Dr Wiseman started “the laugh lab” project in September 2001. It is the largest
study of humour. Participants are invited to log on to the laugh lab
website, give a few personal details , tell their favorite jokes and judge the
jokes told by other people.
The project will last for a year, and the organizers hope to finally discover
the world’s funniest joke. But there is also a serious purpose, the researches
want to know what people from different nations and cultures find funny. And
they want to find out the differences between the male and female sense of
humor. The idea is that if we want to understand each other, we have to find
out what makes us laugh.
This is a subject that has long interested
psychologists and philosophers. Most of the time, people are not completely
honest. We do things that society expects us to and say things that help us get
what we want. But laughing cannot be controlled. When we laugh, we tell the
truth about ourselves.
By December 2001 over 10,000 jokes had been
submitted(提交).
This gave the scientists enough evidence to make early conclusions. It seems
that men and women do have different senses of humor, for instance.
“Our findings show the major differences in
the ways in which males and females use humor,” said Dr Wiseman. “Males use
humor to appear superior(优越的) to others, while women are more skilled in languages and prefer
word play.”
Researchers also found that there really is
such a thing as a national sense of humor. The British enjoy what is usually
called “toilet humor”. But the French like their jokes short and sharp: “You’re
a high priced lawyer. Will you answer two questions for $500?” “Yes. What’s the
second question?”
The Germans are famous for not having a
sense of humor. But the survey found that German participants were more likely
to find submitted jokes funny than any other nationality. Perhaps that proves
the point. Is this joke funny? I don’t know, but let’s say yes, just to be
safe.
Dr Wiseman and his workmates also submitted
jokes created by computer. But none of those who took part in the survey found
any of them amusing. Perhaps this is relief. Computers already seem like they
can do everything. At least they should leave the funny stuff to us.
1.Scientist
started “the laugh lab” project ____________
A．to find the
funniest joke in European countries
B．to know
what funny people are from different nations and cultures
C．to find out
the differences between the male and female sense of humor
D．to get more
personal details about participants
2.What is the main idea of the 4
th and 5 th paragraph?
A．Man and woman have
different senses of humour.
B．Male and female have
similar senses of humour.
C．About 10,000 jokes have
been submitted from September 2001 to December 2001.
D．Scientists have collected
enough evidence to make conclusions.
3.The writer gave the examples of
the British, the French and the Germans .
A．to show that French people
have a better sense of humour
B．to prove the British
people have a sense of “toilet humour”
C．to show people from
different nations have different senses of humour
D．to prove that the Germans
have no sense of humour
4.Which
statement is TRUE according to the passage?
A．The jokes
by computer are less funny than those by humans
B．The Germans
cannot find the submitted jokes amusing
C．Males are
better at word play compared with women
D．Females
like to use humor to show that they are superior
