Hello. It is said that you're asked to come and give a TEDx talk twice in your career:
大家好。据说，在一个人的职业生涯中有两次登上TEDx舞台的机会：
once on the way up, and once on the way down.
一次是在你登上职业巅峰的时候，还有一次是在你落入低谷的时候。
And may I say, "It's great to be back."
我可以说“很高兴回来”吗。
Laughter -- that is our theme today.
对，笑--这就是我们今天的主题。
Laughter -- I may not be able to produce much of it, but will try to shine some light on it, and ask the question:
也许我不能带来很多笑声，但我将试着给它一个定义，我问自己：
what is it, and what is its role in our lives and in our society?
什么是笑声，它在我们生命和所处的社会中扮演着什么样的角色呢？
I want to tell you four jokes today. That's pretty much it.
在此，我想讲四个笑话。差不多就是今天演讲的全部内容啦。
I'm going to tell you four jokes, and we will derive whatever lessons we may from these four jokes.
这四个笑话，或许能让我们从中悟出些东西。
Before I tell you the first joke, as we are in Munich, I'd like to conduct a little experiment.
在我讲第一个笑话前，因为我们在慕尼黑，我想先做一个小实验。
Some terrible things are said about the German sense of humor specifically that you don't have one.
人们对德国人的幽默不敢恭维，甚至可以说德国人根本没有幽默感。
And I'd like to put this horrible assumption to the test and do an experiment.
所以我想把这个糟糕的设想放入测试中，来做一个实验。
So when I tell this first joke, I would ask that only the German people here respond.
因此，第一个笑话，请在座的德国人作出回应。
To either laugh or not laugh, as you see fit.
笑不笑，看你们自己的意愿。
But please, don't force yourself to laugh to skew the results.
但请不要为了改变结果强迫自己笑。
This is a scientific experiment, it's terribly serious. So here is the first joke.
这是一项科学实验，要严肃对待。现在我来讲第一个笑话。
There is a man, he is dying in his bed in his home and he smells, coming from the kitchen, the most sublime smell.
有个人，他在自己家里的床上奄奄一息，这时，他闻到从厨房里传来的诱人香味。
It's the smell of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
这味道像是他最喜欢的碎巧克力曲奇。
And with his last strength, he gets out of bed, and he goes to the kitchen,
他用自己最后的一点气力爬起床，走到厨房，
where his wife of 50 years, is cooking these beautiful chocolate chip cookies.
看到他50岁的妻子正做着那些美味的碎巧克力曲奇。
And they are on a plate of four of them, just out of the oven.
盘子上放着刚出炉的四个曲奇。
And with his last human strength, he reaches over to take one of the biscuits,
凭着最后一丝意志力，他伸手去拿一块曲奇，
and his wife sees him, she rushes over, she slaps his hand, and she says, "No, they are for the funeral."
他的妻子看到了，冲过去拍掉他的手说：“不许吃，这些是给你的葬礼准备的。”
Newsflash, "TEDx talks reveals finally that the Germans have a sense of humor.
好吧，最新报道，“TEDx演讲证实德国人是有幽默感的”。
So, now a statement, here is a statement for you: those who lose the power to laugh, lose the power to think.
所以，现在我来总结一下：那些没有能力笑的人，也没有能力思考。
If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.
如果你失去了笑的能力，那你也失去了思考的能力。
If I can put that another way, the smartest people I know in the world are the funniest.
换另一种说法全世界我所认识的人里最聪明的，往往都是最有趣的。
The smarter they are, the funnier.
他们越聪明，人也越有趣。
And why should that be? For me, the answer is that seriousness is not the correct response to the absurdity of life.
为什么会这样呢？在我看来，这是因为用严肃来面对生活中的荒诞行文，是不对的。
The human comedy that would create beings,
人间喜剧创造出生命，
such as we, who are sophisticated enough to ask the huge questions, "Why are we here?", "Who are we?",
比如我们，会故作世故地问很宏大的问题，“为什么我们在这里？”“我们是谁？”
but be really forever denied an answer and left in a state of existential tension
却总是得不到答案，于是便陷入存在主义的深渊，
which we seek to relieve in various ways, and one of these, the most effective for me is laughter.
我们试着用各种各样的方式走出困境，但在这些方法中，对我最有效的就是去笑。
Two old couples are walking down the street.
有两对老夫妻沿路走着。
Two women are walking in front of the two men, and one of the men says to the other, "What did you do last night?"
两个女人走在两个男人的前面，其中一个男人对另一个说，“你昨天晚上在干嘛？”
And the second man says, "Oh, I went to this restaurant. It was amazing.
那个男人回答说：“噢，我在一家餐厅吃饭。那家餐厅太棒了。
The food was fantastic, and the prices were great. Absolutely super."
不仅东西好吃，价格也很实惠。实在是太棒了。”
And the first one says, "Wow, sounds great. What was the name of the restaurant?"
第一个男的说：“听上去不错哟。这餐厅叫什么？”
And the second man says, "Oh! What's the name of that flower that smells great?
那个男人说，“噢，那朵闻起来很香的花叫什么？
It's red, and on the stems, there are little thorns."
红色的，茎上有刺的那种。”
And the first men says, "Well, that would be the rose."
第一个男人回答，“嗯，应该是玫瑰。”
And the second man says, "Of course."
那个男人说，“对啦。”
"Rose, what was the name of that restaurant we went to last night?"
“Rose（男人的老婆的名字），那家我们昨晚去的餐厅叫什么来着？”
For me, that joke is as priceless as a painting by Monet or a sonnet by Shakespeare.
对我来说，那个笑话，和莫奈的画，莎士比亚的诗一样无价。
For me, laughter has always been extremely important.
对我来说，笑永远是极其重要的。
Seriousness -- I hope you will agree with this statement -- seriousness is dangerous.
严肃--我希望你们能同意我的观点--严肃是危险的。
Seriousness is dangerous, not just for ourselves but also in society.
严肃是危险的，不止对我们自己，对社会也是如此。
And why should that be? I think, it's partly that seriousness, the forces of seriousness, of humorlessness,
为什么会这样呢？我觉得，部分原因是严肃，严肃感和缺乏幽默感会限制我们，
would limit us to narrow thinking, rigid ideology, cruelty, and a tunnel vision
使我们的思维狭隘，意识形态变得死板，变得冷酷，缺乏想象力，
whereas humor obliges us to have an open mind.
而幽默则使我们思维活跃。
It obliges empathy and forgiveness. Humor always forgives.
它使我们有同理心，宽容心。幽默总是帮助人学会宽恕。
The relationship between humor and seriousness has long been understood.
幽默和严肃之间的关系，很早就为人所知。
Winston Churchill, a famous wit, once said,
Winston Churchill，著名才子，曾经说道：
"You cannot hope to understand the most serious things in life, unless you understand the most humorous."
“你永远不能理解生活中最严肃的东西，除非你知道最幽默的是什么。”
The American Civil Rights activist Clarence Darrow wrote, "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think."
美国公民权利活动家Clarence Darrow写道：“如果你失去了笑的力量，那你也失去了思考的力量。”
If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.
如果你失去了笑的力量，那你也失去了思考的力量。
These two men were dealing with politics at a very, very high level,
这两个人都是高层政治家，
and they knew very well that sometimes only humor can break down entrenched positions and rigid ideology.
他们非常清楚地知道，有时候只有幽默可以打破僵局和一成不变的意识形态。
There was a flight, a Lufthansa flight from Munich to New York.
曾经一架汉莎航空公司，从慕尼黑飞往纽约的飞机。
The flight was going very well.
一路都飞行的很顺利。
It was almost in New York, and then there was a tremendous explosion from the right wing of the aircraft,
在快抵达纽约时，飞机的右翼突然发生巨大的爆炸，
and the captain's voice came over the speaker, and he said,
机长通过扬声器对乘客说：
"Ladies and gentlemen, please, we have a problem with the number three engine on the right wing of the aircraft.
“女士们，先生们，现在位于飞机右翼的三号引擎出现了问题。
Please do not panic, we have four engines on this aircraft. We have...
请不要惊慌，我们这架飞机上有四个引擎。我们...
We also now have a problem with the number one engine, but we have two very good...
我们的一号引擎也出现了问题，但是我们还有两个好的...
We have one engine, but I assure you the pilot is most capable of flying the aircraft with only...
我们还剩一个引擎，但是我向你们保证，我们的飞行员都技术娴熟，即使只有...
Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to make a landing on the water.
女士们，先生们，我们将在水上迫降。
I will speak to you from the water. Please do not panic."
我将从水里跟你们说话。请不要惊慌。”
The Lufthansa pilot, of course, makes a spectacular landing on the water.
当然，汉莎航空的飞行员在水上安全迫降了。
And then, the captain's voice comes over the speaker again,
接着，机长的声音再一次从扬声器中传来，
and he says, "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for following my instructions.
他说：“谢谢你们，女士们，先生们，感谢你们听从我的指挥。
Now, please listen very, very carefully to what I am about to say.
现在，请非常仔细地听我接下来要说的话。
All those of you who can swim, please line up on the right wing of the aircraft.
请会游泳的乘客，在飞机的右翼那里排好队。
All those of you who cannot swim, line up on the left wing of the aircraft, and I will speak to you from the water."
不会游泳的，请在飞机的左翼排队。我将从水里跟你们说话。”
So they do everything he says, and they see finally a little captain in a rubber boat rowing to the front of the aircraft,
乘客们纷纷遵照指示，最终在一艘橡皮艇上看到了身材矮小的机长，他正滑向机头，
and he has a loudspeaker, and he says, "Ladies and gentlemen, again, I congratulate you for following my instructions.
拿着扬声器说：“女士们，先生们，再次感谢你们听从我的指挥。
Now please listen carefully to what I am about to say.
现在请听仔细我接下来要说的话。
First, those of you on the right wing of the aircraft, New York is this way.
首先，右翼的乘客，纽约在这个方向。
It is only three nautical miles, the water is warm, and the current is with you. Good luck.
只有三海里远了，水温也很适宜。还是顺流。祝你们好运。
Those of you on the left wing of the aircraft, 'Thank you for flying Lufthansa.'"
左翼的乘客，感谢您乘坐汉莎航班。”

Why do we laugh? Why did you just laugh? Why do any of us laugh?
为什么我们笑了？刚才你们为什么笑了？为什么我们所有人都笑了？
Well, this question has perplexed philosophers for thousands of years.
这个问题让哲学家困惑了几千年。
And the best of them: Plato, Freud, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche.
包括最著名的哲学家：柏拉图，弗洛伊德，维特根斯坦，尼采。
Here is what they came up with.
他们得出的答案是：
They said that the reason we laugh is our ancient response to the passing of animal danger.
我们之所以笑了，是出于我们对于危险的一种古老的反应。
That's the best they could come up with, that we laugh because it's our ancient response to the passing of animal danger,
这就是他们能总结出的最好的回答，出于我们对危险做出的古老的反应，
from which I think, people, we could conclude that asking a philosopher to define comedy
我觉得从这个回答中，我们可以推论出让一位哲学家定义幽默，
is like asking Stevie Wonder to help you find your car keys.
就像让Stevie Wonder找车钥匙一样。
Just as you cannot have a mathematical proof that isn't built from pure mathematics,
就像你不能用数学去证明一个不建立在纯粹数学上的问题，
you cannot have a theory of laughter that isn't funny.
所以你也就不能得出一个不好笑的关于笑的理论。
So let's try again. Let's try here today to define comedy, better than Plato, and Nietzsche, and Freud.
让我们再试一次。让我们今天在这里定义幽默，比柏拉图，尼采和弗洛伊德的答案更好。
I've looked around for the oldest joke I could find, and I found one.
我四处寻找记载的最老的笑话，终于被我找到一个。
It's 1,000 years old. At the end of the first millennium, this was knocking them dead and it goes like this.
它已经有1000岁了。在第一个千禧年末尾，出了一个让人捧腹的笑话，笑话是这样的。
There was a funeral in a church.
一个教堂在举行一场葬礼。
You have to imagine a medieval church, and everyone is weeping in great tears, except one man.
想象在一个中世纪的教堂，所有人都在啜泣，哭得很悲伤，除了一个人。
And the priest notices that one man isn't crying,
神父发现了这个人没有哭，
and at the end of the service, the priest goes up to the one man, and he says, "Did you know the dead man?"
就在仪式快结束的时候，走到他跟前，说：“你认识这位逝者吗？”
The men says, "Yes, I did."
男子说，“认识。”
And he said, "Well, why aren't you crying?"
神父问，“那你为什么没有哭？”
And he said, "Well, I would have, but I don't belong to this parish."
男子说，“我本来打算哭的，但是我不属于这个教区。”
You'll have to accept that 1,000 years ago that was a killer.
你得意识到在一千年前，这个笑话可是不得了的。
But it does teach us something interesting about comedy: that to understand a joke, you have to belong to the parish.
但这个笑话告诉我们一些关于幽默的有趣的东西：要理解一个笑话，你必须属于这个教区。
Let me tell you what I mean.
让我来解释下吧。
To understand a joke, you have to belong to the parish, that community of understanding,
要理解一个笑话，你必须属于这个教区，一个能够理解（这个笑话）的社区，
and if you feel you belong to that community of understanding, of getting the joke,
如果你感觉你属于那个可以理解这个笑话的社区，
then you will laugh at almost anything that reinforces your sense of belonging to that group.
那你对任何可以加强对这个社区归属感的事物都会觉得好笑。
Jokes connect us, they embrace us.
笑话让我们彼此相连。
And in sheer gratitude for that embrace, our mouths open, our chests fill with air,
我们对幽默怀着纯粹的感激之情，我们张开嘴，吸进满胸腔的空气，
and our bodies do something utterly extraordinary:
我们的身体也会发生奇妙的变化：
they make a noise that no other creature has, or will ever make in the entire history of the universe -- laughter.
它们发出其他生物无法发出的声音，更或是史无前例的声音--笑声。
And what a privilege it is to be able to make someone else laugh.
让别人笑是多么荣耀的特权。
So when you make someone else laugh, you're not just being funny.
因此，当你逗别人笑的时候，你不止是有趣。
It's not a trivial thing.
这不是一件小事。
You are inducers of hope, embracers of strangers, eradicators of hopelessness, you are physicians, and peacemakers.
你种下希望，给予拥抱，根除绝望，你是内科医生，是和平使者。
I'd like to read you a little statement. It's a quote, and I wrote it down.
让我来念一小段话。这是一段引用，我把它记下来了。
It goes like this, "Comedy is the clash of one point of view colliding with another, one sensibility with another,
是这么写的：“幽默是观点的碰撞，感情的碰撞，
high with low, East with West, light with dark, old with the young;
开心和不开心，东方和西方，明与暗，老与少，
a collision of two worldviews of two civilizations;
两种世界观，两个文明之间的碰撞；
and like two pieces of flint being struck together,
就像两块打火石相互碰撞一样，
a life-saving spark is given off and with this spark, you can light a fire."
迸发出救命的火花，靠着这一点火花，就能燃起熊熊大火。”
I thought that was a wonderful quote. I wrote it this morning.
这段引用太棒了。这是我早上写的。
I'd like to give you an example of how humor can be used to break down rigid thinking and entrenched positions.
我想举一个关于幽默是如何用来打破一成不变的思维和僵局的例子。
In 1995, during the Second Intifada, Palestinian Intifada,
在1995年，在第二次暴动，巴基斯坦起义中，
I was in London, and I went to see the great Jewish comedian Jackie Mason.
我在伦敦，我去拜访一位优秀的犹太幽默大师Jackie Mason。
Terrific, very controversial in some of his comments.
人们对他的评价褒贬不一。
He was doing his normal show, very funny,
他正进行他往常的表演，非常有趣。
and then at one point he said, he wanted to become very serious,
然后他突然说道，他要严肃一点，
and of course, if you know Jackie Mason, the audience became very anxious
当然，如果你了解Jackie Mason，观众变得非常焦虑，
that Jackie would say one of his very controversial things, and, in fact, he did.
因为Jackie马上要说些极具争议的话题了。的确，他这么做了。
He said, "I want to speak about the Palestinian question,"
他说，“我想说一下关于巴基斯坦的问题”，
and you could feel the tension in the audience rose tremendously.
你可以感受到观众席的紧张氛围，
And he said -- this is what he said.
他说，他是这么说的。
He said, "I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu wants peace. I believe this.
他说：“我相信Benjamin Netanyahu想要和平。我坚信这一点。
In fact, I think he would give back the West Bank to the Palestinian people this very day, this very day;
事实上，我想他会把约旦河西岸还给巴基斯坦人民，就在这一天，就在今天；
but he can't, because it's already in his wife's name."
但是他不能，因为这已经在他妻子名下了。”
And the laughter in this primarily Jewish audience was so pronounced, it went on for five minutes. It was hysterical.
在绝大多数都是犹太人的观众席中，笑声显得格外突出，并持续了五分钟。大家都笑得歇斯底里。
And in that five minutes, you couldn't help but feel that the possibility of peace had been advanced in some way,
在那五分钟里，你不禁感受到实现和平的可能性，某种程度上说，加大了；
that somehow, compromise was just a little closer at hand, and that's what laughter can do.
似乎和解就在眼前，这就是笑声带来的魔力。
If we can laugh together, we can live together.
如果我们可以共同笑，那我们也可以共同居住在这片土地上。
You know what I think the secret of life is?
想知道我认为什么是生命的秘密吗？
Some people would say, it's knowledge, but for me we don't seem to learn very much in our human evolution.
一些人可能会说，是知识，但是对我而言，我们并没有在人类进化中学到很多知识。
History is a wonderful teacher, but we seem to be very poor students.
历史教了我们很多，但似乎我们都学不会。
For me, I think, it's laughter.
对我而言，我认为生命的秘密是笑声。
Laughter, the husband of truth, the arch enemy of dogma, transmuting the dross of existence into gold.
笑，与真理同行，与教条为敌，变糟粕为黄金。
Someone asked me recently, "How do you want to die? Do you have any ideas?"
最近有人问我：“你想怎样死去？有什么想法吗？”
And I thought for a moment, and I said,
我想了一会儿，说，
"I think I want to die like my father did, quietly, in his sleep, not screaming like his passengers."
“我想像我父亲那样死去，非常安详地在睡梦中离开，而不是像他的乘客那样尖叫着离开。”
The final line of any joke is called the punchline in English, and in German, in "Deutsch" I believe, it's "die Poente."
所有笑话的最后一句，在英语中叫作punchline（妙语），在德语中，我记得叫作“diePoente”
It's the line where the miracle happens;
那是奇迹发生的地方，
the line where we're surprised by something that is revealed, and from that surprise is released joy.
最后一句话的揭露往往使我们大吃一惊，正是这种惊讶，使我们感受到快乐。
And my parting wish for you all here today is that your own life be a joke.
在告别前，我希望今天在座的各位，你们的生活可以变成一个笑话。
Yes, I want all your lives to be a joke, and that they have punchlines;
是的，我希望你们所有人的生命都是一个笑话，都有妙语的笑话；
that they have "die Poente," as good as "No, they are for the funeral,"
都有“diePoente”和“不，这些饼干是给你葬礼准备的，”
"It's already in his wife's name," "Not screaming like his passengers," and "Thank you for flying Lufthansa."
“这个地方已经在你妻子名下了，”“不像他的乘客在尖叫中死去”，“感谢您乘坐汉莎航班。”一样。
Stay funny. Keep laughing. Peace.
保持风趣，要一直笑。世界和平。