复合题

Passage Two

Why do we laugh? For years scientists have asked themselves this question. No animals laugh and smile—only human beings do. So does laughing help us to live longer? The answer seems to lie in that smiling and laughing help us to become less worried and calm, preventing illnesses that are caused by stress. Laughing is really the best medicine.

But if you're unhappy, it can't do you any good to smile, can it? That's not true. It is clear that smiling works just in the same way whether you feel like smiling or not. Scientists in California a sked agroup of students to act five different feelings: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise and fear—just using their faces. Changes in their heart rate, blood pressure and temperature were recorded. Most of the feelings they acted didn't cause changes, but when the students smiled, their heart rate and their blood pressure went down. That happened even though they were only acting! So even if we feel sad inside,smiling seems to make us feel better.

Now, what makes us laugh? It seems that the answer to the question is far from simple. Everyone likes jokes, but we don't laugh at the same ones. It depends largely on how old we are. There are some jokes, for example, that children love but older people might not find funny.

单选题 In the first paragraph, the underlined word"stress"can be best explained as“______”.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据第一段倒数第二句"The answer seems to lie in that smiling and laughing help us to become less worried and calm, preventing illnesses that are caused by stress.”可知，答案似乎在于，笑帮助我们变得不那么担心并平静下来，从而预防由压力引起的疾病。由此可推知，stress意为“精神压力，心理负担，紧张”,与D项(压力和烦恼)意思最为接近。A项意为“惊讶和恐惧”;B项意为"工作和责任";C项意为“快乐和悲伤”,均不符合题意。故选D。

单选题 Which of the following statements is TRUE based on the passage?

A、 Laughing helps us to live ten years longer.
B、 If you are in a bad mood, smiling helps to make you feel relieved.
C、 Our blood pressure can be influenced by five different facial expressions mentioned in the second paragraph.
D、 People, old and young, are likely to laugh at the same jokes.

单选题 In the passage, the writer seems to pay more attention to_____.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】通读全文可知，第一段引出笑是最好的药物，可以预防很多疾病；第二段用一个研究来论证笑如何对健康起作用；第三段介绍了不同年龄的人对笑话的感知方式不同。由此可推知，作者在本文中似乎更加关注笑如何与健康相联系。故选A。

单选题 The passage tells us that smiling and laughing_____.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】根据第二段倒数第三句“Most of the feelings they acted didn't cause changes,but when the students smiled, their heart rate and their blood pressure went down.”可知，他们表演的大多数情绪都没有引起(心率、血压和体温的)变化，但当学生们微笑时，他们的心率和血压都下降了。故选C。

单选题 According to the author,________.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据第一段前两句"Why do we laugh? For years scientists have asked themselves this question.”可知，我们为什么笑?科学家问自己这个问题好多年了。根据第三段前两句"Now, what makes us laugh? It seems that the answer to the question is far from simple.”可知，是什么让我们发笑呢?这个问题的答案似乎非常不简单。由此可推知，在作者看来，我们为什么笑这个问题回答起来非常复杂。故选A。