairground rides or when tickled to flag a play situation, whether they feel amused or not.

　但是還有另外一種笑，就是社會(huì)交往中緩解緊張局面的笑。理解這種笑也是很重要的。在許多幼小的哺乳動(dòng)物的發(fā)育當(dāng)中，游戲都是關(guān)鍵的一部分。老鼠會(huì)在廝打游玩時(shí)發(fā)出超聲波似的尖叫聲，防止廝打變成真的爭(zhēng)斗。黑猩猩有一種游戲表情，把嘴張得大大的，同時(shí)發(fā)出“啊、啊”的喘息聲。對(duì)于人類(lèi)來(lái)說(shuō)，這些信號(hào)都已轉(zhuǎn)化成為了微笑和大笑。研究人員認(rèn)為，激發(fā)這種本能的游戲信號(hào)或緩解緊張局面信號(hào)的因素不是笑話(huà)等認(rèn)知活動(dòng)，而是社會(huì)場(chǎng)景。人們玩旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬或被別人逗癢，開(kāi)始玩鬧時(shí)，無(wú)論是否感到好笑都會(huì)發(fā)出笑聲。

　Both social and cognitive types of laughter tap into the same expressive machinery in our brains, the emotion and motor circuits that produce smiles and excited vocalisations. However, if

　cognitive laughter is the product of more general thought processes, it should result from more expansive brain activity.

　無(wú)論是社交場(chǎng)合中的笑還是認(rèn)知活動(dòng)中的笑，都是我們大腦中的同一表達(dá)機(jī)制在起作用。情感和運(yùn)動(dòng)神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)令人微笑，并發(fā)出笑聲。但是，如果認(rèn)知活動(dòng)中的笑是更多元的思維過(guò)程的產(chǎn)物的話(huà)，那么這種笑應(yīng)當(dāng)源于更廣泛的大腦活動(dòng)。

　Psychologist VinodGoel investigated humour using the new technique of "single event" functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRl). An MRI scanner uses magnetic fields and radio waves to track the changes in oxygenated blood that accompany mental activity. Until recently, MRI

　scanners needed several minutes of activity and so could not be used to track rapid thought processes such as comprehending a joke. New developments now allow half-second "snapshots" of all sorts of reasoning and problem-solving activities.

　心理學(xué)家 VinodGoel 使用“單事件”官能磁共振成像這一新技術(shù)對(duì)幽默進(jìn)行調(diào)查研究，磁共振成像掃描儀使用磁場(chǎng)和無(wú)線(xiàn)電波跟蹤伴隨著心理活動(dòng)的充氧血液中發(fā)生的變化。直到最近，這種掃描儀都還需要數(shù)分鐘的時(shí)間才能完成掃描，所以無(wú)法用于跟蹤理解笑話(huà)這樣迅速的思維過(guò)程。而新的進(jìn)展使所有的推理和解決問(wèn)題活動(dòng)都能在半秒鐘就快速成像。

　Although Goel felt being inside a brain scanner was hardly the ideal place for appreciating a joke, he found evidence that understanding a joke involves a widespread mental shift. His scans

　showed that at the beginning of a joke the listener"$ prefrontal cortex lit u

　p, particularly the right prefrontal believed to be critical for problem solving. But there was also activity in the temporal lobes at the side of the head (consistent with attempts to rouse stored knowledge) and in many other brain areas. Then when the punchline arrived, a new area sprang to life -the orbital prefrontal cortex. This patch of brain tucked behind the orbits of the eyes is associated with evaluating information.

　盡管 Goel 感到弄清了大腦內(nèi)部的活動(dòng)并不能完美地解決笑話(huà)的理解問(wèn)題，他卻發(fā)現(xiàn)理解笑話(huà)需要思維的大轉(zhuǎn)換。他的掃描儀顯示聽(tīng)笑話(huà)的人在笑話(huà)開(kāi)始時(shí)前額腦皮層會(huì)發(fā)亮，尤其是對(duì)解決問(wèn)題起關(guān)鍵作用的右前額會(huì)發(fā)亮。但是在頭部側(cè)面的顳葉也會(huì)有活動(dòng)，表明在試圖激發(fā)已有的知識(shí)，大腦其他許多區(qū)域也有活動(dòng)。然后，當(dāng)包袱抖開(kāi)時(shí)，一個(gè)新的區(qū)域——前額眼眶腦皮層活躍起來(lái)。這個(gè)蜷縮在眼眶后邊的大腦區(qū)域是與處理信息相聯(lián)系的。

　Making a rapid emotional assessment of the events of the moment is an extremely demanding job for the brain, animal or human. Energy and arousal levels may need, to be retuned in the blink of an eye. These abrupt changes will produce either positive or negative feelings. The

　orbital cortex, the region that becomes active in Goel"s experiment, seems the best candidate for the site that feeds such feelings into higher-level thought processes, with its close connections to the brain"s sub-cortical arou

　sal apparatus and centres of metabolic control.

　無(wú)論人腦還是動(dòng)物的大腦，迅速對(duì)眼前的事件作出情感上的判斷都是一件非常艱巨的任務(wù)。能量和受激反應(yīng)的程度都要在一眨眼的功夫作出調(diào)整。這些突然的改變產(chǎn)生的感覺(jué)既有積極的又有消極的。在 Goel實(shí)驗(yàn)中變得活躍的眼眶腦皮層區(qū)域由于與大腦的次腦皮層喚激結(jié)構(gòu)和新陳代謝控制中樞有著密切的聯(lián)系，似乎最有可能是將這些感覺(jué)轉(zhuǎn)入更高一層的思維過(guò)程的區(qū)域。

　 All warm-blooded animals make constant tiny adjustments in arousal in response to external events, but humans, who have developed a much more complicated internal life as a result of language, respond emotionally not only to their surroundings, but to theirown thoughts. Whenever a sought-for answer snaps into place, there is a shudder of pleased recognition. Creative discovery being pleasurable, humans have learned to find ways of milking this natural response. The fact that jokes tap into our general evaluative machinery explains why the line between funny and disgusting, or funny and frightening, can be so fine. Whether a joke gives pleasure or pain depends on a person"s outlook.

　所有的溫血?jiǎng)游飳?duì)外界變化的刺激都在不斷地作出細(xì)微的調(diào)整，但人類(lèi)由于擁有語(yǔ)言而有著更為復(fù)雜的內(nèi)心活動(dòng)，所以人類(lèi)不僅會(huì)對(duì)周?chē)?a target="_blank" class="keylink">環(huán)境產(chǎn)生感情上的反應(yīng)，而且會(huì)對(duì)自身的思維產(chǎn)生感情上的反應(yīng)。一旦某一苦苦尋找的答案出現(xiàn)了，人就會(huì)突然產(chǎn)生一種快樂(lè)的認(rèn)可感。由于創(chuàng)造性的發(fā)現(xiàn)是令人愉悅的，人類(lèi)學(xué)會(huì)了尋找獵取這種自然反應(yīng)的途徑。笑話(huà)可以進(jìn)入我們的一般評(píng)估機(jī)制，這就說(shuō)明有趣與惡心，或者有趣與恐怖之間的界限是十分微妙的。一個(gè)笑話(huà)給人帶來(lái)的是快樂(lè)還是痛苦取決于一個(gè)人的價(jià)值觀(guān)。

　 Humour may be a luxury, but the mechanism behind it is no evolutionary accident. As

　, a psychologist at William and Mary College in Virginia, says: "I like to think of humour as the distorted mirror of the mind. It"s creative, perceptual, analytical and lingual. If we can figure out how the mind processes humour, then we"ll have a pretty good handle on how it works in general.

　幽默可能算是一種奢侈品，但其背后的機(jī)制卻不是進(jìn)化過(guò)程中的偶然事件。正如弗吉尼亞州威廉—瑪麗學(xué)院的心理學(xué)家 Peter Derks 所說(shuō)：“我樂(lè)意將幽默想像成是思維的歪曲鏡，幽默是創(chuàng)造性的、感性的、與分析和語(yǔ)言有關(guān)的。如果我們能夠找出思維是如何處理幽默的，我們就能從整體上處理好其運(yùn)作機(jī)制。”

　 14 Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways. F 15 Plato believed humourtobe a sign of above-average intelligence.NG

　16 Kant believed that asuccessfuljoke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.T 17 Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle’s view on the subject.F 18 Graeme Ritchie"s work linksjoketo artificialintelligence. T

　19 Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour. NG

　20 Chimpanzeesmake particularnoises when they are playing.

　 T

　Questions 21-23

　The diagram below shows the areas of the brain activated by jokes.

　 Label the diagram.

　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　 Write your answers in boxes 21-23 on your answer sheet.

　Questions 24-27

　Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G below.

　 Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet.

　 24

　One of the brain’s most difficult tasks is to

　25

　Because of the language they have developed, humans

　 26

　Individual responses to humour

　 27

　PeterDerks believes that humour

　A

　react to their own thoughts. B

　helped create language in humans. C

　respond instantly to whatever is happening.

　problem solving

　Temporal lobes

　evaluating information

　C

　A

　F

　D

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