【TED演讲】在任何地方找到笑声的方法

中英文字幕

My favorite part about working in an elementary school is that I could never predict what was going to happen next.

在小学工作，我最喜欢的部分是我永远无法预测接下来会发生什么。

Every day was a new, incredible day.

每一天都是新的、令人难以置信的一天。

There was never a boring moment.

从来没有无聊的时刻。

Sometimes, you think that you're handing out a worksheet just reviewing the names of shapes.

有时，您认为您正在分发一份工作表，只是回顾形状的名称。

But then instead of getting back hexagon and octagon, you get back this, "Amy" "Gabriella".

但后来你得到的不是六边形和八角形，而是这个，“艾米”“加布里埃拉”。

And I think we can agree that is just correct.

我认为我们可以同意这是正确的。

That's right, that is Gabriella.

没错，那就是加布里埃拉。

Or, another time I was teaching a class on human biology to my fifth-grade students when one of them afterwards handed in this anonymous question card.

或者，还有一次，我正在给五年级的学生上一堂人类生物学课，其中一位学生后来递上了这张匿名问题卡。

What are balls for.

球是用来做什么的。

And you know what really gets me about this, what kills me, is we had spent so long studying punctuation.

你知道这件事真正让我着迷的是我们花了这么长时间研究标点符号。

And he still used a period instead of a question mark.

而且他仍然使用句号而不是问号。

"What are balls for." Period.

“球是用来做什么的。“句号。

At the same time that I was teaching elementary school students, I was also teaching adults improve comedy at a local theater on the weekends.

在教小学生的同时，我还在周末在当地一家剧院教成人改进喜剧。

This was a group of retired folks,

这是一群退休老人，

graduate students and semi-successful business people who were paying money to spend their Saturday mornings in an unventilated basement with me.

研究生和半成功的商人付钱和我一起在不通风的地下室度过周六早上。

And most of the exercises that we were doing together were to get them to let go of the self-critical part of their brain,

我们一起做的大部分练习都是为了让他们放弃大脑中自我批评的部分，

to release the idea that there was a "right" answer to find, and to instead be more comfortable with their honest, creative, idiosyncratic thoughts.

释放出有“正确”答案可以找到的想法，而是更愿意接受他们诚实、富有创造力、独特的想法。

Now any elementary school teacher can tell you that getting kids to share their honest, unexpected thoughts,

现在任何小学老师都可以告诉你，让孩子们分享他们诚实、意想不到的想法，

that's not something you have to cultivate.

这不是你必须培养的东西。

They will do that whether you want them to or not.

无论你愿意与否，他们都会这样做。

I mean, here are some real questions that kids asked me out of the blue with no context, during what was supposed to be a silent work time.

我的意思是，在本应安静的工作时间，孩子们在没有背景的情况下突然问了我一些真实的问题。

"Is it possible to make myself live longer so that I can see the Sun explode?" "Are pigs actually prejudiced against women,

“有没有可能让自己活得更久，这样我就能看到太阳爆炸？”“猪真的对女性有偏见吗，

or is that just an expression?" "If your brother isn't married yet, why doesn't he just marry your mom?"

或者这只是一种表达？”“如果你哥哥还没有结婚，为什么不娶你妈妈呢？"

And actually, that brings up a really important point, which is that kids' ideas are not always good.

事实上，这提出了一个非常重要的一点，那就是孩子们的想法并不总是好的。

Sometimes they're very bad.

有时他们非常糟糕。

I'm personally very grateful that my mom and my brother are not married.

我个人非常感激我妈妈和我哥哥没有结婚。

There's some research that suggests that for many of us, fifth grade is close to the peak of this kind of wildly free, uninhibited, creative thinking.

有一些研究表明，对于我们中的许多人来说，五年级接近这种疯狂自由、无拘无束、创造性思维的顶峰。

But that does not have to be the case.

但事实并非如此。

In my experience,

根据我的经验，

the difference between people with an amazing sense of humor and those without is often just whether they are willing to accept and notice their honest reactions,

幽默感强的人与缺乏幽默感的人之间的区别，往往仅仅在于他们是否愿意接受并注意到自己真实的反应，

or whether they try their hardest to fit them into a box.

还是竭尽全力将这些反应归入某个固定的框架中。

And that can shift over time.

这种情况可能会随着时间的推移而发生变化。

I saw that shift with my adult improv students.

我在成人即兴表演学生身上看到了这种转变。

At first, when we would do an exercise where they were asked to name seven things in a given category as quickly and creatively as possible,

起初，当我们做一项练习时，要求他们尽可能快速、富有创造性地说出给定类别中的七件事时，

many of them would get stuck.

他们中的许多人会陷入困境。

One guy, Rick, a corporate tax lawyer, answered the prompt, "Seven weird types of shoes" by saying, "Brown shoes, white shoes, black shoes,

公司税务律师Rick回答了“七种奇怪的鞋子”的提示，他说：“棕色鞋子，白色鞋子，黑色鞋子，

gray shoes." I'm not going to name all the shoes, it was all a lot of boring shoes, you get it.

灰色的鞋子。“我不会说出所有鞋子的名字，这都是很多无聊的鞋子，你明白的。

But then, after we practiced celebrating our more bizarre thoughts instead of repressing them,

但后来，在我们练习庆祝自己更奇怪的想法而不是压抑它们之后，

Rick eventually came up with a list a list that included things like, "Shoes covered in mud, shoes covered in gold,

里克最终列出了一份清单，其中包括这样的内容：“沾满泥土的鞋子，沾满金色的鞋子，

shoes covered in the blood of my enemies."

沾满敌人鲜血的鞋子。"

Which is like, that's a lot, Rick, actually, that's a lot, it's really a lot.

这就像，这太多了，里克，实际上，这太多了，真的太多了。

But it's also definitely more interesting.

但也绝对更有趣。

And I think that's the point.

我认为这就是重点。

When we turn off our self-judgment and we just notice the things that stand out to us, or that we think,

当我们关闭自我判断，我们只是注意到对我们来说突出或我们认为的事情时，

we can surprise ourselves in ways that are hilarious and delightful.

我们可以以搞笑和令人愉快的方式给自己带来惊喜。

Every comedian that I know has a notebook or some sort of document where they keep track of all the little odd things that they notice or think throughout the day.

我认识的每个喜剧演员都有一个笔记本或某种文件，他们记录了他们一天中注意到或想到的所有小奇怪的事情。

And what you find, when you start keeping track, is that there is no shortage of material out there.

当你开始跟踪时，你会发现那里并不缺乏材料。

There is so much to laugh at.

有太多值得嘲笑的事情。

And if you have a little bit of courage to allow yourself to be laughed at and to laugh at yourself,

如果你有一点勇气让自己被嘲笑并嘲笑自己，

you can make discoveries that you never would have otherwise, right?

你可以做出否则永远不会有的发现，对吧？

If you want to know what balls are for, sometimes you've got to ask.

如果你想知道球是用来做什么的，有时你必须问。

I have found that you can find laughter in even the driest places if you bring some of that mischievous fifth-grade energy to the instructions and to what you're "supposed" to be doing, right?

我发现，如果你能把那种调皮捣蛋的五年级学生的活力带入到指示中，带入到你“应该”做的事情中，即使是最枯燥的地方，你也能找到乐趣，对吧？

It doesn't have to be geometry class.

不一定是几何课。

It can be an opportunity for you to hang out with your good friend Gabriella.

这可能是您与好朋友加布里埃拉一起出去玩的机会。

Now I have had the most fun when I applied these lessons that I got from my fifth graders to self-serious adult spaces.

现在，当我将从五年级学生那里学到的这些教训应用到自我严肃的成人空间时，我获得了最大的乐趣。

To places where I maybe feel intimidated or like I don't necessarily belong.

去那些我可能会感到害怕或觉得我不一定属于的地方。

So, for example, for me personally, LinkedIn.

所以，例如，对我个人来说，LinkedIn。

Terrifying.

太可怕了。

I've never had a professional resume, I've never been comfortable with business networking, but I've also always been kind of fascinated by LinkedIn.

我从来没有过专业的简历，我对商业网络从来都不舒服，但我也一直对LinkedIn有点着迷。

Like, they let you make a profile, and they don't verify that you work at the place you say you work.

就像，他们让你做个人资料，但他们不会验证你是否在你所说的工作地点工作。

So I decided I was going to test this out and have some fun.

所以我决定测试一下这个并找点乐子。

I made a profile on LinkedIn where I said that I was the CEO of LinkedIn.

我在LinkedIn上做了一个简介，我说我是LinkedIn的首席执行官。

And I didn't think they would even let me do that.

我没想到他们会让我这么做。

But not only did they, after I made the profile, one of the most incredible things that has ever happened in my entire life happened.

但不仅是他们，在我做了这篇文章之后，我一生中发生的最不可思议的事情之一也发生了。

Which is that LinkedIn sent this email to everyone in my contact list.

LinkedIn向我联系人列表中的每个人发送了这封电子邮件。

They sent that email.

他们发送了那封电子邮件。

"Congratulate Chris on the new job.

“祝贺克里斯获得新工作。

Chris Duffy is now CEO of LinkedIn." That's a better joke than anything I could ever write in my entire life.

克里斯·达菲（Chris Duffy）现任LinkedIn首席执行官。“这是一个比我一生中写过的任何笑话都好的笑话。

I was the CEO of LinkedIn on LinkedIn for one year.

我在LinkedIn上担任LinkedIn首席执行官一年。

And at that one-year mark, LinkedIn sent yet another email to everyone in my contact list asking them to congratulate me on my work anniversary.

在一周年之际，LinkedIn又向我联系人列表中的每个人发送了另一封电子邮件，要求他们祝贺我的工作周年纪念日。

And at that point, I received a message from a woman named Faith who worked on LinkedIn's Trust and Security team.

就在那时，我收到了一位名叫Faith的女士发来的消息，她在LinkedIn的信任和安全团队工作。

She said my account was being locked due to concerns about its inaccuracy.

她说我的账户因担心其不准确而被锁定。

So I sent her back a photo of my license, front and back, to prove that my name was, in fact, Chris Duffy.

所以我给她寄了一张我驾照的正面和背面照片，以证明我的名字实际上是克里斯·达菲。

Faith responded.

费思回答道。

"The thing that we are concerned about is not that your name is not Chris Duffy.

“我们担心的不是你的名字不是克里斯·达菲。

It's that you are claiming to be the CEO of LinkedIn."

就是你自称是LinkedIn的首席执行官。"

So I responded, "Faith, you are taking a pretty disrespectful tone for someone who works for me." 10 seconds later,

所以我回答说：“费思，你对为我工作的人采取了非常不尊重的语气。“10秒后，

she permanently deactivated my account.

她永久停用了我的帐户。

It was a short but glorious stint, running my own personal social network.

这是一段短暂但光荣的工作，经营着我自己的个人社交网络。

And now, what am I up to these days?

现在，我这些天在做什么？

I'm so glad you asked.

我很高兴你问了。

I'm more than just a fifth-grade graduate.

我不仅仅是一名五年级毕业生。

I'm actually, I'm the founder and owner of TED.

我实际上是TED的创始人和所有者。

Congratulate me, you know you want to.

祝贺我，你知道你想这么做。

Thanks for coming to my conference.

感谢您来参加我的会议。