恶搞的艺术 | 《时代周刊》精读

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我是Simon，本公众号在每周一都会推送一段外文期刊的精读文章。学英语，懂文化，每周推送的内容够你一周内慢慢消化，在周三会重复推送一次提醒你温习。摈弃浮躁，回归本心，踏踏实实学习。

《周六夜现场》（Saturday Night Live）是一个每周六深夜播出、60多分钟的美国综艺节目。节目自1975年10月11日由NBC播出，是美国电视历史上最长寿的节目之一。迄今已有40年的时间，弹指一挥间，这档节目以「恶搞」为灵魂，取材于美国娱乐，政治，种族社会的现象，通过卡司夸张而又浮夸的表演提供笑点。2月11日由好莱坞著名男星Alec Baldwin主持的节目获得了六年来《周六也现场》最高的收视率，这档节目恶搞了川普，他的总统顾问Kellyanne Conway以及白宫发言人Sean Spicey，引起了很大的反响，以至于川普在节目之后专门在自己的Tweeter上回应予以反击。《时代周刊》围绕《周六夜现场》这期节目，在川普多变和毫无逻辑的政策以及语言风格下，以脱口秀这种夸张，挖苦的风格予以回应内在原因。

难度指数  ★ ★ ★

通读

先将以下精选内容进行通读，本文行文非常简单，阅读的时候可以关注一下粗体部分。

EVEN BEFORE HIS INAUGURATION in January, President Trump faced sustained criticism from predictable quarters, including celebrities like Meryl Streep, commentariat on both the left and the right, groups of protesters around the world and the news media.

Yet in a turn fittingly strange for our times, the most stinging critique of the new Administration has come from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The show is in its 42nd season, and its sketch format may as well be prehistoric. But its Trump skewering has been captivating, depicting the President (Alec Baldwin) as a buffoon seeking to litigate his Executive Order on immigration on The People’s Court, counselor Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) as a crazed monster desperate to get on the news and press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent. This is vaudeville comedy for a vaudeville presidency.

And it’s allowed the show to break through in a way that few other modes of critiquing Trump have. The Feb. 11 episode hosted by Baldwin was SNL’s most-watched episode in six years. Among the key demographic of 18-to-49-year-olds, it scored higher ratings than any prime-time programming that week. More than that, it has helped crystallize the public images of various players in Trump’s Administration, so much so that begging to appear as a Cabinet member or adviser has become de rigueur for celebrities.itifully short. 

开始阅读

第一部分精读

Yet in a turn fittingly strange for our times, the most stinging critique of the new Administration has come from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The show is in its 42nd season, and its sketch format may as well be prehistoric. But its Trump skewering has been captivating, depicting the President (Alec Baldwin) as a buffoon seeking to litigate his Executive Order on immigration on The People’s Court, counselor Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) as a crazed monster desperate to get on the news and press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent. This is vaudeville comedy for a vaudeville presidency.

开篇主要描述了SNL的节目情况，以及2月11日这期节目的具体内容。其中暗含了作者对SNL以及脱口秀节目的某种态度，你自己能读出来吗？

精选词
fittingly strange; stinging

看第一句话：

Yet in a turn fittingly strange for our times, the most stinging critique of the new Administration has come from NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

这句话可以看出这篇文章作者对于脱口秀现状的大致态度，这个态度在后文也有印证——作者觉得脱口秀的节目形式多少有些过时了。yet 这里有转折的意思，是相对于第一段话而言的。是说之前如梅姨（Meryl Streep），政治评论员（commentariat），全球的反川普者和新闻媒体对川普的批评（criticism）都没有构成多大的威胁，但是没想到（yet）像脱口秀这种老派的节目形式反而发出了最最令川普刺痛（stinging）的批评，这个脱口秀就是来自于NBC电视台的《周六夜现场》。 

为什么说 most stinging critique 来自于SNL呢？因为在节目播出后引起了巨大的反响，创下了家庭收视率六年来的新高，作为一个酷爱吵架的总统，川普当时是可忍孰不可忍，于是拿起手机，在推特上予以强烈的反击。（注：SNL是Saturday Night Show的首字母缩写）

川普的词汇量小，句式简单一直是美国知识分子吐槽点之一，所以这句话应该很好理解，就不多做注释。值得提一下的是「hit job」，这个词是暗杀的意思，这里引申为「出其不意地攻击」，讽刺NBC趁其不备袭击他。

Trump accused SNL of doing a hit job on him.

川普指责《周六夜现场》攻击他。 

精选词
sketch format

The show is in its 42nd season, and its sketch format may as well be prehistoric.

SNL是1975年开播的，迄今为止已经40多年了，作者用prehistoric一方面意之节目时间之长，一方面也稍微吐槽节目的形式有些陈旧，老掉牙。

sketch format 在这里可以理解为节目的形式。SNL每集除去广告大约60分钟，又分成不同的小的片段（sketches），每个片段可以是不同的主题，也可以是不同的形式等。举一个不太恰当但可以帮助你理解的例子，国内的《金星秀》，以金星的个人独白脱口秀（monologue）开场，然后是嘉宾采访环节，就是两个不同的sketches。相比之下，SNL的片段要多一些，更为丰富一些，这一类的节目统称为Sketch comedy，而sketch format指的就是这种基于sketch的节目形式。 

精选词
skewering; captivating ; buffoon; litigate; crazed; thuggishly; incompetentt

But its Trump skewering has been captivating, depicting the President (Alec Baldwin) as a buffoon seeking to litigate his Executive Order on immigration on The People’s Court, counselor Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) as a crazed monster desperate to get on the news and press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent.

skewering 是动词skewer的名词化，skewer是指批评，但不同于一般的criticize。skewer更加偏向讽刺，即强烈的批评，但同时是又令人感到幽默。这里意指SNL这种以搞笑为目的的讽刺，非常贴切。

当然，skewer还有一个非常市井的意思，就是撸串的时候，将肉串起来的那个串串，所以有些在国外有些烤串店就叫做BBQ Skewers/Grilled Skewers。下次你和外国朋友出去撸串的时候，就可以不要再用stick了。 

Thread the meat and veggies onto skewers, then grill.

把肉和蔬菜用串串起来，烤起来！

captivating是指令人着迷的，后面用分词（depicting）非常密集地说明了所谓SNL这期节目令人着迷的点。 

首先是由Alec Baldwin扮演的像滑稽的丑角（buffoon）一般的川普在起诉（litigate）3位之前驳斥了他关于穆斯林旅游行政禁令（the Executive Order on immigrate）的法官。The People’s Court是节目设置，是节目的一个sketch，节目中其实还有一个梗，就是说这个法庭是一个TV court，然后川普说「没关系，我自己就是一个TV President]。 

Kate McKinnon扮演了川普的顾问（counselor）Kellyanne Conway，将她刻画成了一个疯狂地（crazed）想要上新闻的「魔鬼」。登上新闻文中用的是get on news。desperate形容那种急切地想要上新闻的心情。

这里crazed是疯狂地，它的动词形式是craze。同样是表达insane，那么这里为什么不用crazy呢？crazed是指有愤怒，激动，悲伤等强烈的情绪导致的一种暂时的，在某个特定情境下的疯狂。相比与此，crazy更偏向强调疯狂状态本身，忽略导致这种状态的因素。

press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent

最后是新闻发言人（press secretary）Sean Spicer，可是这里为什么写成 Sean “Spicey” Spicer ？看过《纸牌屋》的朋友应该马上就能明白，《纸牌屋》的主人公Frank是一位冷酷无情的政客，常常表现的毫无礼貌。饰演Frank的是奥斯卡影帝Kevin Spicey，这里中间加进去「Spicey」就是意指川普的发言人Sean Spicer本人的无礼和傲慢。Sean Spicer进场在新闻会的现场和各家媒体拌嘴，打断或者直接拒绝回答别人的问题。

thuggishly incompetent 基本刻画了一个「纸老虎」的形象，thuggish是指行为暴力野蛮，似乎给人以力量的感觉。可是后面的incompetent马上构成反差，就像一个纸老虎一样，表现的粗鲁不堪，其实就是一个毫无能力的草包。

在上一篇精读文章中，我曾今提到过中国学生滥用定语从句的问题。以中国人的写法这句话就会变成：

But its Trump skewering has been captivating, which depicts the President (Alec Baldwin) as a buffoon who is seeking to litigate his Executive Order on immigration on The People’s Court, counselor Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) as a crazed monster who is desperate to get on the news and press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent.

这样读起来别扭至极，而原作者通过后置分词，后置定语等方式将原句写的紧凑结实，你不妨好好体会一下。

This is vaudeville comedy for a vaudeville presidency.

vaudeville是一种歌舞杂耍表演。实际上，sketch comedy就是由vaudeville发展而来的，vaudeville就是由一系列彼此独立的表演组合起来的一个大杂烩，这种形式之后被逐渐借鉴到脱口秀等节目中，也就是上文说的sketch。因此，这里的vaudeville comedy可以理解为sketch comedy，是指SNL节目的形式。

第二个vaudeville是双关，是对vaudeville本来意思的引申。既然这种节目由很多不想干的表演组成，其实也就隐含这一种「善变」，「inconsistent」，「缺乏逻辑」的意味，所以用次来形容川普是讽刺他的乖张暴虐，让人无法捉摸。 

参考译文

Yet in a turn fittingly strange for our times, the most stinging critique of the new Administration has come from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The show is in its 42nd season, and its sketch format may as well be prehistoric. But its Trump skewering has been captivating, depicting the President (Alec Baldwin) as a buffoon seeking to litigate his Executive Order on immigration on The People’s Court, counselor Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) as a crazed monster desperate to get on the news and press secretary Sean “Spicey” Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) as thuggishly incompetent. This is vaudeville comedy for a vaudeville presidency.

然而对我们这个时代即切适又奇怪的是，对于特朗普新政府最激烈的批评来自于NBC电视台的《周六夜现场》。这个秀现在播放到第42季，它的短剧形式可能有些老掉牙。但是他对川普的讽刺却非常引人注目。在节目中，由Alec Baldwin扮演的如丑角一般的川普在人民法庭提起关于他旅游行政禁令的起诉。由Kate McKinnon扮演的川普顾问Kellyanne Conway是一个拼命想要登上新闻的疯婆子，而由Mellisa McCarthy扮演的川普发言人Sean Spicer则是一个外厉内荏的草包。对于这样一个善变的总统，这样一台滑稽短剧实在再合适不过了。

第二部分精读

And it’s allowed the show to break through in a way that few other modes of critiquing Trump have. The Feb. 11 episode hosted by Baldwin was SNL’s most-watched episode in six years. Among the key demographic of 18-to-49-year-olds, it scored higher ratings than any prime-time programming that week. More than that, it has helped crystallize the public images of various players in Trump’s Administration, so much so that begging to appear as a Cabinet member or adviser has become de rigueur for celebrities.

这一部分主要在说这一期SNL的成功。

精选词
break through

And it’s allowed the show to break through in a way that few other modes of critiquing Trump have.

这里的other modes of critiquing就是第一段中指的那些对川普的批评方式。it是其实就是指SNL sketches恶搞的节目形式和川普的性格搭配才让这个节目如此成功。

The Feb. 11 episode hosted by Baldwin was SNL’s most-watched episode in six years. Among the key demographic of 18-to-49-year-olds, it scored higher ratings than any prime-time programming that week.

这里的demographic是指18-49岁脱口秀的主流观众群。 

精选词
more than that； crystallize； de rigueur

More than that, it has helped crystallize the public images of various players in Trump’s Administration, so much so that begging to appear as a Cabinet member or adviser has become de rigueur for celebrities.

more than that就是furthermore，additionally的意思。

crystallize是清晰化，具体化。很好理解，SNL通过这种扮演的方式，将川普内阁这几位政客的在大众心目中的形象（public images）具体化了，使得他们的形象更加清晰。正因为如此，加上节目的成功，以至于上SNL扮演政客（appear as a Cabinet member or adviser）成为名人们（celebrities）当下最时髦和必须要做的事情（de rigueur）。

de rigueur来自于法语，意思是required by etiquette or current fashion.这里的required并不是真的必须的，而可能是因为流行（fashion）或者礼仪（etiquette），变成了社交场上不得不做的一件事情。举个例子，以前的摇滚歌手都会留长发，这就可以说it was de rigueur for bands to grow their hair long。

参考译文

And it’s allowed the show to break through in a way that few other modes of critiquing Trump have. The Feb. 11 episode hosted by Baldwin was SNL’s most-watched episode in six years. Among the key demographic of 18-to-49-year-olds, it scored higher ratings than any prime-time programming that week. More than that, it has helped crystallize the public images of various players in Trump’s Administration, so much so that begging to appear as a Cabinet member or adviser has become de rigueur for celebrities.

在对川普的批评上，这种短剧的形式让SNL有了突破，而其它批评方式却鲜有突破。2月11日的这期由Baldwin主持的节目是过去六年里SNL收视率最高的一期。在18-49岁的主要观众群里，这期节目超越了同一周所有黄金时间的电视节目。不但如此，这期节目使得川普的内阁成员的公众形象得以清晰具体的展现，以至于上SNL扮演川普的内阁成员或者顾问在名人圈成为了流行，大家求之不得。 

完

能读到这里的人，就是在成功路上的幸福的少数人！