Situational irony: The opposite of what you think - Christopher Warner

情境式讽刺:于你预想的相反 - Christopher Warner

Translator: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Minji Seo 校对人员: Sherry Chen

Picture this:

想象一下：

your friend and you are watching a sitcom

你和朋友正在看一出情境喜剧

and a sassy sidekick walks into a room,

剧中一位时髦帅气的配角走了进来

carrying a four-tiered wedding cake.

手捧着一个四层的婚礼蛋糕

He trips,

falls,

他滑了一跤

跌倒了

and face-plants into the cake.

还一头栽进蛋糕里

Your friend doubles over with laughter and says,

你的朋友笑弯了腰说道：

"It's so ridiculous! So ironic!"

这实在太可笑了！多讽刺啊！

Well, quick, what do you do?

好了，这时候你会做什么呢？

Do you laugh along with the laugh track

你会就这样忽略这个严重对‘讽刺’的误解

and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go?

然后跟着你的朋友大笑吗？

Or, do you throw caution to the wind

还是，你会先把礼数放一边

and explain the true meaning of irony?

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.

很不幸的，‘讽刺’一直被完全误解了

We tend to throw out that term

我们往往把它随意地用在任何

whenever we see something funny or coincidental.

我们认为好笑或是凑巧的情况

And while many examples of true irony can be funny,

虽然很多讽刺的例子是好笑的

that is not the driving factor of being ironic.

但这并非是讽刺之所以为讽刺的关键

A situation is only ironic if what happens

唯有在发生的事和预料的完全相反的情况

is the exact opposite of what was expected.

才叫 ‘讽刺’

If you expect A, but get B,

如果你预期的是Ａ却得到Ｂ

then you have irony.

那就是 ‘讽刺’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

当有个人摇摇晃晃的扛着一个

that shouldn't be carried alone,

他不该独自拿的东西

trips, falls, and makes a mess,

滑了一跤，跌得一踏胡涂

it is funny, but it's not ironic.

这好笑但不讽刺

In fact, you probably expect someone

事实上，你大概预料得到

who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip.

一个单手拿着一个大蛋糕的人会跌倒

When he does, reality aligns with expectations,

当他真的跌倒了，预料和现实相符

and so that is not irony.

所以这不是 ‘讽刺'

But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal

但要是这个人走进来的时候

that he'd won at the cake walking event

戴着他在1996年亚特兰大奥运

at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

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

如果这样，我们就会合理的预计

that he would have been more skilled

当他扛着一个大到荒唐的巨型蛋糕时

when carrying a ridiculously large cake.

会更加游刃有余

Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick,

那么，当这个预期没有成真的时候

irony would have been exemplified.

'讽刺'就出现了

Another example.

再举一个例子

A senior citizen texting and blogging.

一位长辈传简讯又写部落格

The common and reasonable expectation

一般我们会预期比较

of more mature men and women

嗯....'成熟'的人们

is that they don't like or know technology,

不喜欢或不了解科技

that they have a hard time turning on a computer,

他们会有开计算机的困难

or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s.

或是还在用80年代的黑金刚

One should not expect them to be connected,

我们不会预计他们会如此信息化 ，

high-tech,

高科技化

or savvy enough to text

或是厉害到能传简讯

or to be blogging,

写部落格

which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing

因为这些玩意对他们来说一定会太新奇

that "back in my day," they never had.

也不会出现在他们的"想当年...”老调子中

So when Granny pulls out her smart phone

因此，当老奶奶拿出智能型手机

to post pictures of her dentures

发布她的假牙

or her grandkids,

或是孙子的照片时

irony ensues.

'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.

这就是 '讽刺'

So while the cake dropper might not be ironic,

因此，虽然那个人搞掉了蛋糕并不讽刺

there are all kinds of situations in life that are.

生活中还是有各式各样十分“讽刺”的情况

Go out, and find those true examples of irony.

起身去发现这些真正的“讽刺”吧！