常听朋友们说，听老外讲笑话，通常是人家笑得花枝乱颤，自己却没听懂，只能尴尬地附和抽动嘴角。今天我们就来看一则笑话，其中的双关语(pun)、同音(homophone) 、反讽（irony）的使用，往往就是这些笑点的来源。
My first job was working in an orange juice factory，（get canned是被炒鱿鱼了，can又指罐头，在果汁厂工作肯定会涉及到坛坛罐罐的）but I got canned ... couldn't concentrate.（concentrate有两个含义，一是专注，一是浓缩。在这里，作者说他不能将果汁浓缩，实际上说自己不专心工作）
Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack。
After that I tried to be a tailor。
Next I tried working in a Quick Fit Centre。
3.It would be a fine thing indeed not knowing what time it was in the morning.其中的fine，其实是讽刺这件事bad.
but that was exhausting（quick fit是快速适应，而exhausting是精疲力尽，这里有反讽的含义）.
I wanted to be a barber。
but I just couldn't cut it.（理发师的工作是cut hair，但说某人don’t cut out to be是说“天生不是那块料”，这里用cut来双关，并且将cut out to be 稍做了改动）
Then I tried to be a chef，figured it would add spice （spice是香料，也可以做“趣味”；厨师的工作肯定会用到香料，这份工作作者原本也希望可以增加些趣味）to my life，but I just didn't have the thyme.（thyme是香料的一种，“百里香”，发音与time一样，读者请自行脑补其中的笑点）
Finally，I attempted to be a deli（熟食店） worker。
but any way I sliced it，I couldn't cut the mustard.（mustard是芥末，cut the mustard是个常见的成语，即搞定某事；作者在熟食店工作，肯定会切这个切那个(slice)，结果他连mustard都切不好，当然又把工作搞砸了）
My best job was being a musician。
I studied a long time to become a doctor。
but I didn't have any patients.（patient做名词用，是病人，做形容词用是耐心的。对待病人要耐心，而他想当医生，却没有耐心，当然就没有病人找他了）
Next was a job in a shoe factory。
I tried but I just didn't fit in.（fit in与前文中的shoe呼应，就是“适脚”，你去鞋厂工作却不fit in就是不适合那里的工作了）
2.好挖苦人的,尖刻的 例句1：You have such a great body！ (你简直是魔鬼身材啊！)但，形容的对象体型明显肥胖。 讽刺是一种文学手法，用于暴露对象的缺点和可笑之处，常采用夸张或反讽(irony)等方式，从而产生幽默的。
I became a professional fisherman。
but discovered that I couldn't live on my net income.（这个也很好笑，net income是净收入，而net本身有渔网之意，与渔夫的工作相呼应）
Thought about becoming a witch。
so I tried that for a spell.（这里是拿spell开刷；spell是咒语的意思，跟前文做witch（巫师）相对应，而for a spell是过了一段时间）
I managed to get a job working for a swimming pool maintenance company，but the work was just too draining.（这里拿drain说事儿，drain是耗光，其分词形式，也就是这里的draining是让人精疲力尽的；而泳池的工作是需要“注水”或“维持水位”，你去“耗光”，下场可想而知。）
I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes。
九、反讽（Irony）是指用含蓄的褒义词语来表示其反面的意义，从而达到使本义更加幽默，更加讽刺的效果。Eg：It would be a fine thing indeed not knowing what time it was in the morning.早上没有时间观念还真是一件。
but I was fired because I wasn't up to it.（up to it是够格的意思，up也有“朝上”的含义，人在动物园饲养长颈鹿，却“够不着”，咋饲养？）
So then I got a job in a gymnasium。
1、This hard-working boy seldom reads more than an hour per week.其中的hard-working,其实是讽刺他lazy 2、Robbing a widow of her savings was certainly a noble act.其中的noble act，其实是讽刺这件事 disgratef。
but they said I wasn't fit for the job.（这一段的笑点在fit，设想在健身房工作的人，自己是不是该fit（健康的）一点？结果他被证明是wasn’t fit（不适合）这份工作，或fit in）
2)Owen behaves so well in his life. He has never done anything bad except for the fact that he once helped his handicapped sisiter.(Irony: behaves so well ;never done anything bad )3)Yes,she is so be。
After years of trying to find work，I finally got a job as a historian。
My last job was working at Starbucks Coffee。
but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.（在星巴克咖啡店工作，当然会涉及到grind，即磨咖啡，整天磨啊磨的，就产生了另一层还有“枯燥的”）
SO I RETIRED，AND I FOUND I AM A PERFECT FIT FOR THE JOB!
