经济学人206:美国式幽默-有趣的人

 　　American humour

　　美式幽默
　　Funny man
　　有趣的人
　　The talent of an American lyricist
　　一位富有天赋的美国抒情诗人
　　CALVIN TRILLIN made his reputation over four decades as the author of “US Journal” in the New Yorker, reporting extensively about serious and often tragic 1 subjects such as race relations and crime. He was also among the first writers to grasp that American cuisine 2 is a good way to understand the nation’s vigorous and various cultures. But Mr Trillin is incapable 3 of resisting the temptation of comedy. The jokes kept on welling up and Mr Trillin made a parallel reputation as a writer of funny stuff.
　　卡尔文.特里林作为《纽约客》美国日报作者享誉盛名四十余载，广泛的报道种族关系和犯罪这类严肃而悲痛的题材文章。他是首位发现美国烹饪是了解美国朝气而丰富文化的良好途径的作家之一。但是特里林无法抗拒喜剧的诱惑，创作出许多笑话。因此，他也因创作滑稽有趣的作品而享有同等声望。
　　He belongs to a tradition that included distinguished 4 journalists such as Art Buchwald in the Washington Post, and Russell Baker 5 at the New York Times. Each might regard the idea as risible 6, but their ability to deflate the reputations of self-important politicians and men of business makes classy moralists of them.
　　他是一位传统派作家，还有华盛顿邮报和纽约时报著名的新闻记者阿尔特?布克沃尔德和拉塞尔贝克。每位想法独特有趣，而他们有能力减少高傲政客和商业人士的声望和影响力，因此他们可称为优秀道德家。
　　The title of this collection of his humorous writings is the first of many jokes. Mr Trillin makes fun of the arrival in the Port of Galveston, Texas, in 1908, from somewhere “near Kiev”, of his father and his Uncle Benny. Apparently 7, Jacob Schiff, an eminent 8 German Jewish banker was embarrassed by the poor, huddled 9 masses from eastern Europe cluttering 10 up New York at the time and financed the detour 11 to the south-west. The thought is rather appalling 12, but Mr Trillin makes it work for him: “You can say what you want to about my Uncle Benny, but he never made his living as a money lender.”
　　幽默集锦是特里林第一部笑话作品。他取笑他的父亲和叔叔本尼从基辅附近的某个地方在1908年到达德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿。大批来自东欧的贫穷民众使纽约异常杂乱拥挤，杰出的德国犹太银行家雅各布.希夫很明显对此感到不安，并资助他们绕道去往美国西南部。这种想法非常令人震惊。但是特里林成功的为他开脱：你可以随便我评论我叔叔本尼，但是他从未以放贷人为生。
　　Although Mr Trillin graduated from Yale University (his father encouraged him to go east having read Owen Johnson’s 1911 tale, “Stover at Yale”), he was brought up in Kansas City, Missouri. This led him to found the Missouri School of Poetry, with a membership of two—himself and T.S. Eliot, who was born in St Louis. In truth, he is more at home in the School of Ogden Nash of Rye, New York.
　　虽然特里林毕业于耶鲁大学（他父亲在读完欧文.约翰逊的1911故事《耶鲁的柴火》这本书后，鼓励他去东部），但是他生长在密苏里堪萨斯城。这样，他与另一名成员创立了密苏里诗歌学派，另一名成员是生于圣路易斯的艾略特诗人。其实，他更多的还是待在纽约黑麦奥格登.纳什学校。
　　Mr Trillin describes himself as a “Deadline Poet” because of the rhyming verses he contributes regularly to the Nation. Happily, there are pages of them in this book. One sample, after a headline in the New York Times: “SEC Accuses Goldman of Fraud in Housing Deal”:
　　特里林称他自己为“死线诗人”，因为他定期在《国家》上发布诗歌。庆幸的是，这本书里摘录了许多他的诗歌。如在纽约时报大标题文章“证券交易委员会指控高盛房屋交易诈骗”。
　　They’re doing God’s work, their CEO said.
　　They’re the kings of the Street.
　　They are regal.
　　So now we must ask if God ever knew
　　That some of his work was illegal.
　　他们正做的是上帝赋予的工作，他们的首席执行官说道。
　　他们是街道国王。
　　他们是帝王。
　　因此我们现在必须问问上帝
　　问他是否知道他的一些工作是非法行为。