写英国留学生论文的人常听说不要用幽默来表达观点。虽然这个告诫用心良苦，但完全不用幽默又太过头了。幽默是有效的沟通方法，而写作学术论文本就该懂得运用各种沟通方法。本系列文章说明如何用适当的方式，在英国留学生毕业论文中有效运用幽默。
Writers of academic papers are cautioned against employing humor to communicate their points. The caution is well-intentioned, but outright prohibition of lightly humorous material goes too far. Humor is a valid method of communication and authors of academic papers should have every method at their disposal. This series of columns will describe how humor can be effective and acceptable in scholarly writing. Each part in the series will be presented on the TPS Fan page before being compiled.
1st Humor Guideline – Use it Carefully
幽默原则第一条－幽默要小心运用
One of the rules laid out for writers of serious papers is… don’t try to be funny. There is wisdom in such counsel. It indeed is wise not to try to be funny. Every comedian who has died on stage when his humor falls flat can attest that nothing is more painful than failing to connect with an audience. Academic writers often present their material to an audience of one, who grades the material even more mercilessly than a nightclub crowd. So, yes, if humor is not your forte, don’t try to force it on your professor. But if you do have talent for turning an amusing phrase, use it.
写作严肃文章有一条清楚的规定－不要假装风趣。这条忠告是有道理的，假装风趣确实不聪明。喜剧演员如果曾经因为幽默失灵在台上尴尬不已，都可以告诉你，最讨厌的莫过于和观众失去交流。学术论文的观众只有一位，而且评论起来比喜剧观众更不留情。所以，如果幽默不是你的强项，不要硬塞给教授，但如果你真的擅长写作幽默风趣的文字，就尽管写吧。
Nearly every person—of course, some don’t have a clue—knows whether he is amusing in his expression. Yet even those who have such talent don’t always employ it effectively. They joke too much, and too much of any good thing usually is bad. They try to amuse people at inappropriate times, when solemnity clearly is preferred. They perhaps get too raw in their jesting or become slapstick in their delivery. Scholarly writers certainly will not impress anyone with any of the above. So, as much thought should be given to the context of humor as to the humor itself.
几乎每个人都知道自己的表达是否风趣（当然就是有些人会搞不清楚），但有幽默感的人也不是每次都能运用自如，他们可能开太多玩笑，而任何好事情一旦过头往往就成了坏事。他们想逗人笑的时机不对，有时显然严肃正经比较好。有时他们也可能把玩笑开得太粗俗或变成一场闹剧。写作学术文章如果犯了上述毛病，就绝对写不出优秀作品。所以除了幽默本身必须仔细构思，运用幽默的场合也要好好思考。
Knowing when to inject an amusing comment is even more delicate in academic writing than in show biz. That’s because the goal is not to amuse per se but to communicate a larger point. If a humorous expression distracts a reader from a thread of thought, it is detracting from the paper rather than contributing to its success. Therefore, in a paper as in every other venue, timing is important. A light comment should slip into the flow of thought as naturally as any other element of the writing and for the same reason: to move the reader toward a desired conclusion.
比起喜剧表演，写作学术文章时更难拿捏下笔诙谐的适当时机，因为学术文章的宗旨不是讨好读者，而是沟通重要的观点。如果幽默会分散读者对文章脉络的注意力，那就对论文有害无益。因此，写论文时如果要运用幽默，一如在其他场合运用幽默一样，时机最重要。诙谐妙语就像其他的写作技巧，必须沿着文章理路自然融入，因为它们的目的都是要说服读者接受文章的结论。
2nd Humor Guideline – Use it Seriously
幽默原则第二条－幽默要慎重使用
Have you heard the one about the funnyman who became a surgeon? He left his patients in stitches. This joke might be amusing if the hearer of it is familiar with the colloquial phrase “in stitches,” which means laughing uncontrollably. If the phrase is unfamiliar, the stab at humor is only puzzling—and puzzlement is never a strength in an academic paper. Therefore, any writer making a comic allusion should be sure that the language of the humor is universal, or at least is in the vernacular of a grading professor. Puzzling humor is worse than leaden use of words.
你听过一个笑话吗？有个喜剧演员当了外科医生，结果病人都笑得阖不拢嘴（译注：这个笑话用了双关语，原文 He left his patients in stitches，stitches 有缝线的意思，「in stitches」指笑得停不下来）。如果听的人知道口语词「in stitches」是让人爆笑不止的意思，那这个笑话就很好笑。如果听的人不知道，就会看不懂原本的幽默，而看不懂绝对算不上学术论文的优点。因此，写作时如果要做幽默的比喻，要确定这种表达一般人都看得懂，或至少用的口语，打分数教授看得懂。看不懂的幽默，比沉闷的表达还糟糕。
More to the point, the insertion of a humorous aside or reflection always should help drive a narrative forward. It should help build momentum and add to a logical string. If it does none of that, it is doing t
