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一位聽眾來信詢問形容詞 “sarcastic” 和 “ironic” 有何不同。這兩個詞都有 “諷刺的” 意思。雖然 “sarcastic” 和 “ironic” 所描述的事物之間有相似之處，但 “ironic” 所指的 “諷刺” 范圍更廣。本期節目講解形容詞 “sarcastic” 和 “ironic” 在含義和用法上的主要區別。

歡迎你加入并和我們一起討論英語學習的方方面面。請通過微博 “BBC英語教學” 或郵件與我們取得聯系。我們的郵箱地址是 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

文字稿

（關于臺詞的備注: 請注意這不是廣播節目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能沒有體現錄制、編輯過程中對節目做出的改變。）

Phil
Hi, this is Question and Answer of the Week. I'm Phil.

Jiaying
And I'm Jiaying. 歡迎收聽 BBC英語教學的 “你問我答” 節目。我們在本期節目中要回答的問題和英式幽默中的兩種常見的表現形式有關。問題如下：

Question
我想問一下，怎樣區分 “sarcastic” 和 “ironic”？

Phil
A brilliant question – because this can be a bit complicated. The meanings of 'sarcastic' and 'ironic' can be very similar or even the same in some cases. Especially when we're talking about what people say.

Jiaying
是的，雖然 “sarcastic” 和 “ironic” 都可以翻譯成 “諷刺的”，但它們所談論的情況不同。

Phil
Yes, and it's best if we start with 'sarcastic'. If you say something in a sarcastic way – it means that you say the opposite of what you actually mean.

Jiaying
是的，形容詞 “sarcastic” 的意思是 “諷刺的”，如果我們 “say something in a sarcastic way”，意思就是 “說反話，冷嘲熱諷”。這樣做通常是為了挖苦、取笑某人，但并不絕對。“Sarcastic” 的名詞是 “sarcasm（諷刺）”。

Phil
Listen to these examples.

Examples
Oh, I can see you've been working really hard today!
（喲，我看你今天工作真的很賣力呀！[言外之意：你今天真懶，什么工作都沒做！]）

Well, that's a nice thing to say to someone you've just met, isn't it?
（你對剛認識的人這么說話，你可真有禮貌！[言外之意：真沒禮貌！]）

Phil
In both of these examples, the thing that is being said is different to the words being used. The first speaker thinks the other person has been lazy, while the second speaker thinks the other person has been rude.

Jiaying
沒錯。有一點值得注意：在口語交流時，人們會重讀句子中表達諷刺含義的詞語。聽兩句話，體會這一點。

Examples
How surprising! You're late again.
（真沒想到！你又遲到了。[言外之意：這一點也不意外。]）

Wow, you spent a long time thinking about that, didn't you?
（哇噻，你想這件事情花了很長時間，對嗎？[言外之意：沒怎么花時間。]）

Jiaying
在第一句話中，說話人強調了單詞 “surprising”，其實是在說 “你又遲到了，這一點也不奇怪”，暗諷對方平時總是遲到。

在第二句話中，說話人強調了單詞 “long”，其實是在諷刺地說對方 “顯然沒怎么花時間思考問題”，也就是在說對方的想法欠考慮。

Phil
Now, this is definitely sarcastic, but it could also be described as 'ironic', which is why this is a complicated question. The important thing to remember is that irony is much more than just sarcasm.

Jiaying
記住：形容詞 “ironic” 的名詞是 “irony”。雖然形容詞 “ironic” 同樣可以用來形容人 “（說話）諷刺的”，但它所涵蓋的情況要比 “sarcastic” 更廣。接下來，我們就來概括地說說什么是 “irony”。

Phil
Irony can be complicated, but a general definition is that something is ironic if there's a contrast between what we expect to happen and what actually happens.

Jiaying
名詞 “irony” 是 “具有諷刺意味的情況”，“sarcasm” 是 “諷刺的話語”。兩者的區別是：“irony” 通常描述 “事情的結果與預期相反，因此頗有諷刺意味，或讓人啼笑皆非”，而 “sarcasm” 只能描述 “用語言諷刺、挖苦某人”。聽兩個例句，例句中用形容詞 “ironic” 描述了 “（情況是）具有諷刺意味的”。

Examples
We planned to make children do more homework so that they would have less screen time, but they ended up doing all their homework on a screen. How ironic!
（我們原本想讓孩子們多做功課，這樣他們就能少看點屏幕，結果他們反倒在屏幕上做了所有的功課！多諷刺啊！）

I started playing sports to lose weight. But the ironic thing is that after every workout, we go out to eat, so I'm even heavier now!
（我開始通過做運動減肥。但諷刺的是，每次健身后，我們都出去吃飯，所以我現在更重了！）

Phil
In these examples, the result was exactly the opposite of what was planned, so the results were ironic. There's a contrast between what we expected to happen and what actually happened. An author might use situations like this in a story to be humorous.

Jiaying
有時，預期和現實之間的聯系可能沒有那么明顯。聽下面的兩個例句中描述的情況，想一想為什么這兩個情況可以用 “ironic” 來形容。

Examples
I always get hungry at work, which is a bit ironic because I'm a chef!
（我在工作時總是很餓，這有點諷刺，因為我是個廚師！）

We were going to the shop to buy a map, but we got lost on the way, which is ironic!
（我們本來要去商店買地圖，卻在去商店的路上迷路了，這真夠諷刺的！）

Jiaying
正是預期與現實之間的反差，讓例句中的兩個情況 “ironic”。在第一個例句中，一個以烹飪為生的廚師卻在工作時感到饑餓。在第二個例句中，說話人本想買一張地圖來指引方向，卻在去買地圖的途中迷路了。兩個情況都很 “ironic（具有諷刺意味的，讓人啼笑皆非的）”。

Phil
Here it's not the direct result of a plan that turned out to be the opposite, just ideas that we had about these people.

Jiaying
上面我們說，一個情況可以 “ironic”，那么人的行為也可以用 “ironic” 來形容。比如，有些人可能會假裝喜歡一件事情來 “反諷”，目的是逗樂。聽下面這段話。

Examples
A: Why are you wearing that horrible jumper? You can't actually like it?
“你為什么要穿這件難看的毛衣？你不會真的喜歡它吧！”
B: Don't worry, I don't! It's just a bit of fun – I'm being ironic!
“別擔心，我不是真的喜歡這件毛衣。我只是覺得好玩，故意搞笑，做和我的想法相反的事情。”

Phil
Again, there's a contrast between what we expect to be true, and what really is.

OK, let's go back to our question – 'sarcastic' has a very specific meaning – using words with an opposite meaning to criticise or mock someone.

Jiaying
“Sarcastic” 的意思是 “（用話語）諷刺的，冷嘲熱諷的”。而形容詞 “ironic” 所 “諷刺” 的情況則更廣泛，意思是 “（預期與現實之間的反差是）具有諷刺意味的”。所以，從某種程度上，大家可以把 “sarcastic” 看成 “ironic” 的一種形式。

Phil
We hope that we've answered your question! If you have a question about the English language that you'd like to ask us, please send us an email. Our email address is: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Jiaying
你也可以通過微博向我們提問。我們的微博賬號是 “BBC英語教學”。Bye, everyone.

Phil
Bye!