Stephen Butler Leacock（斯蒂芬·巴特勒·里柯克，1869—1944），加拿大著名的幽默作家，也是加拿大第一位享有世界声誉的作家。在美国，他被认为是继马克·吐温之后最受人欢迎的幽默作家。他出生于英格兰汉普郡的斯旺穆尔，6岁时随父母迁居加拿大并在那里接受教育。1891年他从多伦多大学毕业后当了8年中学教员；1899年，他进入美国芝加哥大学攻读经济学与政治学；1903年获得政治经济学的哲学博士学位，并开始在加拿大麦吉尔大学任教，先后担任政治学讲师等职；1936年，他从教学岗位上退下来，担任该校的名誉教授。
里柯克二十几岁就开始写作幽默小品。他的第一部幽默小品集子（其中收集了他于1891年至1899年期间所写的作品）出版于1910年，当时他已经40岁了。此后他便笔耕不辍，虽也写过一些其他形式的文学作品如诗歌、剧本、传记以及文学理论等，但他本人最喜爱的，也写得最多的还是幽默小品，共有将近30个集子。里柯克的幽默是一种淡淡的、含蓄的幽默，他不是靠奇特、滑稽的故事情节来把读者逗得哈哈大笑，而是善于从平淡无奇的日常生活中提炼出一些为大家司空见惯却又往往熟视无睹的可笑的和不合理的东西加以放大后呈现在读者面前，让他们产生共鸣而露出会心的微笑或无奈的苦笑。本期节选的这篇《幽默之我见》语言风趣、十分耐人回味，值得细细品读一番。
文字难度：★★★☆
Until two weeks ago I might have taken my pen in hand to write about humour with the confident air of an 1)acknowledged professional. But that time is past. Such claim as I had has been taken from me. In fact I stand unmasked. An English reviewer writing in a literary journal, the very name of which is enough to put contradiction to sleep, has said of my writing, “What is there, after all, in Professor Leacock's humour but a rather ingenious mixture of 2)hyperbole and 3)myosis?”
若是在两个星期之前让我来谈幽默，我会带着公认的行家所特有的自信提笔挥就。可现在不同了。那样的声势已消散。事实上，我的“面具”被揭穿了。一位英国评论家在某本文学杂志上——只要一说出该杂志的名字，便无人敢起来反驳——评论我的作品说：“里柯克教授的幽默充其量不过是‘夸张法'和‘缩小术'的巧妙杂揉，除此之外还有什么呢？”
The man was right. How he 4)stumbled upon this trade secret I do not know. But I am willing to admit, since the truth is out, that it has long been my custom in preparing an article of a humorous nature to go down to the cellar and mix up half a gallon of myosis with a pint of hyperbole. If I want to give the article a 5)decidedly literary character, I find it well to put in about half a pint of 6)paresis. The whole thing is amazingly simple. But I only mention this by way of introduction and to7)dispel any idea that I am 8)conceited enough to write about humour, with the professional authority of [1]Ella Wheeler Wilcox writing about love, or [2]Eva Tanguay talking about dancing.
他说对了。至于他是如何碰巧发现这一商业机密的，我无从知道。但既然他已一语道破，我也甘愿承认我长期以来的习惯做法就是：每逢要写幽默文章，我就到地窖里去，把半加仑“缩小剂”和一品脱“夸张剂”混合起来。而假如想赋予文章以明显的文学感，我发现最好是再往其中掺入半品脱局部麻醉剂。整个制作过程简单得惊人。我把这一秘诀公之于众，旨在说明情况并避免别人以为我妄自尊大，竟敢以行家里手的身份来谈论幽默，就像埃拉·威勒·威尔柯克斯论述爱情，或者伊娃·坦奎谈论舞蹈那样。
All that I dare claim is that I have as much sense of humour as other people. And, oddly enough, I notice that everybody else makes this same claim. Any man will admit, if need be, that his sight is not good, or that he cannot swim, or shoots badly with a rifle, but to touch upon his sense of humour is to give him a mortal 9)affront.
我唯一敢声称的是，我的幽默感不亚于世上任何人。非常奇怪的是，我注意到别人也都这样表态。如有需要，任何人都愿意承认自己视力不好，或者不会游泳，或者枪法很糟糕，但假如你说他缺乏幽默感，那于他则是一种致命的公然侮辱。
“No,” said a friend of mine the other day, “I never go to Grand Opera,” and then he added with an air of pride, “You see, I have absolutely no ear for music.”
“You don't say so!” I exclaimed.
“None!” he went on. “I can't tell one tune from another. I can't tell whether a man is tuning a violin or playing a sonata.”
“不，”几天前我的一位朋友说道，“我从不去大歌剧院，”然后他不无自豪地补充道：“你知道吧，我压根儿对音乐就没感觉。”
“你别这么说！”我大声说道。
“真的！”他继续说道，“我根本分辨不出调子来。我分不清别人是在拉小提琴，还是在弹奏鸣曲。”