1. Irony
What you think it means: Something that is funny。你認為單詞的含義是：滑稽的事。
What it really means: Contrary to what you are expecting。單詞的真正含義是：事與愿違的。
This is a famous one because so many people get this wrong so often. It’s also kind of hard to explain, so we’ll use an example. The Titanic was boasted about as being 100% unsinkable and then in 1912 it was sunk anyway. That is what is called cosmic irony. When a starving vegetarian eats a pepperoni pizza, that is what is called situational irony。這是一個典型的單詞，因為經(jīng)常有人用錯。解釋起來可能有點困難，所以我們還是舉例說明吧。泰坦尼克號號稱100%不會沉沒，但1912年它還是意外沉沒了，這就叫“宇宙反諷”。要是某個餓得不行的素食者忍不住吃了塊香腸披薩，那就叫“情境反諷”。
There are other kinds too, such as dramatic irony and Socratic irony. Believe it or not, sarcasm
is actually irony. When you say something sarcastically, your tone and your words mean two opposite things. That is ironic. Irony can be funny but not everything funny is irony。當然還有其他分類，比如“喜劇式反諷”和“蘇格拉底式反諷”。不管你信不信，irony其實和sarcasm(諷刺)是一個意思。當說到某件事很諷刺時，你的語調(diào)和用詞意在表達完全相反的兩種情況。這就是ironic(反諷)。反諷可以是滑稽的，但并不是所有滑稽的事都可以稱得上“反諷”。
2. Travesty
What you think it means: A tragedy or something unfortunate。你認為單詞的含義是：悲劇或不幸的事。
What it really means: A mockery or parody。單詞的真正含義是：拙劣的模仿或惡搞。
This is another one that people have wrong fairly frequently. You’ve heard people call 9/11 a travesty. Truth be told 9/11 was a tragedy. A travesty is actually a mockery or a parody. One might say that a Weird Al Yankovic album is a travesty. With how often this word is associated with tragedy, we wouldn’t be shocked if that definition were eventually added as an acceptable meaning. Until then, it doesn’t mean anything bad happened。
這也是人們經(jīng)常用錯的一個單詞。有人把9.11事件說成travesty，其實他是想說是個tragedy(悲劇)。Travesty其實是指拙劣的模仿或惡搞。你可以說艾爾?揚科維奇的專輯是travesty(惡搞的)。鑒于travesty這個單詞總是被人們和tragedy(悲劇)搞混淆，或許以后travesty里面也能加入“悲劇”的含義吧。不過到目前為止，這個單詞跟“不好的事情”完全扯不上關(guān)系
What you think it means: Something that is funny。你認為單詞的含義是：滑稽的事。
What it really means: Contrary to what you are expecting。單詞的真正含義是：事與愿違的。
This is a famous one because so many people get this wrong so often. It’s also kind of hard to explain, so we’ll use an example. The Titanic was boasted about as being 100% unsinkable and then in 1912 it was sunk anyway. That is what is called cosmic irony. When a starving vegetarian eats a pepperoni pizza, that is what is called situational irony。這是一個典型的單詞，因為經(jīng)常有人用錯。解釋起來可能有點困難，所以我們還是舉例說明吧。泰坦尼克號號稱100%不會沉沒，但1912年它還是意外沉沒了，這就叫“宇宙反諷”。要是某個餓得不行的素食者忍不住吃了塊香腸披薩，那就叫“情境反諷”。
There are other kinds too, such as dramatic irony and Socratic irony. Believe it or not, sarcasm
is actually irony. When you say something sarcastically, your tone and your words mean two opposite things. That is ironic. Irony can be funny but not everything funny is irony。當然還有其他分類，比如“喜劇式反諷”和“蘇格拉底式反諷”。不管你信不信，irony其實和sarcasm(諷刺)是一個意思。當說到某件事很諷刺時，你的語調(diào)和用詞意在表達完全相反的兩種情況。這就是ironic(反諷)。反諷可以是滑稽的，但并不是所有滑稽的事都可以稱得上“反諷”。
2. Travesty
What you think it means: A tragedy or something unfortunate。你認為單詞的含義是：悲劇或不幸的事。
What it really means: A mockery or parody。單詞的真正含義是：拙劣的模仿或惡搞。
This is another one that people have wrong fairly frequently. You’ve heard people call 9/11 a travesty. Truth be told 9/11 was a tragedy. A travesty is actually a mockery or a parody. One might say that a Weird Al Yankovic album is a travesty. With how often this word is associated with tragedy, we wouldn’t be shocked if that definition were eventually added as an acceptable meaning. Until then, it doesn’t mean anything bad happened。
這也是人們經(jīng)常用錯的一個單詞。有人把9.11事件說成travesty，其實他是想說是個tragedy(悲劇)。Travesty其實是指拙劣的模仿或惡搞。你可以說艾爾?揚科維奇的專輯是travesty(惡搞的)。鑒于travesty這個單詞總是被人們和tragedy(悲劇)搞混淆，或許以后travesty里面也能加入“悲劇”的含義吧。不過到目前為止，這個單詞跟“不好的事情”完全扯不上關(guān)系