生活中有那么一群人總能給周圍的人帶來快樂。似乎他們的世界里，到處都是歡聲笑語，沒有任何憂愁。但是，他們的生活真的如你看到的那樣快樂嗎？其實不然。生活中許多看似快樂的人，往往都是在用笑聲掩飾內心的悲傷。你周圍也有這樣的人嗎？

“Why are you so funny?”

“You’re hilarious ! How do you do it?”

“Do you know how funny you are?”

I get that a lot. And yes, funny people know that they’re funny. Even if you don’t think what you’ve said or done is funny, after a while, you start to catch on from all the laughter surrounding you. Laughter is a beautiful sound, and they say it makes us live longer. It keeps us healthy and is the universal expression for happiness.

But the thing is, people make assumptions about funny people. They forget that funny people can be sad because we mistake that laughter for happiness, and that happiness for strength. In light of Robin Williams ’ recent and tragic death, I want to write about what it really means to be someone who is funny.

Here’s the difference between someone who has an innate sense of humor and someone who does not: I see humor in everyday moments and the other person does not. Not only do I find regular, seemingly uninteresting moments funny, I also know how to communicate them so that a person who wouldn’t find them humorous does. Understanding the difference isn’t exactly earth-shattering, but knowing what the difference implies is.

Finding humor in everyday moments is a way to be artificially happy all the time. Oftentimes, you’ll find that comedians are the saddest, most depressed beings there are out there. We use humor to transform the pain, but once the audience leaves and the laughter dissipates , we’re reminded of what was underneath the smiles and nods. Humor is our coping mechanism, our way of masking our unhappiness. It seems slightly ironic, but since when has human behavior ever made sense?

For me, I make fun of everything. I make fun of the fat guy down the street, the child screaming on the plane, and the fact that I can’t play any sports. I squeeze laughter out of the toddler dropping his ice cream cone on the ground, the person miscalculating their jump and landing right into the rain puddle. Anything and everything—I know the right words and the right way to say them.

But when I’m alone, the sadness slowly starts to creep in . It comes in slowly, and then once I start to feel like it’s gone, it rushes in and envelops me. I guess sadness has a sense of humor too—it starts to leave and then psych ! It’s back. It’s during moments like that when I realize that funny has its limits—you need an audience for it to work. You need to hear people’s laughter to confirm that what you are thinking isn’t sad, it’s hilarious!

You will often hear comedians poking fun of themselves. People mistake that kind of humor for lightheartedness , an ability to not take oneself too seriously. But that confidence is often unearned and false. It’s a way to market our insecurities and turn it into something worthwhile. If my shortcomings can make other people happy, then why not? Why not? Why not?

It’s not a bad thing to be lighthearted about the world, but the problem is, few people are. I am not lighthearted. I may come off that way, but I don’t feel that way. Perception is everything, and people don’t bother to dig deeper following first impressions. There’s no need to worry about the girl who is so closely followed by laughter, you would think it was her shadow.

I can’t speak for the great Robin Williams, but I can say that I know what it’s like to feel hopeless, to not want to get out of bed in the morning. But there are moments in life I wouldn’t give up for anything: Seeing a smile on my brother’s face after he wins a tennis match; the satisfaction of having a meal so delicious that you can’t believe it’s real and getting a kiss from a loved one. Those are the moments worth living for, and those are the moments that don’t need sugar coating. They are real and they are yours.

As I grow older, I have learned to cherish these memories more and to not let them go. I keep them in the safe of my head, where no one can take them away from me, where no one can see. These are the things that keep me going and they don’t need laughter to make me happy.

Vocabulary

1.hilarious: 令人捧腹大笑的。

2.catch on: 明白，理解。

3.assumption: 假定，設想。

4.Williams: 羅賓?威廉姆斯（1951—2014），知名喜劇演員，出演過《死亡詩社》，《心靈捕手》等諸多影片，曾贏得奧斯卡金像獎、金球獎、美國演員工會獎、格萊美獎等榮譽。2014年8月11日，威廉姆斯突然去世，外界懷疑是因為其患抑郁癥而自殺身亡，終年63歲。

5.innate: 先天的，與生俱來的。

6.明白這其中的不同處并沒什么大不了，知道這些不同處意味著什么，才是關鍵。earth-shattering: 驚天動地的。

7.artificially: 人為地。

8.你經常會發現喜劇演員們（在生活中）是最不開心和最抑郁的。comedian: 喜劇演員；depressed: 沮喪的。

9.dissipate: 消散。

10.cope: 應對；mechanism: 機制；mask: 掩飾。

11.這聽起來也許有些諷刺，但人類的行為和其要表達的意思有過一致的時候嗎？ironic: 諷刺的。

12.小孩子不慎將甜筒掉在地上；人們失足踏進雨水坑時，我都能從中發現笑點。squeeze: 擠，壓；toddler: 初學走路的孩子；miscalculate: 失算；puddle: 水坑。

13.creep in: 悄悄潛入。

14.悲傷感緩緩而來，當我覺得它們消失時，它們又再次席卷，把我緊緊包圍。rush in: 沖進來；envelop: 包圍。

15.psych: 使做好心理準備。

16.你會經常聽到喜劇演員們拿自己開玩笑。Poke fun of: 取笑。

17.lightheartedness: 無憂無慮，心情愉快。

18.insecurity: 不安全；worthwhile: 值得做的。

19.我表現出很快樂的樣子，但我并非真的覺得很快樂。come off: 表現。

20.感覺就是一切。人們獲取第一印象后，卻不再去進一步了解更多。perception: 感知，感覺；bother: 煩擾；first impression: 第一印象。

21.speak for：代表……講話。

22.cherish: 珍惜。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：祝興媛）