龟苓膏

直到去年看Yes, (Prime) Minister之前，我一直认为最经典的喜剧要数NBC出的Friends。

而这部短短5季(三季Yes, Minister+两季Yes, Prime Minister)的英剧彻底改变了我对sitcom的看法：原来sitcom可以这样拍！

每集30分钟的故事里，充满着大量的对英国政府和公务员系统的讽刺，看完以后不得不佩服作者将幽默融于讽刺中的精湛功力。(前两天刚到amazon.com买了本Yes, Minister的书，也是剧作者Jonathan Lynn和Anthony Jay写的 )

Open government is a contradiction in terms

Bernard: But surely the citizens of a democracy have a right to know.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: No. They have a right to be ignorant. Knowledge only means complicity in guilt; ignorance has a certain dignity.

The President of Buranda plans a speech urging the Scots and Irish to fight against English oppression

Jim Hacker: Humphrey, do you think it is a good idea to issue a statement?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Minister, in practical terms we have the usual six options:

• One: do nothing
• Two: issue a statement deploring the speech
• Three: lodge an official protest
• Four: cut off aid
• Five: break off diplomatic relations
• And six: declare war.

Hacker: Which should be it?

Sir Humphrey: Well:

• If we do nothing we implicitly agree with the speech
• Two: if we issue a statement, we’ll just look foolish
• Three: if we lodge a protest, it’ll be ignored
• Four: we can’t cut off aid, because we don’t give them any
• Five: if we break off diplomatic relations, we can’t negotiate the oil rig contracts
• And six: if we declare war, it might just look as though we were over-reacting.

另：在wikiquote上，有这部剧集的精彩台词。

这部英剧在Mininova上有种子可以下，不过总共大小10.4 gb，我下了1个多星期才下完。

如果可以忍受比较差的画质的话，可以看youku上的视频：Yes, Minister|Yes, Prime Minister