At the annual Athenian drama festival in 426 BC, a comic play called The Babylonians, written by a young poet named Aristophanes, was awarded first prize.
公元前426年，在一年一度的雅典戏剧节上，有一出喜剧叫做《巴比伦人》，是由一位名叫阿里斯托芬的年轻诗人所写的，它斩获了头奖。
But the play's depiction of Athens' conduct during the Peloponnesian War was so controversial that afterwards,
但是，这部喜剧对雅典人在伯罗奔尼撒战争中的行为描述颇具争议，以至于后来，
a politician named Kleon took Aristophanes to court for "slandering the people of Athens in the presence of foreigners."
一位名叫克利翁的政客将阿里斯托芬告上法庭，指责他“在外邦人面前诋毁雅典人。”
Aristophanes struck back two years later with a play called The Knights.
两年后，阿里斯托芬用他的新喜剧《骑士》回击指控。
In it, he openly mocked Kleon, ending with Kleon's character working as a lowly sausage seller outside the city gates.
在这部剧中，他公开嘲弄克利翁，把他的角色写成一个在城门外卖香肠的小贩。
This style of satire was a consequence of the unrestricted democracy of 5th century Athens and is now called "Old Comedy."
这种讽刺喜剧的形成归功于5世纪雅典不加制约的民主制度，而在现在已经被称为“旧喜剧”。
Aristophanes' plays, the world's earliest surviving comic dramas, are stuffed full of parodies, songs, sexual jokes, and surreal fantasy.
阿里斯托芬的剧作是世界上可追溯的最早的喜剧，他的作品中充斥着滑稽模仿、歌曲、低俗笑话和超现实主义的幻想。
They often use wild situations, like a hero flying to heaven on a dung beetle,
内容经常是描述荒唐的故事，比如说，一个英雄乘坐屎壳郎飞向天堂，
or a net cast over a house to keep the owner's father trapped inside, in order to subvert audience expectations.
或者一只从天而降的网把房主的父亲困在里面，这些作品都颠覆了观众的想象。
And they've shaped how comedy's been written and performed ever since.
而且它们还奠定了今后喜剧的写作和演出方式。
The word "comedy" comes from the Ancient Greek "komos," -- revel, and "oide," -- singing,
“喜剧”一次由两个古希腊词组成，“komos”（狂欢）和“oide”（唱歌），
and it differed from its companion art form, "tragedy" in many ways.
它与另外一个对应的艺术形式--悲剧，是很不同的。
Where ancient Athenian tragedies dealt with the downfall of the high and mighty, their comedies usually ended happily.
古代雅典悲剧描述了贵族与帝王们的衰落，而喜剧大多是大团圆结局。
And where tragedy almost always borrowed stories from legend, comedy addressed current events.
悲剧作品大多引用神话故事，而喜剧更着重于当下时事。
Aristophanes' comedies celebrated ordinary people and attacked the powerful.
阿里斯托芬的喜剧拥护民众，反对强权。
His targets were arrogant politicians, war-mongering generals, and self-important intellectuals,
他嘲弄的对象包括傲慢的政客、好战的军官、自以为是的知识分子，
exactly the people who sat in the front row of the theatre, where everyone could see their reactions.
而他们正是那些坐在剧院最前排的人，观众们能清楚地看到他们对于剧目的反应。
As a result, they were referred to as komoidoumenoi: "those made fun of in comedy."
因此，这些人被称为“komoidoumenoi”，意为“在喜剧中被戏弄的人”。
Aristophanes' vicious and often obscene mockery held these leaders to account, testing their commitment to the city.
阿里斯托芬带有恶意而且下流的嘲弄警示着统治者们，使他们时刻记住自己的职责。

One issue, in particular, inspired much of Aristophanes' work: the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.
雅典与斯巴达之间的伯罗奔尼撒战争是阿里斯托芬创作的主要灵感之一。
In Peace, written in 421 BC, a middle-aged Athenian frees the embodiment of peace from a cave, where she'd been exiled by profiteering politicians.
在公元前421年创作的《和平》中，一位雅典中年人从洞穴中解放了和平的化身，她曾被牟取暴利的雅典政客们放逐。
Then, in the aftermath of a crushing naval defeat for Athens in 411 BC, Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata."
公元前411年，在雅典人海战全面失势后，阿里斯托芬创作了《利西翠妲》。
In this play, the women of Athens grow sick of war and go on a sex strike until their husbands make peace.
在这部戏剧中，雅典的女人们厌倦了战争，发动了性罢工，逼迫她们的丈夫与敌方和解。
Other plays use similarly fantastic scenarios to skewer topical situations,
其他的剧目同样运用幻想的情景来反映时事政况，
such as in "Clouds," where Aristophanes mocked fashionable philosophical thinking.
例如在《云》中，阿里斯托芬嘲弄了当时流行的哲学思考。
The hero Strepsiades enrolls in Socrates's new philosophical school, where he learns how to prove that wrong is right and that a debt is not a debt.
主人公史萃普赛底斯去苏格拉底的新哲学学校就读，他在那里学到了证明对为错的方法，还有否认债款的诡辩法。
No matter how outlandish these plays get, the heroes always prevail in the end.
不论这些剧情发展变得多荒唐，主人公总是会获胜。
Aristophanes also became the master of the parabasis, a comic technique where actors address the audience directly,
阿里斯托芬还充分运用了合唱团主唱段的技巧，这种喜剧技巧让演员直接对观众们演说，
often praising the playwright or making topical comments and jokes.
常常是赞美剧本，对时事进行评论或者开玩笑。
For example, in "Birds," the Chorus takes the role of different birds
例如在作品《鸟》中，合唱团演员扮演各类飞鸟，
and threatens the Athenian judges that if their play doesn't win first prize, they'll defecate on them as they walk around the city.
并且威胁雅典评委们，如果他们的剧目拿不到头等奖，就在评委们穿过街道时把鸟粪排泄到他们头上。
Perhaps the judges didn't appreciate the joke, as the play came in second.
似乎评委们并不待见这种幽默，因此这部剧只拿了第二名。
By exploring new ideas and encouraging self-criticism in Athenian society,
通过探索新的点子，并且鼓励雅典社会进行自我批判，
Aristophanes not only mocked his fellow citizens, but he shaped the nature of comedy itself.
阿里斯托芬不仅嘲弄了他的城邦人，还诠释了喜剧的本质。
Hailed by some scholars as the father of comedy, his fingerprints are visible upon comic techniques everywhere,
他被一些学者们称为“喜剧之父”，各地的喜剧手法中都有他的影子，
from slapstick to double acts to impersonations to political satire.
比如打闹喜剧、双人喜剧、身份模仿还有政治讽刺剧。
Through the praise of free speech and the celebration of ordinary heroes, his plays made his audience think while they laughed.
通过歌颂言论自由和平民英雄，他的喜剧不仅让人发笑，也使人深思。
And his retort to Kleon in 425 BC still resonates today: "I'm a comedian, so I'll speak about justice, no matter how hard it sounds to your ears."
在公元前425年，他对克利翁的回击仍让我们记忆犹新：“我是一个喜剧作家，所以不论你爱不爱听，我都会为维护公正而说话。”