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Although most people believe that laughter is one of the nature’s great treatments for a whole range of mental and physical diseases, it is still a serious scientific subject that researchers are trying to figure out.
“Laughter above all else is a social thing,” says Baltimore neuroscientist(神经科学家), Robert Provine, who has studied laughter for many years. “All laughter groups laugh ‘ha-ha-ha’ basically the same way. Whether you speak Mandarin, French or English, everyone will understand laughter. There is a pattern generator(发生器) in our brain that produces this sound.”
Laughing is our first way of communicating. Babies laugh long before they speak. No one teaches them how to laugh. They just do. People may laugh at a prank(恶作剧) on April Fools’ Day. But surprisingly, only 10 to 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke. Laughter is mostly about social responses rather to a joke. Deaf people laugh without hearing and people on cell phones laugh without seeing, showing that laughter isn’t dependent on single sense but on social interactions.
And laughter is not just a people thing. Chimps tickle(挠痒) each other and even laugh when another chimp pretends to tickle them.
Jaak Panksepp, a Bowling Green University Psychology professor, studies rats that laugh when he tickles them. It turns out rats love to be tickled — they return again and again to the hands of researchers tickling them.
By studying rats, scientists can figure out what’s going on in the brain during laughter. Northwestern University biomedical engineering professor, Jeffrey Burgdorf has found that laughter in rats produces a chemical that acts as an antidepressant(抗抑郁药). He thinks the same thing probably happens in humans, too. This would give doctors a new chemical target to develop drugs that can fight depression.
Even so, laughter itself has not been proved to be the best medicine, experts said. Margaret Stuber, a professor at University of California, studied whether laugher helped patients. She found that distraction(分心) and mood improvement helped, but she could not find a benefit of laughter alone.
“No study has shown that laughter produces a direct health benefit,” Provine said, mainly because it’s hard to separate laughter from just feeling good. But he thinks it doesn’t really matter: “Isn’t the fact that laughter feels good when you do it enough?”The underlined word “figure out” in Paragraph 6 means “________”.
| A．deal with | B．work out |
| C．look out of | D．come up with |
According to the passage, scientists studied rats in order to find ______.
| A．how they laugh |
| B．if they like laughing |
| C．what laughter in rats produces |
| D．how rats react while being tickled |
What can we know from Robert Provine’s research?
| A．Laughter makes a person feel good. |
| B．Laughter produces a direct health benefit. |
| C．Laughter depends on all kinds of senses. |
| D．Laughter is a way of communicating. |
What is probably the best title for this passage?
| A．Why Rats Laugh |
| B．When Laughter Happens |
| C．How Laughter Works |
| D．Why Laughter Matters |
Saying no starts small
“All right then — just one more piece...” Words every girl has said when they are faced with the delicious cheesecake. Of course, many of us know we may eat the whole thing in the end.
It isn’t just girls. Most of us find it hard to say “no” to something attractive. However, scientists now say that willpower is very important to success and a happy life.
Scientists in different countries have been studying the effects of willpower on people’s lives for a long time. The results are similar, according to an article on February 7 in the Guardian, a famous British newspaper.
In one experiment, scientists told young children that they could either have a marshmallow (圆形软糖) now, or two marshmallows in 15 minutes. Waiting obviously needed more willpower. Scientists then continued studying the children as they grew up. They wanted to see if some children always had stronger willpower. They also wanted to see how having stronger willpower affected their lives.
Years later, scientists found that the children who had waited for two marshmallows were all healthier, happier and richer adults. Oppositely, the children who had shown weaker willpower at that young age were more likely to be in low-paid jobs, to be overweight, to have social problems.
But there is hope, Roy F Baumeister, an American social psychology(心理学) professor (教授) told the Guardian. Baumeister says we can train our willpower just like we train our muscles（肌肉）. Even a little practice can strengthen（加强） our overall self-control if we do it regularly.
You could start by making yourself stand up straight, speaking in complete sentences, or using a computer mouse with the other hand. Scientists have found that people who manage to change little habits often perform much better in laboratory willpower tests.
Like muscles, willpower can “get tired”. Don’t try to do too many things at the same time, or when you don’t have enough energy, for example when you are ill. If you already feel tired, you can try to recharge(恢复) your willpower with a good night’s sleep and by eating well.The example of a girl eating cheesecake is used to
| A．prove that girls have weak willpower |
| B．introduce the topic of willpower to the readers |
| C．show that cheesecake is especially attractive to girls |
| D．show the connection between willpower and success |
What can we infer from the experiment?
| A．The scientists had already known the results before the experiment. |
| B．It showed that willpower is the most important to success and a happy life. |
| C．The children who chose to wait were more likely to be successful in their lives. |
| D．The children who chose only one marshmallow at first had stronger willpower. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the training of willpower?
| A．You should have a goal every day. |
| B．Good rest and proper diet can help. |
| C．Willpower needs to be exercised regularly. |
| D．Keep willpower from being used too much. |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．How willpower and muscles are similar and how they can be trained. |
| B．How willpower affects people’s lives and how it is similar to muscles. |
| C．How willpower is important to success and how we can make it stronger. |
| D．How willpower is connected with success and how they affect each other |
An atlas is a book of maps. Atlases are made with different kinds of information about different parts and areas of a country or the world. They are prepared for desk use or travel use.
Desk atlases are made for different groups of people with different needs. For example, students may use desk atlases to help learn geography, and other people may use desk atlases to study a place. A popular type of the latest atlas shows the recent fact of the world. New atlases are often carefully produced to help people learn about the changes, such as the name changes, boundary(边界) changes and other important new information. A desk atlas can also have some different maps of the same place. For example, an atlas may include maps showing population and important products of a place.
Travel atlases usually show the information about both natural and man-made features.So it is not surprising to find universities,airports,forests,rivers,roads as well as cities,towns and villages in them.A travel atlas is often the first thing people need when they want yo start a trip in a strange place.It often has a map of a whole country,and a map with more special information of each important place in the country.Take the atlas of the United States as an example,it often has a map of the whole country and then a map of each of the fifty states.
A travel atlas may also point out the beautiful natural places. In the US, the atlas may include national parks such as the Yellow Stone Park and some others to show the beauty of nature and interesting places to tourists.An atlas is according to the passage.
| A．a guide book | B．a history book |
| C．a collection of pictures | D．a collection of maps |
From the passage we know people need newly produced atlases because .
| A．they can’t see the old ones clearly |
| B．they like to buy different ones |
| C．something has changed |
| D．something is missing |
According to the passage, people can find the information about in a travel atlas of Shaanxi.
| A．the population of Shaanxi | B．the local products of Shaanxi |
| C．the Yellow Stone National Park | D．Xi’an Jiaotong University |
The Beijing Underground’s Line Ten will soon have 40 “reverse vending machines（有偿自动回收机）”,which will pay people for their empty plastic bottles.
“We have placed two such machines at Beijing Capital International Airport and four at the city’s underground stations. They have been well received so far,” said Feng Juan, an engineer from the company which makes the machines. “People are encouraged and paid for turning waste into treasure. More than 30,000 empty bottles have been collected since December,” she said.
If something else, such as waste paper, is thrown into the machine, the machine will spit(吐) it out.
“Supported by the government, the reverse vending machines will be introduced to colleges and universities soon,” Feng said.
The company is also considering covering more recycling materials, including used books and teaching materials.
“Long-term plans call for about 2,000 reverse vending machines to be place throughout the city in the next few years, including 80 at colleges and universities, shopping malls, communities and office buildings,” Feng said.
Chang Tao, director of the company, said that if the new project works well in the city, the company will consider offering the waste-to-treasure service to other developed cities in the eastern part of China.
Which sign probably represents the meaning of the underlined word “recycling”?
Which of the following is an opinion rather than a fact?
| A．More than 30,000 empty bottles have been collected. |
| B．Feng Juan and Chang Tao work in the same company. |
| C．The machines might help people develop a recycling habit. |
| D．People are paid for putting empty plastic bottles into the machines. |
Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Machines help turn waste into treasure. |
| B．A new machine has become popular |
| C．A creative project works well in China. |
| D．People are encouraged to collect bottles |
“Why does the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!”
That’s an old joke in the west, but it came to my mind again when I saw people crossing the road at the intersection of Shaanxi Road and Huaihai Road in Shanghai.
When the traffic light was red, a group of people were waiting for the light to change. Suddenly one man began rushing to the other side of the road. Soon others followed him at the crossing and more people did the same. Just like chickens, they didn’t mind the honking horns(喇叭声) and kept crossing the road in a mess.
Every year several thousand people are either killed or hurt on the roads in Shanghai. And at least one third of them were jaywalking(乱穿马路). Jaywalking is very common in Shanghai. It seems that jaywalkers are not afraid of the danger to themselves.
Traffic laws are to keep people safe. So we should obey them, and have good road-crossing habits. When someone starts to jaywalk, we should stop him, and never follow him. That way we can avoid the traffic accidents.The underlined word “intersection” here probably means “”.
| A．road | B．bridge |
| C．crossing | D．traffic |
The writer saw people in Shanghai that day.
| A．crossing the road in a mess |
| B．waiting for the green light patiently |
| C．crossing the road with chickens |
| D．hurting each other in the street |
How does the writer like what he saw in Shanghai that day?
| A．He thinks it’s OK. |
| B．He thinks it’s wrong. |
| C．He has no idea of it. |
| D．He doesn’t mention it |
| Zhang Lili，a young teacher from Heilongjiang，has been given the honor “the most beautiful teacher”. She risked her life to save 2 students from a highspeed bus in May，2012. She was badly injured in the accident. Her good deed(事迹)and brave acts have won great admiration from across the country. Many people have sent best wishes to her and donated(捐献) a lot of money for her treatment. |
| Zhu Zhiwen was born in Shangdong in 1969. A year ago，he was an unknown farmer. But now he is very famous because of his great voice. He won the first prize in the program of “I'm a Big Star”. That day，he wore an old green overcoat，so people called him “Overcoat Brother”. |
| He studied singing by listening to the radio. And he keeps practicing singing every morning for nearly 30 years. |
| Lin Shuhao，one of the most popular basketball players in NBA，is a Chinese American. He was born in 1988，in California，USA. Lin Shuhao is known to people because of his high skill. Since February 4，2011，he has led his team to win many games. Now he is so popular on the Internet that the videos about him are being crazy spread. |
根据表中信息选择最佳答案。Zhang Lili has been given the honor “the most beautiful teacher” because __________.
A．she was badly injured
B．she risked her life to save two students
C．she has a lot of moneyWhat’s the meaning of the word “admiration” in the passage?
A．敬佩 B．同情 C．感激Where is Zhu Zhiwen from?
A．Heilongjiang. B．California. C．Shangdong. Lin Shuhao is ______________.
A．an America teacher
B．a farmer singer
C．a basketball player From the passage we can know ______________.
A．people have donated a lot of money for Zhang Lili’s treatment
B．Zhu Zhiwen studied singing by professional training
C．Lin Shuhao was born in China