第1692期:Why do we laugh?

What things make you laugh? There are many things that make us chuckle or burst into laughter. This natural show of emotion gives off signals that we are happy, we find something humorous or even that we’re just a barrel of laughs! Gelotologists have been looking at why we do it and what the benefits are.

什么事情会让你发笑？有很多事情会让我们轻笑或放声大笑。这种自然的情感表现会发出信号，表明我们很开心，我们发现了一些幽默的东西，甚至我们只是一堆笑声！ Gelotologists 一直在研究我们为什么这样做以及有什么好处。

Laughter is a very primitive way of making a sound. When we do it, we make very strange noises – from wheezes and squeaks to gasps and snorts – and each sound simply reflects the muscles in the chest squeezing out air from our ribcages under very high pressure.

笑声是一种非常原始的发声方式。当我们这样做时，我们会发出非常奇怪的声音——从喘息声和吱吱声到喘息声和鼻息声——每一种声音都只是反映了胸部的肌肉在非常高的压力下从我们的胸腔中挤出空气。

Most of the time our laughter is involuntary and contagious, particularly between friends. Neuroscientist, Sophie Scott, told the BBC that it’s “a social emotion. It’s better to laugh with people we like.” She defines two types of laughter – spontaneous laughter, where we laugh instantly and uncontrollably, and conversational laughter – where we laugh together with friends. Research found, on average, people laugh seven times for every ten minutes of conversation.

大多数时候，我们的笑声是不由自主的，而且会传染，尤其是在朋友之间。神经科学家索菲斯科特告诉 BBC，这是“一种社会情绪。和我们喜欢的人一起笑会更好。”她定义了两种类型的笑——自发的笑，即我们立即和无法控制地笑，以及对话式的笑——我们与朋友一起笑。研究发现，人们平均每交谈十分钟就会笑七次。

The BBC World Service programme Crowd Science examined the science of laughter. It wanted to know what caused this highly infectious repetitive action. It found we use laughter to show others that we’re being playful and non-threatening, and this serves to make and maintain social bonds. Also, people outside of our social group can understand the relationship between the laughers by the sound of our chuckles.

BBC World Service 节目 Crowd Science 研究了笑的科学。它想知道是什么导致了这种高度传染性的重复动作。它发现我们用笑声向其他人表明我们很有趣并且没有威胁，这有助于建立和维持社会纽带。此外，我们社会群体之外的人可以通过我们的笑声了解笑者之间的关系。

While our health is no laughing matter, research has found a good guffaw can help our body and mind – it can make us feel good and relax our bodies. It also helps us manage pain and improve our immune system. That’s why laughter therapy is being used as an alternative to conventional treatments. But generally, our ability to laugh is out of our control. When you start doing it, just go with the flow and others will join in.

虽然我们的健康不是闹着玩的，但研究发现大笑可以帮助我们的身心——它可以让我们感觉良好并放松我们的身体。它还可以帮助我们控制疼痛并改善我们的免疫系统。这就是为什么大笑疗法被用作传统疗法的替代品。但一般来说，我们笑的能力是不受我们控制的。当你开始做的时候，顺其自然，其他人就会加入进来。

词汇表

chuckle 轻声笑，暗自笑
burst into laughter 突然开始大笑
humorous 幽默的，滑稽的
a barrel of laughs 有趣，开心果
gelotologist 笑学家
primitive 原始的
wheeze 呼哧呼哧的喘气声
squeak 吱吱声，短促的尖叫声
gasp 喘息，倒抽气
snort 鼻息声，哼哼声
involuntary 不由自主的
contagious 具有感染力的
spontaneous laughter 自发的笑
conversational laughter 交谈中的笑
infectious 有感染力的
non-threatening 不具威胁性的
social bond 社会关系
no laughing matter 不是开玩笑的事，正经事
guffaw 哈哈大笑，狂笑
laughter therapy 笑声疗法