How to Find Laughter Anywhere | Chris Duffy | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Zoe Walmsley

My favorite part about working in an elementary school

在小學工作讓我最喜歡的一點是

我永遠無法預測 接下來會發生什麼事。

is that I could never predict what was going to happen next.

每天都是嶄新、很棒的一天， 從來不會有無聊的時候。

Every day was a new, incredible day.

There was never a boring moment.

Sometimes, you think that you're handing out a worksheet

有時，

你以為你發的考卷是 幫大家複習各種形狀的名稱，

just reviewing the names of shapes.

But then instead of getting back hexagon and octagon,

可是收回來的考卷上寫的 卻不是六角形和八角形，

you get back this.

而是這個。

["Amy" "Gabriella"]

〔艾咪〕〔蓋布瑞菈〕

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And I think we can agree that is just correct.

我只能說幫形狀取名字也不算錯。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

That’s right, that is Gabriella.

沒錯，那就是蓋布瑞菈。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Or, another time I was teaching a class

或者，

某次我正在教五年級的人類生物學課，

on human biology to my fifth-grade students

when one of them afterwards handed in this anonymous question card.

其中一名學生用匿名方式 傳來這張提問卡。

[What are balls for.]

〔球球是幹嘛用的。〕

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And you know what really gets me about this, what kills me,

你們知道真正讓我 很爆炸的點是什麼嗎？

is we had spent so long studying punctuation.

我們花好長的時間學標點符號，

And he still used a period instead of a question mark.

可是他用的是句點而不是問號。

“What are balls for.” Period.

「球球是幹嘛用的。」句點。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

At the same time that I was teaching elementary school students,

除了教小學生，

周末我也在當地的劇院 教成人即興喜劇。

I was also teaching adults improv comedy at a local theater on the weekends.

This was a group of retired folks,

學生是一群退休人士、

graduate students and semi-successful business people

研究生，和半成功的企業家，

who were paying money to spend their Saturday mornings

每個星期六早上，他們花錢和我 一起在不通風的地下室上課。

in an unventilated basement with me.

And most of the exercises that we were doing together

大部分的時候我們一起練習

were to get them to let go of the self-critical part of their brain,

如何放下大腦中自我批評的部分，

to release the idea that there was a "right" answer to find,

放下那個要找到「正確」答案的想法，

and to instead be more comfortable with their honest, creative,

而更樂於接受自己的 誠實、有創意、獨特的想法。

idiosyncratic thoughts.

Now any elementary school teacher can tell you

任何小學老師都能告訴你，

that getting kids to share their honest, unexpected thoughts,

要讓孩子分享他們腦中 誠實、意想不到的想法，

that's not something you have to cultivate.

並不需要刻意培養。

They will do that whether you want them to or not.

不論你想或不想，他們都會那麼做。

I mean, here are some real questions that kids asked me out of the blue

以下是一些孩子們沒頭沒尾 突然冒出來的問題，

with no context,

during what was supposed to be a silent work time.

而且還是在應該要完全 安靜的時候提問出來的。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

"Is it possible to make myself live longer so that I can see the Sun explode?"

「怎樣可以讓我自己活得夠久， 看到太陽爆炸？」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

"Are pigs actually prejudiced against women,

「豬真的對女人有偏見， 還是那只是種表達方式？」

or is that just an expression?"

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

「如果你弟弟還沒結婚， 他為什麼不娶你媽媽？」

"If your brother isn't married yet,

why doesn't he just marry your mom?"

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And actually, that brings up a really important point,

其實，這說到了一個重點，

那就是：孩子們的想法 不見得一定很好，有時還很糟。

which is that kids' ideas are not always good.

Sometimes they're very bad.

I'm personally very grateful that my mom and my brother are not married.

我只能說我很高興 我弟弟和我媽媽沒有結婚。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

有一些研究發現，我們之中有許多人，

There's some research that suggests that for many of us,

fifth grade is close to the peak of this kind of wildly free,

擁有這種極度自由、無拘無束、 充滿創意的思考能力，

uninhibited, creative thinking.

顛峰期就在五年級左右。

但也不全然如此。

But that does not have to be the case.

我的經驗是，有驚人幽默感的人 和沒有幽默感的人的差別

In my experience, the difference between people with an amazing sense of humor

and those without is often just whether they are willing to accept

通常就在於他們是否願意 注意到也接受自身誠實的反應，

and notice their honest reactions,

or whether they try their hardest to fit them into a box.

或者他們會盡全力 把那些反應套進框架中。

And that can shift over time.

而那能隨時間轉變，我就 看過我的即興喜劇學生轉變。

I saw that shift with my adult improv students.

At first, when we would do an exercise

我們一開始做的練習是，

where they were asked to name seven things in a given category

講出七個同屬一個類別的東西， 越快、越有創意越好，

as quickly and creatively as possible,

many of them would get stuck.

許多人會卡住。

One guy, Rick, a corporate tax lawyer,

有個傢伙，企業稅務律師瑞克，

answered the prompt,

拿到「七種怪異的鞋子」 這個題目，他的答案是：

"Seven weird types of shoes"

by saying, "Brown shoes, white shoes,

「棕色、白鞋、

black shoes, gray shoes."

黑鞋，灰鞋。」

I'm not going to name all the shoes,

不用講，你們已經知道， 就是一堆無聊的鞋子。

it was all a lot of boring shoes, you get it.

但是後來，

But then, after we practiced celebrating our more bizarre thoughts

我們針對那些古怪的想法 練習不去壓抑而是讚揚後，

instead of repressing them,

Rick eventually came up with a list a list that included things like,

瑞克最終想出了一份清單，內容包括：

「沾滿泥土的鞋子、 上面全是金飾的鞋子、

"Shoes covered in mud, shoes covered in gold,

shoes covered in the blood of my enemies.”

染滿我敵人鮮血的鞋子。」

Which is like, that’s a lot, Rick,

事實上，瑞克，這有點過頭了， 真的有點過頭了。

actually, that's a lot, it's really a lot.

But it's also definitely more interesting.

但這也絕對更有意思。

And I think that's the point.

我認為這就是重點。

When we turn off our self-judgment

一旦我們關閉自我評判，

and we just notice the things that stand out to us,

將注意力放在讓人 印象深刻的東西或想法上，

or that we think,

we can surprise ourselves in ways that are hilarious and delightful.

有時反而會意外地 變得很搞笑、很開心。

Every comedian that I know has a notebook or some sort of document

我認識的每位喜劇演員

都有一本筆記本或某種文件

where they keep track of all the little odd things

記錄下他們平日注意到 或想到的怪異小事。

that they notice or think throughout the day.

And what you find, when you start keeping track,

你一旦開始這樣做， 便會發現題材俯拾皆是。

is that there is no shortage of material out there.

There [is] so much to laugh at.

有好多好笑的東西。

And if you have a little bit of courage to allow yourself to be laughed at

而且只要你有一點勇氣 讓自己成為笑柄，也能自嘲的話，

and to laugh at yourself,

你可以發現很多你原本 無法發現的東西。

you can make discoveries

that you never would have otherwise, right?

就像如果你想知道球球 可以幹嘛，那開口問問就對了。

If you want to know what balls are for, sometimes you've got to ask.

I have found that you can find laughter in even the driest places

我發現即使在最枯燥的地方 也可以找到笑點，

if you bring some of that mischievous fifth-grade energy

你只需一點頑皮的五年級能量

to the instructions and to what you're "supposed" to be doing, right?

去聽命做你「應該」做的事情。

It doesn't have to be geometry class.

不一定是幾何課，

It can be an opportunity for you

任何時刻，包括和你的好朋友 蓋布瑞菈相聚的機會。

to hang out with your good friend Gabriella.

Now I have had the most fun when I applied these lessons

我覺得最好玩的

是把我從五年級生那邊學到的東西

that I got from my fifth graders to self-serious adult spaces.

拿去用在那些到自我嚴肅 到不行的成年人身上。

To places where I maybe feel intimidated or like I don't necessarily belong.

甚至用在讓我卻步 或沒有歸屬感的地方。

So, for example, for me personally, LinkedIn.

比如，我個人來說啦， LinkedIn。

Terrifying.

超可怕。

I've never had a professional resume,

我從未有過專業的履歷， 在商業社交場合也很不自在，

I've never been comfortable with business networking,

but I've also always been kind of fascinated by LinkedIn.

但我也一直對 LinkedIn 有點著迷，因為──

Like, they let you make a profile,

你可以在上面建立個人資料， 沒有人會去查你的工作是否屬實。

and they don't verify that you work at the place you say you work.

So I decided I was going to test this out and have some fun.

所以我決定我要測試 這一點，好好玩一下。

I made a profile on LinkedIn

我在 LinkedIn 上的個資 說我是 LinkedIn 的執行長。

where I said that I was the CEO of LinkedIn.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And I didn't think they would even let me do that.

我以為這個計劃應該不會成功，

沒想到真的成了，而且， 在我建立個人檔案之後，

But not only did they, after I made the profile,

one of the most incredible things

發生了我一生中最不可能發生的事：

that has ever happened in my entire life happened.

Which is that LinkedIn sent this email to everyone in my contact list.

LinkedIn 發了下面這封信 給所有我的聯絡人名單上的人。

這是他們發的電子郵件。

They sent that email.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

"Congratulate Chris on the new job.

「恭喜克里斯找到新工作。

Chris Duffy is now CEO of LinkedIn."

克里斯‧達菲現在 是 LinkedIn 的執行長。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

That's a better joke than anything I could ever write in my entire life.

我一輩子也寫不出比這更好笑的笑話。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I was the CEO of LinkedIn on LinkedIn for one year.

在 LinkedIn 上，我擔任了 一年的 LinkedIn 執行長。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And at that one-year mark,

就在滿一年時，

LinkedIn sent yet another email to everyone in my contact list

LinkedIn 又向我所有的聯絡人 發送了另一封電子郵件，

asking them to congratulate me on my work anniversary.

要他們恭喜我工作滿一週年。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And at that point,

就在那時，

I received a message from a woman named Faith

一位名叫費絲的女子傳了訊息給我，

她隸屬 LinkedIn 的 信任與安全團隊。

who worked on LinkedIn's Trust and Security team.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

She said my account was being locked due to concerns about its inaccuracy.

她說我的帳戶被鎖住了， 因為帳戶的資訊不正確。

So I sent her back a photo of my license,

我把我的駕照拍照 傳給她，正反面都有，

front and back,

證明我的名字確實是克里斯‧達菲。

to prove that my name was, in fact, Chris Duffy.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Faith responded.

費絲回覆：

"The thing that we are concerned about is not that your name is not Chris Duffy.

「我們擔心的不是 你的名字是不是克里斯‧達菲。

It's that you are claiming to be the CEO of LinkedIn."

而是你聲稱自己 是 LinkedIn 的執行長。」

So I responded,

我回信說：

"Faith, you are taking a pretty disrespectful tone

「費絲，就一個我的下屬來說， 你的語氣非常不敬。」

for someone who works for me."

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

10 seconds later, she permanently deactivated my account.

十秒鐘後，

她把我的帳戶永久停用了。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

It was a short but glorious stint, running my own personal social network.

這是我個人經營社交網路的 一段短暫卻輝煌的經歷。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And now, what am I up to these days?

那，我最近在做什麼？

I'm so glad you asked.

我很高興你們的提問。

I'm more than just a fifth-grade graduate.

我不只是個五年級畢業生。

I'm actually,

事實上，

I'm the founder and owner of TED.

我是 TED 的創始和負責人。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Congratulate me, you know you want to.

恭喜我吧，你們心裡很想。

Thanks for coming to my conference.

謝謝各位來參加我的大會。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌聲和歡呼）