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What is it that makes people laugh? More than two thousand years ago the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle defined (定义) jokes as the pleasure that results from a feeling of triumph by showing we’re better than someone else in a certain way. According to Aristotle and many other philosophers, all jokes depend mainly on showing inferiority in another person or group of persons--that is, putting it clearly, on showing that they are worse off than ourselves. Jokes raise our good opinion of ourselves at someone else’s expense.
Showing how much better than other people we are is only one reason we like jokes. Someone may also use a joke to express their anger or their cruelty or any other kind of action that is not acceptable to us. We feel free to laugh when we hear about someone sliding on a banana skin. The joke lets us express those attitudes which are usually unacceptable to society. This is probably the reason why some of the jokes, especially those involving cruelty, are so popular with certain people.
Besides, all jokes depend on our enjoyment of laughing at something that is strange and out of place because it’s different from things which are happening around it. The same situation can be either sad or pleasant, depending entirely on how strange and out of place it is. If a girl in a bathing suit falls into a swimming pool, we don’t laugh because nothing unusual has happened. But if a man in a smart suit falls in, the situation is at once unusual in a pleasant way and we laugh. A good joketeller will always try to build up a situation in which one thing is expected until something unexpected suddenly happens, and so we laugh.
1.According to Aristotle, all jokes depend mainly on________.
A. showing inferiority in another person or group
B. resulting in a sense of success
C. having a good opinion of other people
D. making people laugh unexpectedly
2.What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?
A. Showing we are better than other people is the only one reason we like jokes.
B. When people are angry, they would like to hear jokes.
C. People who like jokes are usually cruel.
D. To express those attitudes usually unacceptable to society is one of the reasons we like jokes.
3.What will a good joketeller always try to do?
A. Make a sad situation into a pleasant one.
B. Make different things happen at the same time.
C. Make an unexpected thing happen in an expected situation.
D. Make people laugh at something unusual and out of place.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Happiness pays off, studies show.
Psychologists seeking the real secrets of happiness report that very happy people tend to be more extroverted and agreeable than less happy people.
“Our findings suggest that very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and spend little time alone compared to average people,” write psychologists Ed Diener and Martin E. P. Seligman in the journal Psychological Science.
Solid social relationships do not promise happiness, but they are an important contributing factor. The very happy people whom the authors studied all said they had good quality social relationships. However, the authors write, there is no single key to high happiness. “High happiness seems to be like beautiful symphonic music--including many instruments, without any one being enough for the beautiful quality.”
Diener regards happiness as “subjective (主观的) wellbeing”--in other words, the person evaluates his or her own quality of life. The question to ask is, “Is my life going well, according to the standards I choose to use?” If the answer is “yes”, then that person is judged to be happy.
Because people evaluate their lives based on happiness, subjective wellbeing is very important. Though necessary, it is not enough for having a good life. “Subjective wellbeing seems quite necessary for the ‘good society’, although it is not enough for that society because there are other things we also value and would want in such a place.” says Diener.
Can subjective wellbeing be measured scientificall? Diener points out three parts contributing to happiness: pleasant emotions and moods, lack of negative emotions and moods, and satisfaction judgment, to which other factors including cheerfulness and feelings of fulfillment may be added.
There is no magic formula for happiness. Diener suggests steps you can take to ensure you are as happy as you can be. Surrounding yourself with good friends and family--people who care about you and whom you care about--is a start. Joining in activities you enjoy and value is also important; whether it’s work or play, keeping busy in an environment enjoyable to you will contribute much to your subjective wellbeing. In addition, a healthy outlook is necessary.
1.The underlined word “extroverted” probably means________.
A. pleasant and social B. hardworking and active
C. careful and shy D. warmhearted and helpful
2.Happiness and symphonic music are common in that________.
A. they are both something beautiful
B. they both make people feel pleased
C. they both depend on more than one factor
D. they are both hard to achieve
3.According to Diener, a person can be judged to be happy when he________.
A. has rich and satisfying social relationships
B. spends more time with other people
C. joins in a lot of activities he enjoys and keeps himself optimistic
D. thinks his life is going well according to his own standards
4.Which of the following does NOT belong to factors contributing to happiness?
A. Pleasant moods.
B. Negative emotions.
C. Satisfaction judgment.
D. Feelings of fulfillment.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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Every kid wishes to be an adult. Do you remember playing houses as a child pretending to be a grownup like your parents? Did you imagine you were a doctor, a soldier or a teacher? At that time, anything seemed more exciting than young.
But now as grownups, some adults find they cannot leave childhood behind. They become “kidults”(kid+adult). Being a kidult has become a lifestyle choice among young people across Asia. Some kidults collect toys they once played with. Hello Kitty, Garfield, and Snoopy have many adult fans around the world. It is not unusual to see a 20something woman with a big, Garfieldshaped cushion on her sofa or a Hello Kitty mobile phone accessory(饰物). Other kidults still enjoy children’s stories and fairy tales. For example, even an edition of the Harry Potter novels with an adult cover came out in Britain. That way, no one else on the subway will know that an adult is actually reading a children’s book!
“Kidults can be like vitamins to society. Adults who value their childhood and hold on to pure, childlike emotion may be needed in such a rough and dry society,” said a professor in a Korean University. He added that kidult culture might fill the generation gap between adults and kids. It could give children and their parents books, movies, and cartoon shows to enjoy together.
Tim Greenhalgh, a professor in London explained that some kidults just refuse to grow up. They cling to(舍不得放弃) childhood because life in a busy and stressful city frightens them. Kidults would like to forget their age and openly show their fear of society and adulthood.
“So, they look for an escape from increasingly complex and stressful life that are hard to deal with,” Greenhalgh said.
1.We can learn from the passage that kidults are________.
A. children who can’t wait to grow up
B. grownups who hold on to childlike emotion
C. people who enjoy playing sports
D. young people who pretended to be grownups when young
2.According to the passage, kidults would like to do the following except________.
A. buy Hello Kitty mobile phone accessories
B. read a children’s book on the subway
C. work in a busy and stressful city
D. collect toys they once played with
3.In the opinion of the Professor in a Korean University, kidults are________.
A. immature (不成熟) and weak
B. necessary to our society
C. looked down upon
D. getting more and more
4.The main reason of the kidult culture lies in that________.
A. some companies are taking advantage of it
B. modern life is stressful and hard
C. some people like to stay young and energetic
D. some people wish to bridge the generation gap
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Where we live, on the eastern shore of Maryland, the gentle waters run in and out like fingers slimming at the tips.
The Canada geese know this place, as do the white swans and the ducks. In autumn, they come home for the winter. Once or twice each year, snow and frozen rain move into the area. When this happens, if the river is at its narrowest, there is a freeze which hardens the water to ice.
One morning, a friend of mine set the breakfast table beside the huge window, which overlooked the Tred Avon River. Suddenly she leaned forward and cried out, “There is a goose out there.”
We saw the figure of a large Canada goose, very still, its wings folded tight to its sides, its feet frozen into the ice.
Then from the dark skies, she saw a line of swans. They floated from the top of the sky downward and at last landed on the ice. My friend was on her feet now, with one hand against her mouth, unbelieving. As the swans surrounded the frozen goose, she feared that life it still had might be pecked(啄) out by those great swan bills.
Instead, those bills began to work on the ice. The long necks were lifted and curved down, again and again. It went on for a long time. At last, the goose’s head was lifted. Its body was pulled. Then the goose was free and stood on the ice. And the swans stood in the air watching. Then, as if it had cried, “I cannot fly.” Four of the swans came down around it. Their powerful beaks chipped off the ice held in the feathers. Slowly, the goose spread its wings as far as they would go, and moved slowly into the sky.
This is a true story. I just think of it in the bad moment, and from it comes only one hopeful question: If so for birds, why not for man?
1.Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. Why Not for Man? B. Graceful Swans
C. Swans’ Brave Act D. I Just Couldn’t Believe It!
2.What happened to the Canada goose?
A. It was deserted by other geese.
B. It was stuck in the ice.
C. It was wounded and couldn’t fly.
D. It was lost in the water.
3.At first the author’s friend was worried that________.
A. the swans would not help the Canada goose
B. she didn’t care about this matter any more
C. the swans wouldn’t identify with the Canada goose
D. the swans would peck the Canada goose to death
4.What did the swans do when they saw the Canada goose couldn’t fly?
A. They chipped off the ice held in its feathers.
B. They waited patiently for the ice held in its feathers to melt.
C. They came down and lifted it up to the sky together.
D. They stayed with it and protected it.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析