WAYS OF COMEDY
Laughing involves the eyes,face,chest,lips,tongue,throat,lungs,diaphragm,hands,feet,and belly.
Convulsive laughter involves the whole body.   P13
Many times humor reads well but doesn't play well, and vice versa. This may be due to improper dress,voice,gestures,accent,timeliness,clarity,surroundings,material,freshness,degree of surprise,condition of environment,etc. ---P 17
Democritus laughed heartily and reached the age of a hundred. ----P17
Freud's firm conviction was that the pursuit of laughter opens to us certain vistas(景色) of delight.-----P 17
Comedy makes us laugh because the life patterns are suddenly changed by funny faces,clothes,manner of walking,thinking and acting. ----P 19
In sarcasm(讥讽)one thing is said but another is meant,and so you have the elements of humor.When sarcasm isn't funny,it is usually because there is an element of malice(恶意) in it,and malice isn't enjoyable. ------P 21
Absentmindedness is comical because it puts the individual in a stupid or helpless condition,able to be taken advantage of or to be the object of sadism,so that the audience can feel themselves much superior. ---P 24
In comedies,the audience is aware of the deceptions ahead of the characters,so that the audience appears to be smarter than the characters,which heightens the humor.
The comic character lacks insight and is ignorant of himself. The comic character is invisible to himself but visible to all the world. Such stupidity is quite laughable.---P 24
Man is the best laughing animal.Laughter is a social phenomenon.Animals can not laugh.----P 28
Laughter is an external manifestation of this instinct.laughing is the privilege of man.---P 29
A comedian may set before us a character who lays a trap in which he is the first to be caught.The villain who is the victim of his own villainy,or the cheat cheated,forms the basis of the plot of many plays.----P 30
Irony is a statement of what ought to be done,and pretending to believe that this is just what is actually being done.Humor is really the counterpart of irony.---P 34
Comedy deals with classes or groups of people,whereas tragedy is more limited to one or a few people.---P 35
A comic lacks so-called common sense.A comic is an inversion of common sense.---P 36

WHAT'S LAUGHABLE

HUMOR, VULGAR(粗俗) AND OTHERWISE
Witty expressions：“Speak little and you will hear much”.
                   “He who speaks the truth must have one foot in the stirrup(马镫)”
Funny jokes often include mostly one or more of the following and other mechanisms as mentioned elsewhere in this book:
                       1.sex
                       2.surprise
                       3.stupidity
                       4.sadism
                       5.suspense
                       6.negative identification
                       7.masochism
                       8.getting even
                       9.identification
                       10.ludicrous situation
                       11.naivete or narcissism
                       12.running or moving peculiarly
                       13.wit or smart biting
LAUGHTER AND YOUR HEALTH age-old expressions: Early to bed and early to rise,makes a man healthy,wealthy, and wise. Early to rise and leave the table a little hungry.-----P 59 deprsssed,unhealthy,discouraging,criticizing and crying people are usually rejected and disliked by society. the world laughs with you;cry,and you cry alone.----P 61   INTRODUCTION TO LAUGHTER Laughter can be produced by jokes,stories,or theatrical situations which involve:
(1)Stupidity,ignorance,or mistakes--that is,poking fun at someone else,or at oneself,or a group,as many comedians do.
(2)Sex and its anomalies(异常).
(3)Sado-masochism(施虐受虐狂).
(4)Surprise.
(5)Suspense.
(6)Ridicule(ridicule).
(7)Frustration.
(8)Rejection or loneliness.
(9)Absurdity(荒谬,可笑).
(10)Disrespect.
(11)Unusual language.
(12)Disappointment.  -----P 63-64            
HUMOR AND HEALTH
Humor is a part of a specialized literature in any language.----P 71
"You can fool all the people part of the time and part of the people all the time,but you can't fool all the  people all the time."----Abraham Lincoln ---- P 73
THE FUNNY WORD
He is as hot as a stove.
He is as slippery as an eel.
She smokes like a chimney.----P 77-78
WIT AND HUMOR
epigrams(警句)
Life attempts to imitate art more than art imitates life.The aim of art is to tell untruthful beautiful things.
Industry is the root of all ugliness.
Romance begins when one deceives himself and continues as he deceives others.---P 80
Good resolutions are usually too late.
Men marry because they think they are tired,women because they are curious;both are disappointed.
It is easy to be kind to people we care nothing about.
Men know life too early,women too late.
Man never tires of a bad woman.
Men always want to be a woman's first love;women like to be a man's last romance.
Clever people listen;the stupid never--they always ---talk.---P 81
Women who trust their husbands look thoroughly unhappy.
Wicked women only bother one,good women bore one.---P 82
 
HUMOR AND THE GREAT
LAUGH YOURSELF TO HEALTH
There are bodily changes in fear,pain,hunger,rage,hostility,jealousy and suffering......they are unhealthy.---P 87
ON THE MISUSE OF WORDS
Spoken words are more laughable because of facial expressions,gestures,and tone in addition to the place where the words are uttered and the mood of the audience.--P 94
THE LOVE OF LAUGHTER
Laughing is a good escape from troubles,worries,from boredom and is a change in thinking.----P 95
读后感：
书不是很厚，通篇充满幽默或与之相近的词汇，但文章的写作风格显然与中国人的不同，所以，不觉得有多大用途。没有重点，一般。