I. Words and express

1. Joseph Heller and Stanley Kubrick heightened the truth about war just enought to catch its lunacy, and we recognize it as lunacy. 

lunacy   a situation or behaviour that is completely crazy

2. Luckily, my vigil was at last rewarded. I was browsing at a newsstand and saw four magazines side by side.

vigil  n.守夜、监视、不眠、警戒    此处有“警戒心”的意思

3. Humor is not a separate organism that can suivive on its own frail metabolism. 

frail   something that is frail is easily damaged or broken

metabolism   the chemical processes by which food is changed into energy in your body

4. But that would have been a sermon, and sermons are the death of humor.

sermon  n.布道、讲经、说教

5. Humor may seem to be an act of gross exaggeration.

an act of gross exaggeration   “夸张的行为”

6. If this strikes you as a paradox, you're not alone.

strikes you 用在这里十分巧妙，比起"If you find this is a paradox" 的平铺直叙，用strike显得十分机智。

II. Summary

Write humor is not for fun, on the contrary, is a serious thing. Humor is an attempt to say importan things in a special way. Actually, we can find the joke told by the writer is not only a joke, which is hidden some crazy truth. 

When writing humor, writer should observe something in our daily life with a fresh eye. Then use some funny or exaggerate words to express them. However, control is vital to humor. There is no need to use comical names or make too many jokes of the same kind. Humor is not far away from our life. It exsist in our daily life. 

III. Thoughts

“Humor”，在文体中可以对应“谐趣文”。Zinsser在开篇指出，幽默是作家的秘密武器，并且有时候，幽默不仅是作家最好的工具，还是唯一的工具。Humor不同于joke，尽管在谐趣文中，夸张的叙述与玩笑必不可少，但这并不是谐趣文的价值所在。谐趣文虽然能够博人一笑，但更能够发人深省。就内容而言，谐趣文多与我们身边熟悉的事物相关。比如讽刺某种奇特的社会现象，若直抒己见，则会流为愤世嫉俗的抨击之词，何况有些话语不便明说，于是谐趣文便显得必不可少。

谐趣文并非是现代文学的产物，实际上，“谐趣”是古代文学的思想传统之一，早在《诗经》中就已经出现，只不过在文学史中，我们称之为“讽喻”。比如《诗经》中《硕鼠》，将尸位素餐的官吏比作大老鼠，再比如东方朔向汉武帝进谏上书，也常用诙谐之辞、滑稽之举。如果说“讽喻”还是较为严肃的文学，在近代文学史中我们也能找到谐趣文的典型代表。民国之时，鸳鸯蝴蝶派的无病呻吟、故作愁情一度流行，鲁迅先生便仿照张衡的《四愁诗》作诗一首《我的失恋》，抨击这种现象，读起来有趣，且发人深省：

我的所爱在山腰，想去寻她山太高，低头无法泪沾袍。

爱人赠我百蝶巾，回她什么：猫头鹰。

从此翻脸不理我，不知何故兮使我心惊。

我的所爱在闹市，想去寻她人拥挤，仰头无法泪沾耳。

爱人赠我双燕图，回她什么：冰糖壶卢。

从此翻脸不理我，不知何故兮使我糊涂。

我的所爱在河滨，想去寻她河水深，歪头无法泪沾襟。

爱人赠我金表索，回她什么：发汗药。

从此翻脸不理我，不知何故兮使我神经衰弱。

我的所爱在豪家，想去寻她兮没有汽车，摇头无法泪如麻。

爱人赠我玫瑰花，回她什么：赤练蛇。

从此翻脸不理我，不知何故兮——由她去罢。