LAUGHTER, 1920. part 5

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LAUGHTER, 1920.

By Max Beerbohm

出處

Nor does it seem to me to matter one jot how such laughter is achieved. Humour may rollick on high planes of fantasy or in depths of silliness. To many people it appeals only from those depths. If it appeal to them irresistibly, they are more enviable than those who are sensitive only to the finer kind of joke and not so sensitive as to be mastered and dissolved by it. Laughter is a thing to be rated according to its own intensity.

至於此類大笑如何可得我亦毫不在乎。幽默能遨遊在高等幻想或低級愚蠢之中。對很多人來說，只能從低級的那種而得。但若他們因此而樂得不可遏抑，倒挺叫人羨慕，相較於只對較精細笑話有感覺，而且又不至敏感到被該笑話所征服與感動的人們來說。大笑是一種依據其自身強度而分高下的事情。

Many years ago I wrote an essay in which I poured scorn on the fun purveyed by the music halls, and on the great public for which that fun was quite good enough. I take that callow scorn back. I fancy that the fun itself was better than it seemed to me, and might not have displeased me if it had been wafted to me in private, in presence of a few friends. A public crowd, because of a lack of broad impersonal humanity in me, rather insulates than absorbs me. Amidst the guffaws of a thousand strangers I become unnaturally grave. If these people were the entertainment, and I the audience, I should be sympathetic enough. But to be one of them is a position that drives me spiritually aloof. Also, there is to me something rather dreary in the notion of going anywhere for the specific purpose of being amused. I prefer that laughter shall take me unawares. Only so can it master and dissolve me. And in this respect, at any rate, I am not peculiar. In music halls and such places, you may hear loud laughter, but — not see silent laughter, not see strong men weak, helpless, suffering, gradually convalescent, dangerously relapsing. Laughter at its greatest and best is not there.

多年前，我寫了篇蔑視歌廳所供應的娛樂的文章，這些娛樂對大眾來說相當足夠。我要收回那不成熟的輕蔑。我想，那些娛樂比我以為的好些，若是在私底下，與三五好友聚在一起，耳邊傳來這些，我也不以為忤。由於性格太有個人色彩，社會大眾不是包容我而是與我隔絕。在千名陌生人的哄笑聲中我顯得嚴肅地不自然。若這些人是娛樂者，而我為觀眾，我應該可以表現出足夠的同情。然而身為他們其中之一員，使我心志孤高。同時，那種為娛樂而專程到某處的想法令我覺得乏味。我寧可大笑是不經意的。惟如此，我才能讓大笑所征服與感動。從這個角度看，我不管怎麼看都不獨特。在歌廳之類的場所，或許你能看到大聲爆笑，但看不到笑到閉氣，使強壯的人變得虛弱，無助，痛苦，漸漸平息又危險的復發。大笑之最大最佳者不在此。

jot [記憶法] [dʒɑt; dʒɔt] 絲毫 (不…) ,一點也 (不…)
rollick [記憶法] [`rɑlɪk; 'rɔlik] 嬉戲; 歡鬧
appeal [記憶法] [ə`pil; ə'pi:l] 有吸引力
enviable [記憶法] [`ɛnvɪəbl; 'ɛnviəbl] 令人羨慕的
master [記憶法] [`mæstɚ; 'mɑ:stə] 支配; 征服
dissolve [記憶法] [dɪ`zɑlv; di'zɔlv] 溶解
intensity [記憶法] [ɪn`tɛnsətɪ; in'tɛnsəti] 強度
pour [記憶法] [por, pɔr, pʊr; pɔ:] 倒出<液體等>
scorn [記憶法] [skɔrn; skɔ:n] 輕蔑,蔑視,嘲笑
purvey [記憶法] [pɚ`vɛ; pə'vɛi] 供應,供給
callow [記憶法] [`kælo; 'kælou] 年輕無經驗的
displeased [記憶法] 不高興的,生氣的
waft [記憶法] [wæft, wɑft; wɑ:ft, wɔft] 使 <東西、氣味等> (隨風) 飄蕩
impersonal [記憶法] [ɪm`pɝsnl; im'pə:snl] 不摻雜個人感情的
insulate [記憶法] [`ɪnsəˌlɛt, `ɪnsjʊ-; 'insjulɛit] 使… 隔絕
guffaw [記憶法] [gʌ`fɔ, gə`fɔ; gʌ'fɔ:] 大笑; 哄笑
aloof [記憶法] [ə`luf; ə'lu:f] 冷漠的,疏遠的
dreary [記憶法] [`drɪrɪ; 'driəri] 無聊的,乏味的
notion [記憶法] [`noʃən; 'nouʃn] 想法,意見
amused [記憶法] 感到有趣的,好玩的
unawares [記憶法] [ˌʌnə`wɛrz; ˌʌnə'wɛəz] 出乎意料地,冷不防地
peculiar [記憶法] [pɪ`kjuljɚ; pi'kju:ljə] 獨特的,專有的
convalescent [記憶法] [ˌkɑnvə`lɛsnt; ˌkɔnvə'lɛsnt] 復原期的,病剛好的
relapsing [記憶法] [醫] 復發的, 回歸的