Friends is a classic American situation comedy （情景喜劇）. Ever since its first episode （集） aired in 1994， it has been one of the most popular sitcoms. What has made the show so popular？

《老友記》是一部經(jīng)典的美國(guó)情景喜劇。第一集于1994年播出，是最受歡迎的情景喜劇之一。究竟是什么讓這個(gè)節(jié)目如此受歡迎？

Its humor is， of course， the main reason. Sitcoms like Friends are full of lighthearted and funny jokes. According to research done by American TV blogger Talib Visram， the number of jokes in popular US sitcoms ranges from 3.4 to 7.4 per minute. Friends takes a moderate （中等的） pace and has 6 jokes per minute. This pace of humor keeps the audience relaxed， but also fully involved （參與） in the show.

當(dāng)然，它的幽默是主要原因。像《老友記》這樣的情景喜劇充滿(mǎn)輕松有趣的笑話(huà)。據(jù)美國(guó)電視博主塔利布·維斯蘭的研究，美國(guó)熱門(mén)情景喜劇中的笑話(huà)數(shù)量從每分鐘3.4到7.4個(gè)不等?！独嫌延洝沸υ?huà)數(shù)量剛剛好，每分鐘有6個(gè)笑話(huà)，這種幽默的節(jié)奏讓觀(guān)眾放松，也讓觀(guān)眾充分參與進(jìn)節(jié)目中來(lái)。

When you laugh at the jokes， you might hear people laughing along with you on the show.This is another special feature （特點(diǎn)） of sitcoms-the laugh track （音軌）. Dating back to the 1940s， the laugh track aims to create a theater experience at home. This makes the show even more interesting-when others laugh， we want to laugh too.

當(dāng)你被一個(gè)笑話(huà)逗樂(lè)時(shí)，你會(huì)同時(shí)聽(tīng)到有人在節(jié)目中和你一起大笑。這是因?yàn)榍榫跋矂〉牧硪惶攸c(diǎn)——笑軌。追溯到20世紀(jì)40年代，笑軌旨在創(chuàng)造一種家庭影院體驗(yàn)，它能使電視節(jié)目更加有趣——當(dāng)別人笑的時(shí)候，我們也想笑。

But sitcoms are not only about jokes and laughs. As American writer Ken Sanes said， sitcoms are often about the trivial （瑣碎的） matters of daily life and every character is as real as we are. They have fears， desires （欲望） and foolish emotions， and also do crazy things. The weaknesses they show help us relate to （與……感同身受） them.

但是情景喜劇不僅僅是關(guān)于笑話(huà)和笑聲。正如美國(guó)作家肯·桑斯所說(shuō)，情景喜劇通常是關(guān)于日常生活中瑣碎的事情，每個(gè)角色都和我們一樣真實(shí)。他們有恐懼、欲望和愚蠢的情緒，也做瘋狂的事情，他們展示的弱點(diǎn)有助于我們與他們感同身受。