根据短文内容,从下框A~F选项中选出能概括每段主题的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余项。

A. A sense of humour is not an inborn ability.

B. A sense of humour can be developed in our life.

C. A sense of humour helps us from several aspects.

D. A sense of humour means more than telling jokes.

E. A sense of humour can be expressed in many ways.

F. A sense of humour helps people to better enjoy life.

1.As awareness of the benefits of humour increases, most of us want to get all the laughs we can. It seems that almost every day there is another new discovery about the power of humour to help us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Every system of the body responds to laughter in some important or positive way.

2.Many people mistakenly believe that we are born with a sense of humour. They think that when it comes to a sense of humour. “Either you have got it or you don’t.” This is

false! What is true, however, is that the ability to laugh and smile is actually something we are born with. For example, we laugh when we are tickled under the arm, even without thinking about how to react.

3.The parts of the brain and central nervous system that control laughing and smiling are mature at birth in human infants, but that is not the same thing as having a sense of humour. (After all, when a baby laughs in his small bed we don’t rush over and say, “That kid has a great sense of humour!”) Your sense of humour is something you can develop over a lifetime. Don’t be nervous before others and try to laugh at yourself-then you will make them laugh too.

4.Humour includes a lot more than laughing and joke telling. Many people worry needlessly that they do not have a good sense of humour because they are not good joke tellers. More than jokes, a sense of humour requires being willing and able to see the funny side of life’s situations as they happen. In fact, one of the best definitions(定义)of a sense of humour is “the ability to see the nonserious element in a situation.”

5.There may be a thousand different ways to express your sense of humour, but joke telling is only one of those ways. As more is discovered about how humour benefits our life, more people will be able to see and enjoy the humour when they are in a difficult situation. Life depends on air, food and water, but it is made easier to live with a good sense of humour.

 

Franz Kafka wrote that “A book must be the ax(斧子)for the frozen sea inside us.” I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn’t seem to require any explanation.

We’d just finished John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are you crying?” one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.”

But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I’ve taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel’s terrible logic—the giving way of dreams to fate (命运).

For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature(文学) with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school—one that often attracts the literary-minded (有文学头脑的) children of Manhattan’s upper classes—into a less competitive school. The daughter of immigrants (移民), with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional “cultural capital” could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph.D.’s.

Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn’t always read from the expected point of view. About The Red Pony, one student said, “it's about being a man, it’s about manliness (男子气概).” I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies (独白) read as raps, but both made sense; the interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck’s writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that “all these people hate each other, and they’re all white.” His historical view was broadening, his sense of his own country deepening. Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in their first year in college as a result of the classes.

Year after year, however, we are increasing the number of practice tests. We are trying to teach students to read increasingly complex texts, not for emotional punch (碰撞) but for text complexity. Yet, we cannot enrich the minds of our students by testing them on texts that ignore their hearts. We are teaching them that words do not amaze but confuse. We may succeed in raising test scores, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.

1.The underlined words in Paragraph 1 probably mean that a book helps to________.

A.realize our dreams

B.give support to our life

C.smooth away difficulties

D.awake our emotions

2.Why were the students able to understand the novel Of Mice and Men?

A.Because they spent much time reading it.

B.Because they had read the novel before.

C.Because they came from a public school.

D.Because they had similar life experiences.

3.The girl left the selective high school possibly because ________.

A.she was a literary-minded girl

B.her parents were immigrants

C.she couldn’t fit in with her class

D.her father was then in prison

4.To the author’s surprise, the students read the novels ________.

A.creatively         B.passively          C.repeatedly        D.carelessly

5.The author writes the passage mainly to ________.

A.introduce classic works of literature

B.advocate teaching literature to touch the heart

C.argue for equality among high school students

D.defend the current testing system

 

Every American family has its own traditions on Thanksgiving Day, and mine is no different. Once the national holiday arrives, my mom rises early to make the meal. She puts a turkey in the oven, chops carrots and bakes pies. I’m sorry to say that the men in the family – my dad, my younger brother and myself – rarely pitch in to help. Our job is to wash the mountain of dirty dishes after the meal is over.

Around 2 pm every Thanksgiving Day, family members seat themselves around the kitchen table. Plates of turkey, vegetables, salad, rolls and pies cover it. At this point, we can hardly keep ourselves from drooling (流口水) all over our fancy clothes, but it’s not yet time to eat.

First, we must bow our heads, close our eyes and say a prayer of thanks aloud to God for giving us everything we have. Under normal circumstances, I would have no problem making a list of things I am thankful for. I grew up in a loving family. My parents, who aren’t wealthy, took out loans to help me pay for university.

But, the funny thing is, every time I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner and try to say a prayer of thanks, my mind usually goes blank. I think it has something to do with my growling (咕咕叫) stomach and all of that food sitting right there under my nose.

Eventually, though, we all finish our short prayers and dig in. To be sure, the day includes other highlights – visiting with family and watching football. But usually around 6 pm we are all ourselves stuffed like turkeys and thankful to have a nice warm bed to sleep in.

1.The purpose of the text is to ________.

A. tell what the family do for Thanksgiving Day

B. tell how the family spends Thanksgiving Day

C. introduce foods served on Thanksgiving Day

D. introduce the American Thanksgiving Day

2.On Thanksgiving Day the author’s family do the following except ________.

A. watching a movie                   B. making visits

C. having a big meal                   D. watching football

3.Why does the author’s mind usually “go blank” when saying a prayer of thanks?

A. He is too thankful to say a word.

B. His mind is on the food before him.

C. He feels too excited to speak.

D. He is shy to speak in public.

4.The underlined phrase “dig in” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to “________”.

A. chat with others                   B. make a hole

C. mix things up                     D. start eating

5.What can we conclude from the text?

A. On Thanksgiving Day, men do nothing but eat.

B. The author is a middle school student.

C. The author’s family is not rich, but it’s a loving one.

D. Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday of December.

 

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