For people who have seen ‘Black Adder’, they might be misled by Rowan Atkinson’s image of mordant and glib persona; furthermore, they could think that this comedian must be pretty slick in real life. However, it is incredible to note that Rowan Atkinson has achieved so much in spite of his severe stammer. When interviewed by the New York Times in 2007 he admitted about this condition, 'It comes and goes. It depends on my nerves, but it can be a problem. I find that when I play a character other than myself, the stammering disappears. That may have been some of my inspiration for pursuing the career that I did.’
看过《黑爵士》的观众，可能对其中言辞犀利、巧舌如簧的Rowan Atkinson产生错误的幻觉，会错以为这位展露头角的喜剧艺术家在生活中也是伶牙利齿，然而令人难以置信的是他居然患有严重的口吃。在2007年接受时代杂志专访时他承认“我的口吃时好时坏，要看我的心情是不是很紧张。不过口吃对我来说确实是一个很大的问题。我发现当我在演戏的时候，口吃就消失了。口吃的问题也许是促使我成为演员的灵感之一。”
As he said, his stammer has not hindered his comedic career, but inspired him to find his screen role—‘Mr. Bean’. In this film, Mr. Bean, who is a hilarious, reserved, and very sensitive individual is amazed by all the spices within everyday life. In his personal life, Rowan Atkinson, has overcome his speech impediment, created a new style of British humor through the use of body-in-motion coupled with facial expressions, all without using or referencing political and social satire. The film itself made a hit after its publicizing, bringing Rowan Atkinson nearly 2000,000 devoted fans in Britain, and eminent reputation worldwide. This made Rowan Atkinson one of the greatest wits following closely beside Charlie Chaplin. After that, Mr. Bean released massive stage photos and videos, various postcards, telephone directories, and imprinted greeting cards all depleting Mr. Bean’s clumsy look, along with his famous ‘Mr. Bean’s dairy’ in which privacies of Mr. Bean were recorded.
正如他所说，口吃不仅没有成为其喜剧生涯发展的障碍，还给了他灵感，使他在荧幕上找到自己——“憨豆先生”。剧中他幽默内敛、对日常生活中令人惊喜的事物和生活情趣非常敏感，冲破语言障碍，创造了一种以丰富的肢体语言与表情来淋漓尽致地演绎了一种没有政治，也没有社会批评的英国式的无厘头。影片推出后大获成功，为Rowan Atkinson，和世界范围内的赫赫声誉，成为继卓别林之后的又一幽默大师。此后“憨豆先生”一路飙红，除了发行大量剧片的录像带、VCD，各式印着他“傻冒像”的明信片、电话薄、贺卡和T恤风行，还有那本名噪一时的记录了憨豆隐私的《憨豆日记》。
It is his earnestness and persistence, even nitpicking in rendering laughter for the public rather than inspiration or talent that accomplished Rowan Atkinson’s extraordinary comedy career. He played Mr. Bean as a tiny, clumsy, a little naive, a mini single-phase calculating (brain which does not turn) kind-of guy, while Rowan Atkinson is actually is an intellectual, earning his Doctor’s Degree in electrical engineering from Oxford. This contradicting performance was very extremely challenging, which cannot have be achieved with only inspiration or talent. In 2003, ‘Johnny English’ was released，Rowan Atkinson was portrayed as a coward clumsy spy. Although this film reached No5 in Box office earners of that year, Rowan Atkinson expected too much of his performance in the film, and was said to have been treated for depression following the critical ‘failure’ of the film. Recently, in order to keep the perfect impression of ‘Mr. Bean’from leaving the minds of people from now getting old, Rowan stopped his film career suddenly.
与其说灵感和天赋，还不如说是Atkinson娱乐大众的认真、执着甚至是挑剔成就了Rowan Atkinson喜剧事业。 剧中的“憨豆先生”是个“有一点笨拙、有一点幼稚、有一点单向思维（脑筋不转弯）、又有一点短路的家伙”。而现实生活中的Rowan Atkinson则是一位取得牛津大学电机工程博士学位的聪明人。这种完全非本色的表演本来就极具挑战性，光靠灵感和天赋是无法完成的。2003年，他主演的喜剧间谍片《憨豆特工》开始公映，他在里面扮演一个懦弱无能的“憨豆”间谍。该片尽管拿下了年度第5名的票房成绩，但Rowan Atkinson对自己影片中的表演要求过高，在这部影片“失败”之后一度患上了抑郁症。为了不让憨豆先生的完美形象在人们心中老化，Rowan Atkinson不久前意外宣布息影。
If having a brilliant career is contributed by a persistent and earnest devotion to hobbies, then coincidently, Rowan Atkinson through his top rated comedies lived a true life of comedy himself. Different from many other élite comedians, Rowan Atkinson was not ambitious to be an accredited comedian, as he gave his burlesque only for fun. Rowan was a bright student and had been pursuing his interest of mechanics and engineering. He continued on to receive his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Newcastle University and then went on to Queen's College, Oxford to get his Master’degree in Engineering Science. Even after having been known as a comedian, Rowan Atkinson stuck to his interest in engineering and received Doctor’s Degree in electrical engineering in Oxford. He firstly aroused public attention in 1976 when he gave performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He later told the Daily Mail, "I don't recall ever consciously deciding to go into this business. One day it was just a time-consuming hobby, the next day it had become 51% of my life, and suddenly, it was my job." He also stated, "People think because I can make them laugh on the stage, I'll be able to make them laugh in person. That isn't the case at all. I am essentially a rather quiet, dull person who just happens to be a performer."
如果说在执着和认真奋斗后，能拥有辉煌事业的人生是一出喜剧，那么将自己的爱好无意间变成辉煌的事业的人生更是喜剧中的喜剧。与许多喜剧精英不太一样的是：Rowan Atkinson最初的志向不是成为一名优秀的喜剧演员，他的喜剧表演仅仅只是出于好玩。Rowan Atkinson是一名非常聪明的学生，曾一度追求自己感兴趣的机械和工程。他的大学本科就读于纽卡斯尔大学，专业为电气工程，之后转入牛津大学的女王学院攻读硕士学位，甚至在其成为一名喜剧演员后，还是继续保持着对工程学的热爱，并取得牛津大学电机工程博士学位。即便如此，他首次获得公众注意是在1976年的爱丁堡艺术节(Edinburgh Fringe Festival)。 此后曾告诉《每日邮报》，“我想不起来我曾有意识地决定使自己进入这一行。从前它只是个花时间的业余爱好，后来它开始占据我51%以上的生活，而突然之间，它变成了我的工作。” 他还说，“人们认为我能在舞台上让他们笑，我就能在生活中让他们笑。根本就不是这么回事。我基本上是个相当安静，甚至无趣的人，只是碰巧成了演员。”
Life is like a play, if we bring others a bit more joy, devote a bit more to what we are doing, comedy is everywhere.
人生如戏，多带给他人一份喜悦，多一份执着，人生处处有喜剧。
本文来源：网易教育频道综合
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