Fun seems to be the possession of the English race.Fun is JohnBulll's idea of humour，and there is no intellectualjudgment in fun.Everybody understands it be-cause it is practical.More than that，it unites allclasses and sweetens even political life.To studythe elemental form of English humour，you must look to the school-boy.It begins with the practical joke，and unless there is something of his natureabout it，it is never humour to an Englishman.Inan English household，fun is going all the time.The entire house resounds witn it.The father comes home and the whole family contribute to theamusement;puns，humorous uses of words，little things that are meaningless nonsense，if you like，fly round，and every one enjoys them thoroughly for just what they are.The Scotch are devoid ofthis trait，and the Americans seem to be，too.
逗乐儿似乎是英国人的秉性，是典型的英国人所说的幽默，不需区分智力高下。它切合实际，人人都懂。不仅如此，它把各阶层人士联系在一起，甚至还使政治生活变得盎然有趣。要研究英国幽默的基础形式，你必须观察其教科书。教科书都是以切合实际的玩笑开头，如果这个玩笑无关于英国人本性，在英国人看来，就无幽默可言。在一个英国家庭里，逗乐儿无时不在进行，整幢屋子其乐融融。父亲回家了，全家人各显其能，津津乐道;双关语、俏皮话、大实话、空话废话满天飞，人人尽情享受。苏格兰人没有这种性格，美国人恐怕也没有。
If I had the power to give humour to the na-tions I would not give them drollery，for that isimpractical;I would not give them wit，for that isaristocratic，and many minds cannot grasp it;but Iwould be contented to deal out fun，which has nointellectual element，no subtlety，belongs to oldand young，educated and uneducated alike，and isthe natural form of the humour of the Englishman.
如果我有权给予此民族幽默的特质，那么我就不给予他们诙谐的本领，因为那不切实际;我也不给予他们风趣的风格，因为那过于贵族派头，以致多数人无法理解;我要心满意足地给予他们逗乐儿的本事，即不分智力高下，没有隐晦曲折，无论老少或受教育与否都能享受的英国式的自然幽默。
Let me tell you why the Englishman speaksonly one language.He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that allpeople ought to speak and will come in time tospeak，so what is the use of learning any other?Hebelieves s，too，that he is appointed by Providenceto be a governor of all the rest of the human race.From our Scottish standpoint we can never see anEnglishman without thinking that there is oozing from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race.It has not been his de-sire that large portions of the world should be un-der his care，but as they have been thrust uponhim in the proceedings of a wise Providence，hemust discharge his duty.This theory hasn't en-deared him to others of his kind，but that isn't amatter that concerns him.He doesn't learn anyother language because he knows that he couldspeak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him，and it would never do that aperson of his importance in the scheme of the uni-verse should be made the object of ridicule.
让我告诉诸位为什么英国人只讲一种语言。因为英国人坚信，英语是各国人民都应该讲、而且迟早都会讲的语言，因此，学其他语言有什么用?他还认为，上帝已委派他成为全人类的主宰。从苏格兰人的立场来看，英国人每一个毛孔都散发着他是属于统治民族的信念。他虽然不想杷各国人民置于自己的监护之下，但是，既然贤明的上帝让他这样做，他就必须尽到责任。这种理论没有使他对其他人、包括对和他一样的人变得亲切可爱，但那不关他的事。他之所以不学其他语言，因为他知道自己说得很糟，唯恐别人耻笑，而像他那样重要的人是万万不能成为别人的笑柄的。
