演讲题目：Situational irony: The opposite of what you think

演讲简介：

本课清楚划分什么是真正的讽刺，即什么是人们以为的讽刺。Christopher Warner想要澄清事实：唯有在发生的事和预料的完全相反的情况，才能叫讽刺。



中英文字幕

Picture this: your friend and you are watching a sitcom and a sassy sidekick walks into a room, carrying a four-tiered wedding cake.

想象一下：你和朋友正在看一出情境喜剧，剧中一位时髦帅气的配角走了进来，手捧着一个四层的婚礼蛋糕。

He trips, falls, and face-plants into the cake.

他滑了一跤，跌倒了，还一头栽进蛋糕里。

Your friend doubles over with laughter and says, "It's so ridiculous!

你的朋友笑弯了腰说道：“这太荒谬了！

So ironic!" Well, quick, what do you do?

多讽刺啊！好了，这时候你会做什么呢？

Do you laugh along with the laugh track and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go?

你会就这样忽略这个严重对‘讽刺’的误解，然后跟着你的朋友大笑吗？

Or, do you throw caution to the wind and explain the true meaning of irony?

还是，你会先把礼数放一边，然后好好解说‘讽刺’真正的含义呢？

If you're me, you choose the latter.

如果你是我，你就会选择后者。

Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood.

不幸的是，讽刺完全被误解了。

We tend to throw out that term whenever we see something funny or coincidental.

每当我们看到有趣或巧合的事情时，我们往往会抛出这个词。

And while many examples of true irony can be funny, that is not the driving factor of being ironic.

虽然许多真正讽刺的例子可能很有趣，但这并非是讽刺之所以为讽刺的关键。

A situation is only ironic if what happens is the exact opposite of what was expected.

只有当发生的事情与预期完全相反时，情况才具有讽刺意味。

If you expect A, but get B, then you have irony.

如果你预期A，但得到B，那么你就有讽刺意味了。

Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example.

再回头看看刚刚的蛋糕例子吧。

When someone walks in precariously balancing something that shouldn't be carried alone, trips, falls, and makes a mess, it is funny,

当有个人摇摇晃晃的扛着一个他不该独自拿的东西，滑了一跤，跌得一踏胡涂，这好笑

but it's not ironic.

但不讽刺，

In fact, you probably expect someone who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip.

事实上，你大概预料得到一个单手拿着一个大蛋糕的人会跌倒。

When he does, reality aligns with expectations, and so that is not irony.

当他这样做时，现实与期望一致，所以这并不是讽刺。

But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal that he'd won at the cake walking event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

但要是这个人走进来的时候，戴着他在1996年亚特兰大奥运扛蛋糕比赛赢的金牌呢？

What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier?

又或者他是一位专业的蛋糕送货员呢？

Then, maybe there would have been a reasonable expectation that he would have been more skilled when carrying a ridiculously large cake.

如果这样，我们就会合理的预计，当他扛着一个大到荒唐的巨型蛋糕时会更加游刃有余。

Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick, irony would have been exemplified.

那么，当这个预期没有成真的时候，'讽刺'就出现了。

Another example.

再举一个例子。

A senior citizen texting and blogging.

一位老年人发短信和写博客。

The common and reasonable expectation of more mature men and women is that they don't like or know technology,

一般我们会预期比较嗯....'成熟'的人们，不喜欢或不了解科技，

that they have a hard time turning on a computer, or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s.

他们会有开计算机的困难，或者他们拥有20世纪80年代的老式砖头块手机。

One should not expect them to be connected, high-tech, or savvy enough to text or to be blogging,

我们不会预计他们会如此信息化，高科技化或是厉害到能发短信写博客，

which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing that "back in my day," they never had.

因为这些玩意对他们来说一定会太新奇，也不会出现在他们的"想当年...”老调子中。

So when Granny pulls out her smart phone to post pictures of her dentures or her grandkids, irony ensues.

因此，当老奶奶拿出智能型手机，发布她的假牙或是孙子的照片时，'讽刺'就出现了。

Reasonable expectations of the situation are not met.

合理的期待和当下情况不符。

That is irony.

这是讽刺。

So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, there are all kinds of situations in life that are.

因此，虽然蛋糕掉落者可能并不具有讽刺意味，但生活中的各种情况都具有讽刺意味。

Go out, and find those true examples of irony.

走出去，找到那些真正的讽刺例子。