I can still remember my first sex education class at the school in Britain. My classmates and I were all about 11, and our introduction to “the birds and bees” was initially a video showing a family playing badminton at a nudist resort. 我還記得在英國學(xué)校上的第一堂性教育課。我和我的同學(xué)們當(dāng)時(shí)大約11歲，我們的性教育啟蒙課程就是觀看了一段一家人裸體打羽毛球的視頻。 Our teacher followed this by reading a carefully prepared list of dos and don’ts – although, as I went to a Roman Catholic school, the list was almost entirely made up of don’ts. 接著，老師念了一份精心準(zhǔn)備的清單，上面列著一些規(guī)則和禁忌——不過，因?yàn)槲易x的是羅馬天主教學(xué)校，所以清單上幾乎只有禁忌。 That lesson was not the first time we’d learned about sex; our parents had been feeding us information over the years. But I recall the giggling that emanated from every corner of the class as we watched that video, prompting the teacher every few minutes to shout, “Oh just grow up!” 這一課不是我們第一次接受性教育；這些年來，我們的父母一直在給我們灌輸知識。但我記得，我們觀看視頻時(shí)，教室里所有人都在咯咯地笑，老師每隔幾分鐘就得喊一聲:“別這么幼稚！” It was possibly the most awkward moment of my life. 這可能是我這輩子最尷尬的時(shí)刻。 Twenty-five years later, in summer 2014, I realized I was experiencing the same exact feeling I had during that class while sitting in the Beijing National Library Concert Hall. 25年之后，也就是2014年的夏天，我坐在北京的國家圖書館藝術(shù)中心里，再一次經(jīng)歷了同樣的感受。 I’d been watching a live recording of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus as part of a National Theater Live event. About two-thirds in was a scene in which exiled Roman warrior Caius Marcius, the central character played by British heartthrob Tom Hiddlestone, pledges his sword to frienemy Aufidius in order to wreak revenge on the people who forced him out of Rome. 當(dāng)時(shí)我在欣賞莎士比亞的悲劇《科里奧蘭納斯》（Coriolanus）的現(xiàn)場錄制版，這是英國國家劇院現(xiàn)場系列（National Theater Live）的一部分。演出進(jìn)行到三分之二時(shí)，主角由英國萬人迷演員湯姆·希丁斯頓（Tom Hiddlestone）扮演，場景是被流放的羅馬戰(zhàn)士卡厄斯·馬歇斯（Caius Marcius）宣誓效忠于亦敵亦友的奧菲狄烏斯（Aufidius），以此報(bào)復(fù)那些將他逐出羅馬的人。 In accepting the offer, the actor playing Aufidius kissed Hiddlestone full on the mouth, which sparked uproarious laughter from the mostly Chinese audience. 在接受他的效忠時(shí)，扮演奧菲狄烏斯的演員親吻了希丁斯頓的嘴巴，這一舉動引得場中許多中國觀眾哄堂大笑。 “Why are people laughing?” I asked my wife, confused by the reaction to such a powerful scene. “This guy is agreeing to slaughter everyone in Rome,” I said. 我問我的妻子，“大家為什么笑了？”這么有感染力的場景，得到的卻是這般反應(yīng)，我感到困惑不解?！斑@家伙可是同意了要屠殺羅馬的所有人，”我說道。 Eventually, after catching her breath and wiping the tears from her eyes, she answered, “Because it’s just so gay!” 她調(diào)整呼吸，擦了擦眼淚，這才回答說：“因?yàn)檫@太像同性戀了!” As the two actors on screen continued to spit verse, their faces an inch or so apart, the laughter continued, and I began to ask myself whether I was really watching a Shakespearean tragedy or had accidentally wandered into Stephen Chow’s latest comedy. 銀幕上的兩位演員還在吟誦詩句，他們的臉相距只有一英寸左右，場內(nèi)依舊是笑聲不斷。我開始懷疑自己，我看的是莎士比亞的悲劇，還是無意中錯(cuò)入了周星馳的最新喜劇片場。 I’m not sure why, but it felt like I’d been transported back to 1990 and was again surrounded by giggling 11 year olds, only this time it was me who wanted to shout “Oh just grow up!” 我不知道這種感覺從何而來，但我仿佛回到了1990年，又一次被咯咯笑的11歲小孩所包圍，只不過這次想要大喊“別這么幼稚！”的人換成了我自己。 The laughing didn’t ruin the show for me, but it did break the tense atmosphere that the tragic work usually creates. It also proved once again that it’s always an education – if not entertaining – to see a play and film in a foreign country. 他們的笑聲并沒有破壞我觀看演出的興致，但確實(shí)打破了悲劇作品常有的緊張氣氛。這些笑聲再次證明，在國外觀看戲劇和電影有時(shí)可能讓人捧腹，但總是一種教育。 The first time I went to a movie theater in the United States - it was Austin Powers 2 in New York City - I remember being amazed when everyone started clapping at the end, as though the actors we about to come out and bow. 我第一次在美國看電影，是在紐約市看《王牌大賤諜2》（Austin Powers 2）——我記得電影結(jié)束時(shí)，所有人都鼓起掌來，仿佛演員馬上要出來鞠躬謝幕似的，我當(dāng)時(shí)感到很驚訝。 But the funniest was in Vietnam, where I was dragged to a screening of Mama Mia! with some female friends. Each time a character switched from speaking to singing, the crowd erupted in wild, uncontrollable laughter. 但最好笑的一次是在越南，我同幾位女性朋友被拉去看《媽媽咪呀！》（Mama Mia!）。每當(dāng)角色從念白轉(zhuǎn)為唱腔，觀眾就爆發(fā)出一陣瘋狂而失控的笑聲。 “We don’t do musicals,” my friend, who is from Hanoi, said as tears of laughter streamed down her face. “我們欣賞不來音樂劇，”來自河內(nèi)的朋友說著，笑得淚流滿面。 Her reaction was worth the entrance fee alone. 光是她的反應(yīng)就讓我值回了票價(jià)。