Where are the clowns?

小丑们在哪儿呢？

youdao

The clowns had loud horns.

小丑有很响的喇叭。

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In Thailand, people marked the start of the holiday with an underwater pantomime, complete with clowns, lions and mermaids.

在泰国，人们通过水下哑剧来庆祝节日的开始，还有小丑、狮子和美人鱼。

youdao

Clowns are a very special part of the circus.

VOA: special.2009.01.11

But rodeo clowning has become such a valued specialty that most clowns are as young and vigorous as the competitors.

VOA: standard.2010.01.25

Between events,just as in a circus, rodeo clowns act silly to entertain children in the audience.

VOA: standard.2010.01.25

Clowns from the Big Apple Circus conducted the training, called Clown U. Lessons for the aspiring clowns included parade etiquette (when faced with a crying child, walk away).

WSJ: On Thanksgiving, She Reigns in This Parade

All this stuff about Berlusconi and his bunga bunga parties, or Sarkozy and Merkel simpering at each other, the EFSF being a water pistol not a bazooka, these are all just the second and third leads, the clowns gambolling around the central absurdity which every good farce has to have.

FORBES: Eurozone: The Farce Continues

But why the hackneyed shots of screechy cheerleaders, bench-resting halfbacks and literal clowns in the stands mugging like eight-year-olds?

FORBES: Magazine Article