Why we laugh | Sophie Scott

翻译人员: Twisted Meadows 校对人员: Haochen Wang

Hi. I'm going to talk to you today about laughter,

大家好，今天我要跟大家讲讲「笑」。

and I just want to start by thinking about the first time

我想从我记忆里第一次

I can ever remember noticing laughter.

意识到「笑」这个概念开始讲起。

This is when I was a little girl. I would've been about six.

那是在我还是个小女孩的时候。 我应该是6岁左右。

And I came across my parents doing something unusual,

我见到父母在做一些不寻常的事，

where they were laughing.

那是他们正在笑。

They were laughing very, very hard.

他们笑得特别、特别夸张。

They were lying on the floor laughing.

他们笑得躺到了地上。

They were screaming with laughter.

他们笑得尖叫了起来。

I did not know what they were laughing at, but I wanted in.

我不知道他们在笑什么，但我想要加入。

I wanted to be part of that,

我想成为他们中的一个，

and I kind of sat around at the edge going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)

然后我就围坐在边上 跟着那样，“唬唬！”（笑声）

Now, incidentally, what they were laughing at

顺带一提，他们笑的是

was a song which people used to sing,

一首人们常唱的歌，

which was based around signs in toilets on trains

那是根据火车上 厕所里的标语写成的歌

telling you what you could and could not do

旨在告诉你，在火车上的厕所里

in toilets on trains.

哪些事能做，哪些不能做。

And the thing you have to remember about the English is, of course,

当然，你必须记得英国人

we do have an immensely sophisticated sense of humor.

拥有的那种高深莫测的幽默感。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

At the time, though, I didn't understand anything of that.

当时，尽管，我对这种幽默感完全无法理解。

I just cared about the laughter,

我只是关注于笑声，

and actually, as a neuroscientist, I've come to care about it again.

然后实际上，作为一名神经学家， 我现在要回去研究它了。

And it is a really weird thing to do.

这真是一件奇怪的事。

What I'm going to do now is just play some examples

现在，我会播放一些真人发笑的片段，

of real human beings laughing,

大家来听听那些人的声音， 想想它们有多奇怪，

and I want you think about the sound people make and how odd that can be,

以及笑声实际上是一个种多么原始的声音。

and in fact how primitive laughter is as a sound.

与其说它是一种语言，

It's much more like an animal call than it is like speech.

还不如说是一种动物式的叫唤。

So here we've got some laughter for you. The first one is pretty joyful.

所以现在我们来听一些笑声。 第一个很好玩。

(Audio: Laughing)

（音频：笑声）

Now this next guy, I need him to breathe.

然后是下一位朋友，我想他得呼吸一下了。

There's a point in there where I'm just, like,

他的笑很有特点，就像……

you've got to get some air in there, mate,

你得来点氧气，伙计，

because he just sounds like he's breathing out.

因为他听起来就快断气了。

(Audio: Laughing)

（音频：笑声）

This hasn't been edited; this is him.

这声音是未经编辑的；这就是他。

(Audio: Laughing) (Laughter)

（音频：笑声） （笑声）

And finally we have -- this is a human female laughing.

最后我们来听一位 女性人类的笑声。

And laughter can take us to some pretty odd places in terms of making noises.

笑可以把我们带入一种非常 奇怪的状态，就像在制造噪音。

(Audio: Laughing)

（音频：笑声）

She actually says, "Oh my God, what is that?" in French.

她其实是在用法语说： “我的天，那是个啥？”

We're all kind of with her. I have no idea.

我们都有点被她感染了。 我也不知道为什么。

Now, to understand laughter, you have to look at a part of the body

那么，为了理解「笑」， 你必须重新认识

that psychologists and neuroscientists don't normally spend much time looking at,

心理学家和神经学家通常 不会花太多时间去关注的部位

which is the ribcage,

那就是胸廓。

and it doesn't seem terribly exciting,

它看起来不是很厉害，

but actually you're all using your ribcage all the time.

但实际上，你每时每刻都在使用你的胸廓。

What you're all doing at the moment with your ribcage,

你随时都在用你的胸廓做的事——

and don't stop doing it, is breathing.

千万别停，就是呼吸。

So you use the intercostal muscles, the muscles between your ribs,

所以你用肋间肌， 也就是你肋骨之间的肌肉

to bring air in and out of your lungs

来把空气吸入和排出肺部。

just by expanding and contracting your ribcage,

这是通过胸廓的舒张和收缩来完成的。

and if I was to put a strap around the outside of your chest

而如果我把一条呼吸带缠在你的胸膛

called a breath belt, and just look at that movement,

然后观察它的运动，

you see a rather gentle sinusoidal movement, so that's breathing.

你会看到一个相当温和的正弦曲线运动， 而那就是呼吸的过程。

You're all doing it. Don't stop.

你们大家现在都正在做这件事。别停。

As soon as you start talking,

在你开始讲话的同时，

you start using your breathing completely differently.

你也开始用完全不同的方式进行呼吸。

So what I'm doing now is you see something much more like this.

所以我现在正在做的事 有点像这张图上的曲线。

In talking, you use very fine movements of the ribcage

在讲话时，你可以很好地利用胸廓的运动

to squeeze the air out --

来把空气挤出去——

and in fact, we're the only animals that can do this.

而实际上，我们是唯一一种 可以做这件事的动物。

It's why we can talk at all.

这就是我们为什么可以讲话的原因。

Now, both talking and breathing has a mortal enemy,

然而，无论是说话还是呼吸 都有一个致命的敌人，

and that enemy is laughter,

那就是「笑」。

because what happens when you laugh

因为当你在笑的时候，

is those same muscles start to contract very regularly,

刚才那些肌肉全都开始频繁地收缩，

and you get this very marked sort of zig-zagging,

因此你就会产生这种 非常明显的锯齿状（运动图线），

and that's just squeezing the air out of you.

而这个过程只会把空气排出你的身体。

It literally is that basic a way of making a sound.

这确实是一个发出声音的基本方式。

You could be stamping on somebody, it's having the same effect.

You're just squeezing air out,

你只是在把空气排出去。

and each of those contractions -- Ha! -- gives you a sound.

而每一次那种收缩——哈！ ——都使你发出了声音。

And as the contractions run together, you can get these spasms,

所以当这些收缩都在一起发生时， 你就产生了这类痉挛，

and that's when you start getting these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.

这让你开始做出 （窒息声） 这样的反应。

I'm brilliant at this. (Laughter)

我超擅长这个。（笑声）

Now, in terms of the science of laughter, there isn't very much,

目前，说到关于「笑」的科学研究， 还不太多，

but it does turn out that pretty much everything we think we know

但从现有的研究看来， 我们之前对「笑」的理解

about laughter is wrong.

全部都是错的。

So it's not at all unusual, for example, to hear people to say

所以没什么好奇怪的… 比如，有的人会说

humans are the only animals that laugh.

人类是唯一会笑的动物。

Nietzsche thought that humans are the only animals that laugh.

——尼采认为，人类才是唯一会笑的动物。

In fact, you find laughter throughout the mammals.

但实际上，所有的哺乳类动物都会笑。

It's been well-described and well-observed in primates,

（笑这个现象）在灵长类动物身上 得到了很好的观察和描述，

but you also see it in rats,

但你也可以在老鼠身上观察到，

and wherever you find it --

而无论你在哪发现了它——

humans, primates, rats --

人类，灵长类，鼠类——

you find it associated with things like tickling.

你都会发现它们是伴随着「挠痒」之类的活动。

That's the same for humans.

这在人类身上也适用。

You find it associated with play, and all mammals play.

你会发现笑是在玩耍中发生的， 而所有的哺乳类动物都会玩耍。

And wherever you find it, it's associated with interactions.

而无论它在哪里发生， 发生时也总是与互动有关。

So Robert Provine, who has done a lot of work on this,

所以Robert Provine， 在这方面进行大量研究之后指出

has pointed out that you are 30 times more likely to laugh

你和别的人在一起的时候， 比你一个人单独呆着

if you are with somebody else than if you're on your own,

发笑的概率高出30倍。

and where you find most laughter

而几乎所有的笑

is in social interactions like conversation.

都发生在社交过程中， 比如与人交谈。

So if you ask human beings, "When do you laugh?"

所以如果你问人类： “你会在什么时候笑？”

they'll talk about comedy and they'll talk about humor and they'll talk about jokes.

他们会说遇到滑稽的、幽默的事，或是讲笑话的时候。

If you look at when they laugh, they're laughing with their friends.

如果你观察他们发笑的时机， 会发现那都是和朋友在一起的时候。

And when we laugh with people, we're hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.

而当我们一起大笑时，我们 实际上很少是为某个笑话而笑的。

You are laughing to show people that you understand them,

你笑了，可能是为了表达你理解了对方，

that you agree with them, that you're part of the same group as them.

你同意他们的观点， 你跟他们站在同一边。

You're laughing to show that you like them.

你笑了，可能是为了表达你喜欢他们。

You might even love them.

甚至可能是爱着他们。

You're doing all that at the same time as talking to them,

你在与人交谈的同时 做着所有的这一切，

and the laughter is doing a lot of that emotional work for you.

而你的笑替你完成了 大量的这种情绪表达工作。

Something that Robert Provine has pointed out, as you can see here,

Robert Provine 指出的一些事情， 就像你在这儿看到的，

and the reason why we were laughing

就是我们发笑的原因。

when we heard those funny laughs at the start,

我们刚才听到的那些搞笑的笑声，

and why I was laughing when I found my parents laughing,

以及我在看到父母狂笑的时候，为什么会想笑，

is that it's an enormously behaviorally contagious effect.

是因为，它其实是一个巨大的 行为上的传染效应。

You can catch laughter from somebody else,

你可以从别人那里获得笑点，

and you are more likely to catch laughter off somebody else if you know them.

而且这在熟人之间更容易发生。

So it's still modulated by this social context.

所以这依然是被社会环境所调控的现象。

You have to put humor to one side

你得把「幽默」放到一边，

and think about the social meaning of laughter

而去考虑「笑」的社会意义。

because that's where its origins lie.

因为这是它的起源所在。

Now, something I've got very interested in is different kinds of laughter,

我非常感兴趣的一点是， 「笑」有多少个不同的种类，

and we have some neurobiological evidence about how human beings vocalize

我们有一些关于人类表达的 神经生物学的证据表明

that suggests there might be two kinds of laughs that we have.

我们可能只有2种类型的笑。

So it seems possible that the neurobiology for helpless, involuntary laughter,

所以看起来，很有可能， 那种难以抑制的、不由自主的笑，

like my parents lying on the floor screaming about a silly song,

就像我父母为一首愚蠢的歌 笑得躺在地上尖叫的那种笑，

might have a different basis to it than some of that more polite

可能与那种非常温和的， 你常遇到的那种社交性质的笑

social laughter that you encounter, which isn't horrible laughter,

有着神经神物学上的本质区别。

but it's behavior somebody is doing as part of their communicative act to you,

但它依然是人们进行交际时的一种行为表现，

part of their interaction with you; they are choosing to do this.

是与人交互的一部分； 是他们选择的互动方式。

In our evolution, we have developed two different ways of vocalizing.

在我们的进化过程中，我们 产生了2种不同的表达方式。

Involuntary vocalizations are part of an older system

不自主的表达属于比较古老的一套表达系统，

than the more voluntary vocalizations like the speech I'm doing now.

而自愿性地表达，就像我现在正在做的 这个演讲，则属于新的系统。

So we might imagine that laughter might actually have two different roots.

所以我们可以想象，「笑」实际上 可能来自于2个完全不同的根源。

So I've been looking at this in more detail.

我对这方面做了更细致的研究。

To do this, we've had to make recordings of people laughing,

为了做这个，我们必须录下人们的笑声，

and we've had to do whatever it takes to make people laugh,

首先我们得，想尽办法把人们逗笑，

and we got those same people to produce more posed, social laughter.

然后我们再让同样的人， 去呈现装腔作势的、社交性质的笑。

So imagine your friend told a joke,

所以假设你的朋友讲了个笑话，

and you're laughing because you like your friend,

你被逗笑了，因为你喜欢你的朋友

but not really because the joke's all that.

但完全不是因为笑话很好笑。

So I'm going to play you a couple of those.

现在我来给你们演示一组这样的实验。

I want you to tell me if you think this laughter is real laughter,

我需要你们告诉我这个笑是真的，

or if you think it's posed.

还是让你觉得装腔作势。

So is this involuntary laughter or more voluntary laughter?

它们究竟是不由自主的笑 还是故意发出的笑？

(Audio: Laughing)

（音频：笑声）

What does that sound like to you?

你觉得这声音怎么样？

Audience: Posed. Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.

观众：装腔作势。 苏菲·斯科特：装腔作势？是的。

How about this one?

那听听这个呢？

(Audio: Laughing)

（音频：笑声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'm the best.

我说过我很擅长这个。

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑声）（鼓掌）

Not really.

我其实不擅长。

No, that was helpless laughter,

这确实是个难以抑制的笑，

and in fact, to record that, all they had to do was record me

而实际上，为了录下这个， 他们只需要让我看着自己的朋友

watching one of my friends listening to something I knew she wanted to laugh at,

听一段（我知道她肯定会笑的）录音，

and I just started doing this.

我立刻就笑成了这样。

What you find is that people are good at telling the difference

你会发现人们很擅长区分

between real and posed laughter.

真笑和假笑。

They seem to be different things to us.

对我们来说这是不同的两件事。

Interestingly, you see something quite similar with chimpanzees.

有趣的是，我们发现黑猩猩 在某些方面与人非常相似。

Chimpanzees laugh differently if they're being tickled

黑猩猩在被挠痒时的笑

than if they're playing with each other,

和他们玩耍时的笑也是不同的，

and we might be seeing something like that here,

这一点和我们很像，

involuntary laughter, tickling laughter, being different from social laughter.

不自主的笑、被挠痒的笑， 与社交性的笑是不同的。

They're acoustically very different.

它们从声音上就有大不同。

The real laughs are longer. They're higher in pitch.

真笑声音更长。音调更高。

When you start laughing hard,

如果你笑得很夸张，

you start squeezing air out from your lungs

你就会用更大的压力将空气排出体外，

under much higher pressures than you could ever produce voluntarily.

你在主动去做时 制造不出这么大的压力。

For example, I could never pitch my voice that high to sing.

举个例子，我唱歌时 绝不能将音调提到那么高。

Also, you start to get these sort of contractions and weird whistling sounds,

（笑的同时），你就产生了 这一类（锯齿状）收缩和怪异的呼啸声。

all of which mean that real laughter is extremely easy,

所有的这些都表明， 真笑是极易被识别的，

or feels extremely easy to spot.

或者说极易被感受到的。

In contrast, posed laughter, we might think it sounds a bit fake.

相反，装腔作势的笑， 想起来可能会有点假。

Actually, it's not, it's actually an important social cue.

其实，它不会。 实际上它是一个重要的社会线索。

We use it a lot, we're choosing to laugh in a lot of situations,

我们经常使用它， 我们选择在很多场合里发笑，

and it seems to be its own thing.

而且笑得让人觉得他真的被逗乐。

So, for example, you find nasality in posed laughter,

比如说，你会发现假笑中的鼻音，

that kind of "ha ha ha ha ha" sound

那种“哈哈哈哈哈”的声音。

that you never get, you could not do, if you were laughing involuntarily.

那是你从未发出过的声音， 你在不由自主的笑声里做不到这样。

So they do seem to be genuinely these two different sorts of things.

所以这看起来真的是两件不同的事情。

We took it into the scanner to see how brains respond

我们使用扫描仪来观察了

when you hear laughter.

大脑在你听到笑声时的反应。

And when you do this, this is a really boring experiment.

进行这种扫描，是一个非常无聊的实验过程。

We just played people real and posed laughs.

我们只需要播放别人的真笑和假笑。

We didn't tell them it was a study on laughter.

我们没有说这是个关于笑的研究。

We put other sounds in there to distract them,

我们还会播放一些别的声音来转移注意，

and all they're doing is lying listening to sounds.

而他们只需要躺着，听那些声音。

We don't tell them to do anything.

我们没叫他们做任何事。

Nonetheless, when you hear real laughter and when you hear posed laughter,

然而，他们在听到真笑和假笑时，

the brains are responding completely differently,

大脑里的反应是完全不同的，

significantly differently.

显著的不同。

What you see in the regions in blue, which lies in auditory cortex,

你看到的蓝色区域里，是听觉皮层，

are the brain areas that respond more to the real laughs,

这是大脑内对真笑做出更多反应的区域，

and what seems to be the case,

并且看起来似乎…

when you hear somebody laughing involuntarily,

当你听到有人不由自主地发笑时，

you hear sounds you would never hear in any other context.

你会听到你在别的环境中从未听过的声音。

It's very unambiguous,

这一点是毫不含糊的，

and it seems to be associated with greater auditory processing

看起来这种新奇的声音是与大量的

of these novel sounds.

听觉过程有关的。

In contrast, when you hear somebody laughing in a posed way,

相反，当人们听到假笑时，

what you see are these regions in pink,

你会看到这个粉色的区域，

which are occupying brain areas associated with mentalizing,

也就是大脑内与心理有关的部分，

thinking about what somebody else is thinking.

用来思考别人在想什么。

And I think what that means is,

而我觉得这代表了，

even if you're having your brain scanned, which is completely boring

你用大脑扫描来做研究， 即使研究过程枯燥无谓

and not very interesting,

一点都不有趣，

when you hear somebody going, "A ha ha ha ha ha,"

当你听到有人笑得， “啊哈哈哈哈哈”

you're trying to work out why they're laughing.

你仍然会试着去找出他们笑的原因。

Laughter is always meaningful.

笑总是有原因的。

You are always trying to understand it in context,

你总是试图去理解它在当前环境下的意义，

even if, as far as you are concerned, at that point in time,

哪怕，你已经清楚地知道， 在进行实验的时候，

it has not necessarily anything to do with you,

它们跟你没有任何的关系，

you still want to know why those people are laughing.

你仍然想要知道 为什么那些人会笑。

Now, we've had the opportunity to look at how people hear real and posed laughter

然后，我们又有机会研究不同年龄阶段的人对

across the age range.

真笑和假笑有些什么反应。

So this is an online experiment we ran with the Royal Society,

这是我们与皇家学会共同进行的一个在线实验，

and here we just asked people two questions.

实验里我们只问人们两个问题。

First of all, they heard some laughs,

首先，他们会听一些笑声，

and they had to say, how real or posed do these laughs sound?

然后他们得回答：这些笑声 听起来有多真实或者多假？

The real laughs are shown in red and the posed laughs are shown in blue.

真笑用红色表示， 假笑用蓝色表示。

What you see is there is a rapid onset.

你可以看到一个陡峭的开端。

As you get older, you get better and better at spotting real laughter.

随着年龄的增长， 人们越来越擅长识别真笑。

So six-year-olds are at chance, they can't really hear the difference.

六岁的孩子只能猜测真笑和假笑， 他们不能真的听出两种笑的不同。

By the time you are older, you get better,

年纪越大，越擅长。

but interestingly, you do not hit peak performance in this dataset

但有趣的一点是，从这些数据中，

until you are in your late 30s and early 40s.

直到三四十岁，你都找不到一个高峰点。

You don't understand laughter fully by the time you hit puberty.

你不会因为度过了青春期就完全理解笑声。

You don't understand laughter fully by the time your brain has matured

你也不会因为头脑的成熟而完全理解笑声

at the end of your teens.

即使你的青年时期已经结束。

You're learning about laughter throughout your entire early adult life.

你对笑声的学习，贯穿了 整个成年人生的前半部分。

If we turn the question around and now say not, what does the laughter sound like

如果我们把问题反过来， 不再关心笑声听起来

in terms of being real or posed, but we say,

像真笑还是假笑，而是去问

how much does this laughter make you want to laugh,

听到这些「笑」， 你被多大程度地感染，

how contagious is this laughter to you, we see a different profile.

多想跟着一起笑， 我们就会发现另一番结果。

And here, the younger you are,

就是这样，人越年轻，

the more you want to join in when you hear laughter.

越容易跟着笑声笑起来。

Remember me laughing with my parents when I had no idea what was going on.

别忘了我小时候在不清楚发生了什么 的时候，就已经跟着父母笑起来了。

You really can see this.

这确实是符合现实的。

Now everybody, young and old,

那么现在，所有人，无论老幼，

finds the real laughs more contagious than the posed laughs,

都觉得真笑比假笑更有感染力，

but as you get older, it all becomes less contagious to you.

但随着年龄的增长，它们 都变得不那么有感染力了。

Now, either we're all just becoming really grumpy as we get older,

要么是我们的脾气随着自身衰老变坏了，

or it may mean that as you understand laughter better,

或者，随着你对笑的理解加深，

and you are getting better at doing that,

你就越来越擅长做这个，

you need more than just hearing people laugh to want to laugh.

你不再单纯因为听到别人笑 就想跟着笑了。

You need the social stuff there.

你去要一些社会性的东西去激发它。

So we've got a very interesting behavior

因此我们获得了一些很有趣的现象

about which a lot of our lay assumptions are incorrect,

表明之前的很多假设都是不正确的，

but I'm coming to see that actually there's even more to laughter

但我逐渐发现「笑」还有更多含义，

than it's an important social emotion we should look at,

不止是一种重要的社交情绪。

because it turns out people are phenomenally nuanced

因为人们在使用「笑」时，有着

in terms of how we use laughter.

不同寻常的细微差别。

There's a really lovely set of studies coming out

加利福尼亚的 Robert Levenson 实验室

from Robert Levenson's lab in California,

做了一系列非常可爱的研究，

where he's doing a longitudinal study with couples.

是关于情侣的纵向研究。

He gets married couples, men and women, into the lab,

他把已婚夫妇双方 请到实验室来，

and he gives them stressful conversations to have

他会和他们谈论一些很有压力的话题，

while he wires them up to a polygraph so he can see them becoming stressed.

并用测谎仪监测，看他们受压的程度。

So you've got the two of them in there, and he'll say to the husband,

于是你会看到两个人来到实验室里， 他对丈夫说：

"Tell me something that your wife does that irritates you."

“告诉我一些你的妻子激怒你的例子。”

And what you see is immediately --

你会看到结果是瞬时的——

just run that one through your head briefly, you and your partner --

只需要让这个念头在你头脑中 简单闪过一下，你和你的伴侣——

you can imagine everybody gets a bit more stressed as soon as that starts.

你可以想象到，随着实验的开始 每个人都感受到了压力。

You can see physically, people become more stressed.

你可以看到，人们 从生理上感到了更大压力。

What he finds is that the couples who manage that feeling of stress

而他发现了一个现象， 情侣们会通过「笑」来

with laughter, positive emotions like laughter,

控制这种受压的感觉， 通过「笑」这样的乐观情绪，

not only immediately become less stressed,

不仅是在笑的瞬间降低了压力，

they can see them physically feeling better,

可以发现他们从生理上感觉到了放松，

they're dealing with this unpleasant situation better together,

他们一起搞定了这个令人不快的状况，

they are also the couples that report

被试者正是那些

high levels of satisfaction in their relationship

在夫妻关系中拥有更高满意度的情侣

and they stay together for longer.

而且这样的情侣在一起待的更久。

So in fact, when you look at close relationships,

所以实际上，当你研究亲密关系时，

laughter is a phenomenally useful index

笑是一条关于人们如何

of how people are regulating their emotions together.

共同调节他们的情绪 的非常有用的线索。

We're not just emitting it at each other to show that we like each other,

我们不止是相互发出笑声 来表现对彼此的喜爱，

we're making ourselves feel better together.

我们还在用笑来 让双方感觉舒服。

Now, I don't think this is going to be limited to romantic relationships.

然而，我并不认为这种现象 是仅限于恋爱关系中的。

I think this is probably going to be a characteristic

我想它很可能是所有亲密情感关系的特性，

of close emotional relationships such as you might have with friends,

就像你和朋友之间的状态，

which explains my next clip,

这解释了我的下一个要播放的内容，

which is of a YouTube video of some young men in the former East Germany

那是一个 YouTube 视频， 关于几个前东德的年轻人

on making a video to promote their heavy metal band,

在制作视频，来宣传 他们的重金属乐队，

and it's extremely macho, and the mood is very serious,

它非常硬汉， 气氛非常严肃，

and I want you to notice what happens in terms of laughter

我想让大家注意： 当事情出错的时候，

when things go wrong

「笑」起到了什么作用，

and how quickly that happens, and how that changes the mood.

它发生的有多快， 以及它怎样改变了气氛。

He's cold. He's about to get wet. He's got swimming trunks on,

他很冷。他本来会被弄湿。 他穿着游泳裤，

got a towel.

还有一条毛巾。

Ice.

冰。

What might possibly happen?

可能会发生什么？

Video starts.

视频开始录了。

Serious mood.

严肃的氛围。

And his friends are already laughing. They are already laughing, hard.

他的朋友已经开始笑了。 他们已经在笑了，笑得很夸张。

He's not laughing yet.

他还没开始笑。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

He's starting to go now.

他也开始这么做了。

And now they're all off.

他们全都倒了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

They're on the floor.

他们笑到了地上。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The thing I really like about that is it's all very serious

我喜欢这个视频的一点是 它原本全都是非常严肃的，

until he jumps onto the ice, and as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,

直到他跳到了冰上， 而冰没有应声而破，

but also there isn't blood and bone everywhere,

但是当然，他也没有伤得头破血流，

his friends start laughing.

所以他的朋友们开始笑了。

And imagine if that had played him out with him standing there going,

想象一下，如果他是站在那里说，

"No seriously, Heinrich, I think this is broken,"

“说真的，Heinrich，我觉得这里摔坏了，”

we wouldn't enjoy watching that. That would be stressful.

我们不会觉得这个视频很有趣。 那会让人很压抑。

Or if he was running around with a visibly broken leg laughing,

或者，他一边笑一边拖着流血的腿四处跑，

and his friends are going, "Heinrich, I think we need to go to the hospital now,"

然后他的朋友说： “Heinrich，我想我们得立即去医院了，”

that also wouldn't be funny.

那样也不会让人觉得好笑。

The fact that the laughter works,

事实就是，「笑」起作用了，

it gets him from a painful, embarrassing, difficult situation,

笑把他的一个痛苦、尴尬、难办的处境，

into a funny situation, into what we're actually enjoying there,

变成了一个有趣的状况， 变成了让我们都很开心的状况，

and I think that's a really interesting use,

而我想这真是「笑」的一个很有趣的用处，

and it's actually happening all the time.

它实际上每时每刻都在发生。

For example, I can remember something like this happening

举个例子，我还记得类似的一件发生在

at my father's funeral.

我父亲葬礼上的事情。

We weren't jumping around on the ice in our underpants.

当时我们不是 穿着内裤在往冰上跳。

We're not Canadian.

我们不是加拿大人。

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑声）（掌声）

These events are always difficult, I had a relative who was being a bit difficult,

这类（葬礼）活动总是困难的， 我有个亲戚遇到了点麻烦事、

my mum was not in a good place,

我母亲又站错了地方，

and I can remember finding myself just before the whole thing started

我还记得我在一切开始之前，正在

telling this story about something that happened in a 1970s sitcom,

讲一个发生在20世纪70年代 情景喜剧里的故事，

and I just thought at the time, I don't know why I'm doing this,

那时我想，在这个时候， 我不知道我干嘛要讲这个，

and what I realized I was doing

然后我意识到我是在

was I was coming up with something from somewhere

我是在努力从哪想点什么有用的出来

I could use to make her laugh together with me.

让她和我一起笑一笑。

It was a very basic reaction to find some reason we can do this.

这是为了找点理由来笑的 一个非常基本的反应。

We can laugh together. We're going to get through this.

我们可以一起笑一笑。 我们能渡过这一段。

We're going to be okay.

我们会好起来的。

And in fact, all of us are doing this all the time.

实际上，我们每个人 每天都在做这样的事。

You do it so often, you don't even notice it.

你做得太多以至于都忽略了它的存在。

Everybody underestimates how often they laugh,

每个人都低估了自己笑得有多频繁，

and you're doing something, when you laugh with people,

并且，当你和别人一起笑时， 你做的那些事情，

that's actually letting you access a really ancient evolutionary system

真的让你进入到了古老的进化系统中

that mammals have evolved to make and maintain social bonds,

那是所有哺乳动物演化来 制造和维持社会纽带的系统，

and clearly to regulate emotions, to make ourselves feel better.

它还能明显地调节情绪， 让我们感到好受一些。

It's not something specific to humans -- it's a really ancient behavior

这不是人类特有的—— 这真的是一种古老的行为

which really helps us regulate how we feel and makes us feel better.

「笑」确实帮着我们调节自身的感受， 并让我们感到好受一些。

In other words, when it comes to laughter,

换句话说，在「笑」这一点上，

you and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals. (Laughter)

你和我，亲爱的，都只是哺乳动物。

Thank you.

谢谢。

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢各位。（掌声）