附教材文本：
Lesson 3 My Favorite Comedian
Mr Bean
Mr Bean is an internationally recognised comedy character in films and TV series. He has a reputation for constantly encountering awkward situations, which greatly amuses audiences of all nationalities and cultures. His humour is always made clear through a series of simple and funny acts that rely purely on body language that is universal.
One of my favourite episodes was Mr Bean in a fancy restaurant. After being seated at his table, Mr Bean takes out a card, writes a few words on it, puts it in an envelope and places it on the table. After a moment, he looks back at the envelope but this time he looks surprised, as if he did not know it was there. He opens it to find a birthday card and very happily puts it on the table for everyone to see.
When he looks at the menu, an astonished look quickly appears on his face. He takes all the money out of his wallet, counts it and puts it in a saucer. He then looks from the menu to the money with concern until he finds one thing that makes him smile. Then he orders a dish called “steak tartare”. When the dish arrives, he is shocked to discover that “steak tartare” is actually raw hamburger. He makes an attempt to eat it, but it is clear from the look on his face as he is chewing that he finds the taste truly awful. He cannot hide his feelings, except when the waiters ask if everything is all right. When this happens, he smiles and nods, indicating that everything is fine. When the waiters are not looking, however, he busies himself hiding the raw meat anywhere he can reach — the sugar bowl, the tiny flower vase, inside a bread roll and under a plate. He becomes so desperate in the end that he even hides some inside the purse of a woman sitting near him and throws some down the trousers of the restaurant's violinist!
I like to watch Mr Bean on TV but I wouldn't want to meet someone like him in real life, and I certainly wouldn't want to have dinner with him!
The Contemporary Chaplin
Rowan Atkinson is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. In Britain, Mr Atkinson is mostly famous for many successful TV shows but internationally we know him best as the awkward, clumsy, but always amusing Mr Bean! If you think that Rowan Atkinson is anything like his famous creation, then you are in for a surprise. On the contrary, he is nothing like Mr Bean.
Rowan was born on 6 January, 1955. He grew up on a farm with his parents and three older brothers. His father was very strict and did not believe in the value of television.
Rowan had a very successful academic career. At the age of 13, he was awarded a scholarship to a boarding school. Later, he studied at Newcastle University where he attained the highest marks in his year. At Oxford, he obtained his master's degree in electrical engineering. This may explain why he loves fast cars, of which he has many.
When Rowan was young, he had a stutter and to make his speech clearer, he began to speak very carefully. This may be why some of his characters have unusual ways of speaking.
As early as primary school, Rowan had already shown a talent for acting, but it was only later at university that he decided to become an actor. A key event occurred one day in 1976 when he was playing around and pulling a face in the mirror. “I discovered my face.” he said later.
John Lloyd, who worked as a producer for BBC Television, says that one rarely meets someone with such genius, and that when he worked with Atkinson he became convinced that Rowan would be more famous than Charlie Chaplin.
Reading Club 1
The Little Tramp who Conquered the World of Comedy
Imagine a bowler hat, a moustache and a walking cane. This is probably all it takes to make an image of Charlie Chaplin as the “Little Tramp”, one of the most famous comedy characters in the world.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London on 16 April, 1889. Both his father and mother were successful actors and singers, so it was natural for him to follow in their footsteps. However, his father died when Chaplin was just 10 years old, and his mother then became sick. Suddenly, Charlie and his elder brother had to make a life on their own.
Chaplin joined a youth stage group. He then began working in stage shows and toured the US in 1910. The audiences loved him, and in 1912, he was offered a movie contract. His early films were such huge commercial successes that film companies were falling over themselves to hire him.
In order to have greater control over his work, Chaplin set up his own studio — United Artists — in Hollywood in 1917. Chaplin wrote, directed, starred in and edited all his own films, producing a series of box office hits. His most successful one is probably the silent film Modern Times in 1936. In the film, Chaplin's Little Tramp character works in a factory, suffers mental torment, goes to jail, but finally becomes a hero. Aside from the physical comedy, the film shines a light on the exploitation of workers on production lines.
Chaplin's films elevated slapstick comedy to a new level. His films featured carefully designed scenes. Some of Chaplin's scenes took days to plan and design. Such was how Chaplin went after perfection. Making the joke look effortless and simple was part of his genius.
Chaplin's films were much more than just a series of slapstick scenes loosely woven together. He took the situation of the underdog — hunger, poverty, laziness — and made it into comedy gold. In an interview in 1950, Chaplin stated “The best definition of humour I ever heard is that it's getting people in and out of trouble ... I'm emotional about most things but objective about my work. I don't get satisfaction out of it; I get relief.” Chaplin acted as an ordinary man who had difficulties to overcome, and made sure he always ended up smelling of roses.
Chaplin is sometimes criticised for being overly sentimental, but comic actors of today still think his films are influential in their approach to acting. Would Chaplin have said all those words? A raise of the eyebrow, a deadpan expression and a lift of the bowler hat — sometimes a picture says a thousand words.
Reading Club 2
British Humor
If you stopped any person on the street and asked them to name a British comedian, chances are you would find that they could! British comedy is popular and well-liked all over the world. From actors such as Charlie Chaplin, who was famous during the silent age of filmmaking to Rowan Atkinson who plays Mr Bean on TV and in films, British comedy has never gone out of fashion. And while there are many popular dramatic actors in Britain, there is something extra special about British comedy and comedians for global audiences. The reasons for the success and popularity of British comedy in particular, are interesting to explore.
Humour is a part of every culture but it could be said that it is one of the core characteristics of British culture. Most non-British people see the British as being very reserved, polite and formal and while that is true to a certain degree, British people love to express themselves through humour too. Humour can act as a way for more reserved people to express their frustrations with life, daily routines and even other people!
British people expect everyone to have a sense of humour and it's very much a part of daily life. You will often find passengers getting on buses joking with drivers, doctors making light hearted jokes to ease their patients' worries and business people making jokes in presentations to get their audiences' attention. Humour helps to build relationships, relax moods and develop friendships. So now that we have established how important humour is to British people, what exactly makes them laugh? And does British humour make sense to other cultures?
Jokes are often related to culture. One example would be the British class system. There have been many popular comedy TV programmes which have explored the absurdity of people with less money and status attempting to copy the lifestyles of the wealthy and others which humorously explore life for the less well off. It would be difficult perhaps, for non-British people who don't know the culture to fully understand that kind of humour.
Another area that might be difficult for foreigners to get when it comes to British comedy is “word play”. British comedy often involve words that have two meanings, or words that sound the same but have different meanings. There are lots of these in English so British people really enjoy this kind of humour. For example, here is a classic joke from a comedian of the 1960s, Tommy Cooper:
I said to the Gym instructor, “Can you teach me to do the splits?” He said, “How flexible are you?”
I said, “I can't make Tuesdays.”
Or this one:
Patient: “Doctor, Doctor, help me please! I'm getting shorter and shorter.”
Doctor: “Just wait there and be a little patient.”
Both of these jokes are dependent on double meanings of the words, “flexible” (being able to move your body very well or having an open schedule) and “patient” (someone willing to wait or someone seeing a doctor).
Sometimes, it's not just words that having two meanings but also expressions. Take this joke for example:
Slept like a log last night ... Woke up in the fireplace.
To sleep like a log is an idiom in English that means to sleep so deeply you seem as solid and unmoving as wood. This joke turns “slept like a log” into a literal meaning with “woke up in the fireplace” where one would burn logs. Now, whether or not you find these types of jokes funny is personal to you but the fact they are easily understood by English speakers of all ages, means that it is very much a part of British comedy.
Two other characteristics of British comedy that are unique are joking about topics that would be considered “taboo” in other cultures and humour focused on self-depreciation. For example, a “taboo” topic might be politics and politicians, which are something British people love to joke about. People might gently mock people in positions of power “my boss can't run a bath, let alone this company!” or mocking oneself, for example “I'm on that new ‘seafood’ diet. If I see food, I eat it!” Perhaps the most universally appealing type of British humour is the visual, physical type of comedy used by Rowan Atkinson, Charlie Chaplin and others. They find humour in the most simple, everyday situations and we tend to feel a mix of horror, embarrassment and delight watching them!
Of course, what's funny for one person might not be for another. While one person might lightly giggle at a joke, another might fall about with laugher. But the wide range of techniques used by British comedians and comedy writers, from satire, to puns, to self-mockery, means that there is something for every taste in comedy. Although the polite British approach to delivering jokes means that sometimes it's difficult to even tell if it is a joke or not!