美文賞析：林肯的微笑

說起第16任美國總統亞伯拉罕?林肯，很多人會立即想起他對解放黑奴和維護美利堅聯邦完整所做出的巨大貢獻，想起他能言善辯的口才和妙語連珠的演講，但卻很少有人知道，林肯的“幽默感”也開創了一個新時代。

Something that has always intrigued1 me about Abraham Lincoln is, not surprisingly, his sense of humor. As far as I can tell, he’s the first American President to have one.

That’s because the term “sense of humor” really wasn’t in common usage until the eighteen-sixties and seventies. In the eighteen-forties and fifties, it was called “the sense of the ridiculous,” and didn’t have the positive connotations2 that “sense of humor” has today. Back then, what was ridiculous was what invited ridicule3. Funniness and cruelty went hand in hand. Of course, they still do a lot of arm-in-arm strolling in our day as well.4

Lincoln’s humor was very different because, for one thing, it was actually “humor” as the word was defined in his time. We don’t make the distinction between “wit” and “humor” anymore, but in the nineteenth century people did. Wit was sarcastic and antipathetic while humor was congenial and empathetic.5 It’s the differ—ence we note now when we distinguish between “laughing with” and “laughing at.” Lincoln was much more about “laughing with” than “laughing at.” And when “laughing at,” it was often himself he was mocking.

In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, when Douglas accused Lincoln of being two-faced, Lincoln replied, referencing his homeliness,6 “Honestly, if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one?” And, in a way, Lincoln’s face itself tells us much about his sense of humor.

You can comb through7 thousands of photographs of politicians, soldiers, and the like from Lincoln’s time and not find a single smile. Here’s his sourpussed cabinet.8

True, the extended exposures9 required for photographs of that era made smiling difficult. Yet Lincoln alone, as far as I can tell, overcame that difficulty. And though there is only a hint of smile in his photographs, it hints at what Lincoln knew too well: that, as Mark Twain pointed out, “the secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow.”

Interestingly, while having a sense of humor, or at least the appearance of one provided by comedy writers, has become a necessary characteristic for an American President in our time, in the nineteenth century, too much humor was considered a liability.10 And that was the case for Lincoln. A journalist covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates commented that “I could not take a real personal liking to the man, owing to an inborn weakness for which he was even then notorious and so remained during his great public career, he was inordinately fond of jokes, anecdotes, and stories.”11

There’s hoping that our age might have a more favorable feeling towards him.?

1. intrigue: 激起興趣，引起好奇心。

2. connotation: 隱含意義，聯想的含義。

3. ridicule: 嘲笑，奚落。

4. 當然，直到今日，它們(“滑稽可笑”和”惡毒中傷”)還經常被聯系在一起。

5. sarcastic: 諷刺的，挖苦的;antipathetic: 厭惡的，反感的;congenial: 宜人的，令人舒適愉快的;empathetic: 表示同情的，產生共鳴的。

6. Lincoln-Douglas debates: 林肯與道格拉斯辯論，1858年民主黨人史蒂文?道格拉斯與共和黨人林肯為爭奪伊利諾伊州參議員一職而進行的七場辯論，在辯論中林肯提出廢奴主張，雖然在此次參議員選舉中不敵道格拉斯，其廢奴的理念卻開始深入人心;two-faced: (人)表里不一的，兩面派的;homeliness: 相貌平平。

7. comb through: 梳理。

8. sourpussed: 〈俚〉整天繃著臉的，臉色陰沉的;cabinet: 內閣成員。

9. exposure: 曝光時間。

10. comedy writer: 這里指專門幫政客寫笑話的寫手;liability: 不利條件，礙事的人(或物)。

11. cover: 采訪關于……的資訊，報道;inborn: 天生的，生來就有的;notorious: 臭名昭著的;inordinately: 非常地，無節制地;anecdote: 軼事。

說起第16任美國總統亞伯拉罕?林肯，很多人會立即想起他對解放黑奴和維護美利堅聯邦完整所做出的巨大貢獻，想起他能言善辯的口才和妙語連珠的演講，但卻很少有人知道，林肯的“幽默感”也開創了一個新時代。

Something that has always intrigued1 me about Abraham Lincoln is, not surprisingly, his sense of humor. As far as I can tell, he’s the first American President to have one.

That’s because the term “sense of humor” really wasn’t in common usage until the eighteen-sixties and seventies. In the eighteen-forties and fifties, it was called “the sense of the ridiculous,” and didn’t have the positive connotations2 that “sense of humor” has today. Back then, what was ridiculous was what invited ridicule3. Funniness and cruelty went hand in hand. Of course, they still do a lot of arm-in-arm strolling in our day as well.4

Lincoln’s humor was very different because, for one thing, it was actually “humor” as the word was defined in his time. We don’t make the distinction between “wit” and “humor” anymore, but in the nineteenth century people did. Wit was sarcastic and antipathetic while humor was congenial and empathetic.5 It’s the differ—ence we note now when we distinguish between “laughing with” and “laughing at.” Lincoln was much more about “laughing with” than “laughing at.” And when “laughing at,” it was often himself he was mocking.

In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, when Douglas accused Lincoln of being two-faced, Lincoln replied, referencing his homeliness,6 “Honestly, if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one?” And, in a way, Lincoln’s face itself tells us much about his sense of humor.

You can comb through7 thousands of photographs of politicians, soldiers, and the like from Lincoln’s time and not find a single smile. Here’s his sourpussed cabinet.8

True, the extended exposures9 required for photographs of that era made smiling difficult. Yet Lincoln alone, as far as I can tell, overcame that difficulty. And though there is only a hint of smile in his photographs, it hints at what Lincoln knew too well: that, as Mark Twain pointed out, “the secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow.”

Interestingly, while having a sense of humor, or at least the appearance of one provided by comedy writers, has become a necessary characteristic for an American President in our time, in the nineteenth century, too much humor was considered a liability.10 And that was the case for Lincoln. A journalist covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates commented that “I could not take a real personal liking to the man, owing to an inborn weakness for which he was even then notorious and so remained during his great public career, he was inordinately fond of jokes, anecdotes, and stories.”11

There’s hoping that our age might have a more favorable feeling towards him.?

1. intrigue: 激起興趣，引起好奇心。

2. connotation: 隱含意義，聯想的含義。

3. ridicule: 嘲笑，奚落。

4. 當然，直到今日，它們(“滑稽可笑”和”惡毒中傷”)還經常被聯系在一起。

5. sarcastic: 諷刺的，挖苦的;antipathetic: 厭惡的，反感的;congenial: 宜人的，令人舒適愉快的;empathetic: 表示同情的，產生共鳴的。

6. Lincoln-Douglas debates: 林肯與道格拉斯辯論，1858年民主黨人史蒂文?道格拉斯與共和黨人林肯為爭奪伊利諾伊州參議員一職而進行的七場辯論，在辯論中林肯提出廢奴主張，雖然在此次參議員選舉中不敵道格拉斯，其廢奴的理念卻開始深入人心;two-faced: (人)表里不一的，兩面派的;homeliness: 相貌平平。

7. comb through: 梳理。

8. sourpussed: 〈俚〉整天繃著臉的，臉色陰沉的;cabinet: 內閣成員。

9. exposure: 曝光時間。

10. comedy writer: 這里指專門幫政客寫笑話的寫手;liability: 不利條件，礙事的人(或物)。

11. cover: 采訪關于……的資訊，報道;inborn: 天生的，生來就有的;notorious: 臭名昭著的;inordinately: 非常地，無節制地;anecdote: 軼事。