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我们喜欢和有幽默感的人在一起，幽默感似乎成了睿智的代名词。幽默不仅是讲几个笑话，它是智慧的体现，是生活的沉淀。幽默可以让你开怀，可以让你健康，可以化解你与他人的矛盾。做个幽默的人吧，给别人带来欢笑，也给自己带来快乐！

The story goes that a certain court jester went too far one day and insulted his king. The king became so infuriated he sentenced the jester to be executed. His court prayed upon the king to have mercy for thes man who had served him well for so many years. After a time, the king relented only enough to give the jester his choice as to how he would like to die. The jester replied,"If it's all the same to you, my Lord, I'd like to die of old age." Certainly in this case, a good sense of humor saved the man's life.

It's true for us as well. We may not be faced with a situation where our wit will save us from an execution, but our sense of humor and the ability to laugh at things has proven health benefits that extend and improve our quality of life. Norman Cousins, in his book Anatomy of an Illness, wrote about how he cured himself of cancer by laughing a good part of each day. He rented films of comedies and watched them for hours on end in his hospital room. He had nothing to lose since he'd been diagnosed as terminal. His "experiment" turned out to be a classic example of the healing powers of laughter. If it worked for Cousins with a life-threatening illness, it can work for us to enhance and protect our good health. We should laugh often and heartily. It's good for our body. Besides, life's too important to take seriously.

参考译文

:幽默的意义

这是关于一个宫廷小丑的故事。这天，他故事讲的有点儿过头，得罪了国王。国王非常恼怒，下令将其处死。他的同伴求情，希望国王能够饶过这个服侍他多年的人。后来，国王有些心软了，但只是让他选择如何死而已。小丑回答说：“陛下，如果您不反对的话，我愿意老死。”无庸质疑，出色的幽默感救了这个人的性命。

对我们来说，幽默感同样重要。我们可能不会遇到用智慧来使我们免于处死的情况，但是幽默感和笑对人生的能力却可以促进身体健康，提高生活质量。诺曼·库辛在他的名为《解剖疾病》的书中记录了他如何通过每天大笑一段时间来治愈癌症的故事。他租了一些喜剧电影然后在病房里连续看上几个小时。自从被诊断出癌症晚期之后，他对死亡淡然处之。他的这个“试验”成为证明大笑的治疗作用的经典例子。如果幽默对这位面临着死亡危险的库辛起作用的话，那么幽默也会促进和保护我们的健康。我们应该经常大笑，而且是发自内心地大笑，这对我们的健康有好处。除此之外，生命如此重要，我们要认真对待。

词汇释义

1.jester 小丑，讲笑话的人

The cap of a jester, decorated to resemble the comb of a rooster.
小丑的帽子小丑的帽子，装饰得像公鸡的肉冠

2.infuriated 狂怒的

She was infuriated by his presumption in making the travel arrangements without first consulting her.
他事先没有和她商量便作好旅行安排，她对他自作主张很生气。

3.healing 有治疗功用的

Please take your time. The body has a marvelous healing process, but it sometimes works more slowly than we'd like.
别着急，人体有一个奇妙的痊愈系统，只是有时比我们希望的要来得慢些。

4.relent 变宽厚，变温和，动怜悯之心

At first she threatened to dismiss us all, but later she relented.
起初她威胁要解雇我们所有的人，但是后来她态度软化了。

5.on end 接连地，连续地

It has been raining for days on end.
一连好几天连续下雨。