幽默的魅力The Appeal of Humor
曾在公共汽车上见到这样一幕:一个妇女手拎带鱼,蹭脏了一位小伙子笔挺的裤子。

这个妇女却说:“不要紧的,回去洗一洗就行”
Once I witnessed an incident happen on a bus. A young man in trim trousers, which were stained by a woman’s hair tail, met with such remarks, “It doesn’t matter. Give it a wash and it goes”.
分析：首句增添了主语I，巧用met with such remarks 将两个句子共用一个主语使句子表达更加简练。

Give it a wash and it goes生动形象地表现了妇女的不以为意。

闻听此言，小伙子回答说：“这话本该是我讲的，现在被你抢去了，我就只好说一声，谢谢你啦！”
At this, the young man replied,“well,you forestall meby saying what should have been my words. It seems i would have to thank you for it!”
分析：用forestall表现抢，这里的“抢”表示无奈但不是生气。

小伙子这番话，引来乘客们一阵笑声。

如果说小伙子的气度值得称道，那么尤其值得赞赏的，则是小伙子的幽默。

Laughter burst out all around.Surely his good temper is praiseworthy;his humor,however,is even more admirable.
分析：这里转换了主语，巧用笑声做主语更符合英语行文特点。

我们为幽默的魅力所折服，乃是因为它的泾渭分明的态度以含蓄委婉作为“载体”，让人在开怀一笑之余憬然有悟。

Humor has a great deal of appeal for us because of its clear-cut and firm attitude “conveyed”in a gentle,delicate way,which causes a good laugh that is revealing.
分析：多个成语转化为简单句表达，既简练又地道。

笔挺洁净的裤子被湿漉漉、滑腻腻的带鱼蹭脏了，当然让人扫兴。

而那个给别人带来烦恼的妇女，居然连一声道歉也没有，更显得缺少教养。

The young man had every reason to feel annoyed when his smart trousers were smeared by the clammy,dirty fish,all the more so as the wrongdoer,lacking in manners,did not even utter a word of apology.
分析：这里的几个形容词巧用使翻译更加地道。

那个小伙子倘若疾言厉色与之计较，似也无可厚非，而小伙子选择幽默的方式给对方一个辛辣而充满善意的批评，就更是难能可贵了。

Instead of severe criticism which was quite understandable in such a situation, the young man resorted to humor so that a bitter criticism was offered in a gentle and good-natured way. That is really something noble and hard to come by.
分析：这里的动词“疾言厉色与之计较”翻译时转化为名词severe criticism。

用被动语态使句子更加紧密。

生活中有许多事情，尽管有对错之分，但只要不是涉及大是大非，因而用“幽它一默”的办法，其效果往往要比剑拔弩张的怒目相向好得多。

In our daily life a dispute,if not a big issue of principle,can often be resolved by means of a touch of humorwithout having to draw a distinction between right and wrong. That seems to be more effective than to glare at each other.
分析：这里用 a touch of humor表示幽它一默，使得句子十分生动。

用介词without将句子连接的更加紧密。