【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 16-20
Every culture has many sayings that give advice about life. These sayings are part of what is commonly called folk wisdom. Of course, folk wisdom is also expressed in other ways, such as myths, fairy tales, legends, and songs. Often however, folk wisdom is shared in the form of short sayings about the best ways to approach life's joys and sorrows.
One characteristic of American folk wisdom is its humor. Humor makes the bitter medicine of life easier to swallow. It sometimes makes the harsh realities of life more attractive. For example, Benjamin Franklin's clever saying, "A full belly makes a dull brain" means "People who are well-fed or self-satisfied can become lazy and stupid." But this paraphrasing loses the elegance and humor of Franklin's original saying. Some moralists in the United States are successful because they are able to say wise things humorously.
Abraham Lincoln expressed similar opinions about life but in a different way. Lincoln continued the tradition of "horse sense" humor. This type of humor appeals to people who are hungry for practical common sense. Lincoln, both a politician and an idealist, understood the need for horse sense. He knew how to use common sense to influence people's opinion. He could take the highest moral principles or the most critical observations and use them in folksy—or simple commonsense—humor to make them better understood and more easily accepted. Take, for example, this quote, which is one of the best known in the United States. "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. " Another of Lincoln's wise, folksy statements is: "The Lord prefers common-looking people. That's why he makes so many of them. "
There is no doubt that people need a little push sometimes to help them see the folly of their ways. Mark Twain used humor to reveal that many popular ideas were false, foolish, or even harmful. Twain thought that most human beings didn't examine why they believe certain things, and that they were too easily influenced by the opinions of people in power. He felt that it was easier for people to be "misled" than to be led correctly, so he tried to show the foolishness of those in power. For example, he said, "Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side and ain't that a big enough majority in any town?"
Now you may get the impression that Twain was a misanthrope, a person who saw everyone's mistakes and never noticed their good qualities. It's true that his humor was sometimes harsh, but it was used to reveal truths about human relationships. Twain thought the result would be a better, more just society. However, he also realized that he irritated a lot of people. He was aware that when newspapers reported his death, many people might be happy to hear the news. The telegram he sent from Europe to the Associated Press is typical of his humor. It read, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. "
16. According to the talk, what is major characteristic of "folk wisdom"?