【视频讲解】

Lessons in civics from comedians. Barack obama was bad for satirists, even if few seemed to mind.
从喜剧中获得的公民经验。讽刺作家很难拿巴拉克.奥巴马开刀，即使很少有人在乎这点

Lesson
教训 = experience
There's still one lesson to be learned from the crisis – we all need to better understand the thinking of the other side.
从危机中还要吸取一个教训–我们都需要更好地理解对方的想法。
Satirists
讽刺作家; 讽刺者
He built a reputation in the 1970s as a social satirist.
他在20世纪70年代作为社会讽刺作家而出名。

Moderate, upstanding and cool, the first black president gave close observers of human ridiculousness little to work with. Most gave up and welcomed him admiringly onto their shows.
第一位黑人总统以温和、正直又潇洒的形象使得那些身边的滑稽糗事观察者少有可乘之机。于是他们大部分都放弃了，并且在自己的节目中用钦佩的眼光欢迎奥巴马的到来。

Upstanding
正直的(people behave in a morally acceptable way. )
You look like a nice upstanding young man.
你看起来是一个友好而正直的年轻人。
Ridiculous = absurd
荒唐的
If you say that something or someone is ridiculous, you mean that they are very foolish.
It's absurd to suggest that they knew what was going on but did nothing.

暗示说他们知道怎么回事但却袖手旁观是荒谬的。

“I can’t believe you’re leaving before me,” Mr Obama, appearing on “The Daily Show” for the seventh time, told its outgoing host, Jon Stewart.
“我不敢相信您会比我先离开这里。”奥巴马第七次出现在“每日秀”的舞台上时对即将卸任的主持人乔恩.斯图尔特说。

Outgoing
1. 行将离职的
...the outgoing director of the International Folk Festival.
…即将卸任的国际民俗节负责人。
2. 友好的：好交际的且乐于助人的；友善的：
a warm, outgoing personality.
热情友好的个性
3,外带的：要带走的，如从饭馆带走：
outgoing orders of Chinese food.
中国饭菜的外带订购

It was not the relationship to power the acerbic Mr Stewart would have liked. Thankfully, Donald Trump is making satire great again.
尖刻的斯图尔特不会喜欢被强迫出现这种关系。而值得庆幸的是，唐纳德.特朗普使得嘲讽再次复兴。

Acerbic
尖刻的 = bitter (Acerbic humour is critical and direct.)
“At times, the playwright allows an acerbic tone to pierce through otherwise arid or flowery prose”(Alvin Klein)
“有时，剧作家在枯燥或华丽的散文中插入刻薄的语调”(阿尔文•克莱因)
Thankfully
万幸地 (You use thankfully in order to express approval or happiness about a statement that you are making)
Thankfully, she was not injured.
万幸的是她没受伤。

The most conspicuous beneficiary, “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), a hitherto jaded platform for comedy skits on NBC, is seeing its best ratings in over 20 years.
最明显的受益者，迄今为止已老生常谈的NBC搞笑平台的《周六夜现场》（SNL），20年来创最佳收视率。
Conspicuous 明显 = noticeable
Britain continues to follow U.S. policy in this and other areas where American policies have most conspicuously failed.
英国在这个以及其他领域继续跟随美国已经明显失败了的政策。
Beneficiary 受益者
One of the main beneficiaries of the early election is thought to be the former president.
前总统被认为是早期选举的主要受益者之一。
Jaded 厌倦的，疲惫的
“the sickeningly sweet life of the amoral, jaded, bored upper classes”(John Simon)
“不道德的、令人厌腻的、乏味的上层社会那病态的甜蜜生活”(约翰•西蒙)

This is partly thanks to Alec Baldwin’s parody of the president as an irascible halfwit.
这在一定程度上归因于亚力克.鲍德温的滑稽模仿，他将总统模仿成一个易怒的笨蛋。
Parody
滑稽模仿作品 (指文章、戏剧、音乐作品的滑稽模仿作) （= A parody is a humorous piece of writing, drama, or music that imitates the style of a well-known person or represents a familiar situation in an exaggerated way. ）
Irascible易怒的; 爱生气的
He had an irascible temper.
他脾气易怒。
Halfwit
笨蛋

But the chaos in the month-old administration has provided additional targets.
然而一场爆发在刚刚成立一个月的川普政府中的争论提供了另外一种可能。
Chaos
1. 混乱
= confusion, disorder
The world's first transatlantic balloon race ended in chaos last night.

世界首次横渡大西洋的气球比赛昨晚在混乱中结束了。
2. 混沌

On February 4th SNL unveiled a hilarious parody of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, as a gum-chewing maniac.
2月4日，“周六夜现场”节目曝光了白宫新闻秘书斯宾塞滑稽地模仿一位嚼口香糖的疯子的事件。
Unveil
1. 公布
Mr. Werner unveiled his new strategy this week.
沃纳先生本周公布了他的新策略。
2. 为…揭幕
...a ceremony to unveil a monument to the victims.
…死难者纪念碑揭幕仪式。
Hilarious 令人捧腹大笑的
We thought it was hilarious when we first heard about it.
我们第一次听说这件事的时候觉得它很可笑。

The belligerent Mr Spicer has since appeared cowed.
自此，干练好强的斯宾塞先生大为受挫。
There are a couple of lessons here for more sober political commentators.
对于头脑尚清醒的政治评论员而言，可以从中学到很多。
Belligerent
好斗的 （ = A belligerent person is hostile and aggressive. ）
...the belligerent statements from both sides which have led to fears of war.
…双方火药味十足的声明已造成了对战争爆发的担忧。
Sober
1. 清醒
2. 严肃的
We are now far more sober and realistic.
我们现在严肃多了，也现实多了。

One is to abandon the complacency about Mr Trump that, until Mr Baldwin took over in October, had rendered SNL’s portrayal of him toothless and pointless.
一个经验是可以让川普的自满显露无疑，鲍德温先生10月份接任前，一直将他在“周六夜现场”节目的形象塑造得无权无势并且无厘头。
Complacency 自满 = self-satisfaction
She warned that there was no room for complacency on inflation.
她警告现在还不能对于控制通胀的成绩而得意
Render 描写：以文字形式表现；描绘：
“Joyce has attempted . . . to render . . . what our participation in life is like”(Edmund Wilson)
“乔伊斯曾试图…描绘出…我们参与生活的样子”(埃德蒙•威尔逊)
toothless无权威的
In his view, the commission remains a toothless and ineffectual body.
在他看来，委员会仍然是个没有权威而且缺乏效率的机构。

Another is to let the weirdness of this presidency speak for itself.
另一个经验则是凸显总统言论的滑稽无逻辑。
Weirdness
怪诞的，奇怪的
Drugs can make you do all kinds of weird things.
毒品可以让你做出各种各样奇怪的事情来
speak for itself 不言而喻
So far the Bush campaign has left Mr Bush's record to speak for itself
到目前为止，布什竞选活动让布什总统语言记录十分清楚，不言而喻

“America first, Australia sucks. Your reef is failing. Prepare to go to war,” the SNL Trump blustered down the phone to Australia’s president, Malcolm Turnbull, on February 4th. That, minus the threat of war, is pretty much what Mr Trump said to Mr Turnbull in a recent phone call.
“美国至上，澳大利亚濒危。你们的矿产正在骤减，准备好迎接战争吧！”在2月4日的“周六夜现场”节目中，川普在电话里怒怼澳大利亚总统马尔科姆.特恩布尔。这段内容，除了战争威胁以外，基本就是近期川普先生和特恩布尔先生通话的主要内容。
Reef
1. 矿产
2. 礁
An unspoiled coral reef encloses the bay.
一道完好的珊瑚礁围绕着海湾。
Bluster 咆哮
He was still blustering, but there was panic in his eyes.
他还在咆哮，但眼神里带着惊慌
Minus 【非正式用语】 没有：
I went to work minus my briefcase.
我在没有公文包的情况下去上班