與林肯同樂

Abraham Lincoln—the sixteenth President of the U.S.—had no need for comedy writers. He used his natural quick wit to make people laugh， and he used humor to make them stop and think.

The Young Prankster1

When he was a young boy， Abe played a practical joke at home. By that time， Abe was almost six feet four inches tall， and his stepmother， Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln， teased him gently about his height. She is said to have told him he’d better keep his head clean or she’d have to scrub her whitewashed ceiling.

Stories say that one day when his stepmother was away， Abe spotted two barefoot boys playing near a mud puddle2 and remembered what she had said. He decided to play a joke.

Abe asked the children to walk through the puddle， squishing3 the mud between their toes. Then Abe told them his plan and gathered the two on his doorstep. One by one， he picked up the boys and carried them into the house. Abe turned them upside down， telling each child to press his muddy feet onto the whitewashed ceiling. They“walked”across the ceiling， leaving a trail of gooey brown footprints.

According to all accounts， when his stepmother returned， she laughed. Because Abe didn’t intend his prank to be destructive， he covered the ceiling with new whitewash that same day.

Abe’s Quick Wit

All his life， Abe Lincoln also cracked jokes about himself—especially about his awkward4， gangly5 looks. Once when he was asked why he walked so crookedly6， he reportedly replied： “Oh， my nose， you see， is crooked， and I have to follow it！”

Lincoln may have made fun of himself， but he didn’t like using his quick wit to hurt someone else’s feelings. Once， after an author read aloud to Lincoln from his new book， the author asked how he liked it. Abe Lincoln didn’t want to say so. He is said to have told the author： “For people who like that sort of thing， that is about the sort of a thing they would like.”

A Love of Riddles7

Because he enjoyed playing with words and meanings， Lincoln loved to tell riddles， showing how a situation might not be as simple as it appears.

During political arguments， Lincoln sometimes asked one of his favorite riddles： “How many legs will a sheep have if you call the tail a leg？”

Everyone guessed that the answer was five. Lincoln always replied that the answer was four， not five， because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg. This answer must have made people smile， then think about what Lincoln was telling them—you can’t solve a problem by simply changing a word or name.

Lincoln’s Healing Humor

As President， Lincoln had to deal with two of the worst problems the United States ever faced-the Civil War and slavery. But even as he struggled through years of tough decisions， the gaunt8， sleepless Lincoln never lost his quick wit.

At a White House occasion， Governor Saunders of Nebraska is said to have told President Lincoln about a little settlement in his state near a stream called Weeping Water. Lincoln is reported to have said he thought that if the Indian name for Laughing Water was Minne-haha9， then the name for Weeping Water should be Minne-boohoo.

Americans remember Abraham Lincoln for his wise， solemn leadership during the Civil War and for signing the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves.

Now， over one hundred years later， we also remember him for his humor. Lincoln’s jokes and stories have been passed down through the years and retold in many different ways.

亞伯拉罕·林肯——第16任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)，本身就是個(gè)喜劇家。他運(yùn)用與生俱來(lái)的敏捷智慧讓人們笑聲不斷，同時(shí)也運(yùn)用自己的幽默讓大家停下來(lái)思考。

愛開玩笑的年輕人

當(dāng)亞伯還是一個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，他就在家里搞惡作劇。那時(shí)候亞伯身高接近6.4英尺（約1.93米），他的繼母莎拉·布什·約翰斯頓·林肯曾善意地拿他的身高開玩笑。據(jù)說她曾告訴林肯最好保持頭部干凈，否則她將不得不擦洗她白色的天花板。

故事里說，有一天他的繼母不在，亞伯看到兩個(gè)赤腳男孩在一個(gè)泥坑邊上玩，他想起了繼母的話，于是決定開個(gè)玩笑。

亞伯讓兩個(gè)孩子走過泥坑，把泥巴都擠進(jìn)腳趾間。接著亞伯說出了他的計(jì)劃并讓兩個(gè)孩子來(lái)到他家的臺(tái)階上，他把他們挨個(gè)兒抱進(jìn)屋里。亞伯把他們頭朝下倒轉(zhuǎn)過來(lái)，讓每個(gè)孩子把沾滿泥巴的腳都?jí)旱椒鬯⒊砂咨奶旎ò迳?。他們“走過”天花板，留下了一串粘乎乎的棕色足跡。

根據(jù)所有的描述證實(shí)，當(dāng)他的繼母回家看到這一切時(shí)，她笑了。因?yàn)閬啿⒉幌胱屵@個(gè)玩笑鬧大，所以他在當(dāng)天用新石灰將天花板又重新刷了一遍。

亞伯敏捷的智慧

亞伯拉罕·林肯在他的一生中，也會(huì)開自己的玩笑——特別是關(guān)于他那高瘦而笨拙的體形。有一次當(dāng)他被問及為何走路時(shí)會(huì)駝背時(shí)，據(jù)說他的回答是：“噢，你看，我的鼻子是彎的，所以我只得跟隨它！”

林肯也許會(huì)取笑自己，但是他從不喜歡利用自己的機(jī)智來(lái)傷害別人的感情。一次，當(dāng)一位作家把自己新著里的文字大聲地朗讀給林肯聽后，便問林肯感受如何。亞伯拉罕·林肯不置可否，據(jù)說他是這樣回答那位作家的：“對(duì)于喜歡某些內(nèi)容的人來(lái)說，這篇文章恰好迎合了他們的口味?！?/p>

對(duì)謎語(yǔ)的熱愛

因?yàn)榱挚舷矚g揣摩字里行間的意思，所以他喜歡用謎語(yǔ)來(lái)表明有些情況可能并不象它表面上顯露的那么簡(jiǎn)單。

在政治辯論中，有時(shí)候，林肯會(huì)拿其中一條他最喜歡的謎語(yǔ)來(lái)問大家：“如果你把羊的尾巴也稱為腿的話，那么羊總共有幾條腿呢？”

每個(gè)人都會(huì)猜是五條。而林肯總堅(jiān)持答案是四條，而不是五條，因?yàn)榘盐舶头Q作腿，并不能真的把尾巴變成一條腿。這個(gè)答案肯定會(huì)讓人們發(fā)笑，然而想想林肯告訴了他們什么——不能單靠詞語(yǔ)或名字的替換來(lái)解決問題。

林肯的幽默

作為總統(tǒng)，林肯不得不處理美國(guó)社會(huì)所面臨的最為艱澀的兩大問題——內(nèi)戰(zhàn)和奴隸制。但是當(dāng)他這幾年在艱難抉擇中苦苦掙扎時(shí)，憔悴的，經(jīng)常失眠的林肯也沒有失去他敏銳的智慧。

有一次在白宮中，據(jù)說內(nèi)布拉斯加州的州長(zhǎng)桑德斯告訴林肯總統(tǒng)，一個(gè)小定居點(diǎn)就在他所在州的一條名為“哭河”的小溪附近。據(jù)傳林肯說道，我認(rèn)為如果“笑河”的印第安名字是“明尼哈哈”的話，那么“哭河”的名字應(yīng)該是“明尼哇哇”。

歷史上的亞伯拉罕·林肯之所以被美國(guó)人民銘記，是因?yàn)樗趦?nèi)戰(zhàn)期間明智、莊嚴(yán)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，以及他簽署了讓奴隸們獲得自由的《解放宣言》。

而一百多年后的今天，我們?nèi)匀粫?huì)記得他的幽默。林肯的笑話和故事已經(jīng)流傳了許多年，現(xiàn)在人們還一直在用各種不同的方式復(fù)述著。

單詞卡片··

1.prankster n.頑皮的人，愛開玩笑的人；

prank：玩賞，惡作劇

2.puddle n.水坑，膠土，污水坑

3.squish vt.壓扁，壓爛

4.awkward adj.難使用的，笨拙的

5.gangly adj.身材瘦長(zhǎng)的

6.crookedly adv.彎曲地

7.riddle n.謎，謎語(yǔ)

8.gaunt adj.憔悴的

9.Minne-haha：為密西西比河支流，來(lái)自于印第安語(yǔ)，意為laughing river