There exist cruel wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, so it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us tide through difficult times in our lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling depressed, as the saying goes, makes me feel good and warms my heart.

　 How would you feel if you could not joke around with your wife, husband, child, co-worker neighbor, close friend, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your comer store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is common courtesy (礼貌) to speak to others that are around you.

　 I know of a few people that don’t have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the slightest smile on their face. They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?

　 Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness in this present world. It drives people crazy. We all need to find a way to bypass the sadness and bring a little light into our lives. So, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.

61. According to the author, humor is useful in the aspect that ____________.

　 A. it can pick up people' s spirits　 　　　　　B. it can help people get on well with others

　 C. it can help get rid of the cruelty in the world　 D. it makes people more confident

62. The author answers the question in the second paragraph with ___________.

　 A. facts and descriptions　 　　　　　　　　　 B. evidence and argument

　 C. examples and conclusion　 　　　　　　　 D. stories and persuasion

63. The underlined phrase “busting a gut" in the third paragraph can be replaced by __________.

A. keeping silent 　 B. speaking loud 　　 C. laughing hard　 　　　 D. explaining carefully

64. In writing the passage, the author mainly intends to __________.

A. talk about his own understanding of humor

B. encourage people to be humorous in daily life

C. introduce a practical way to get through daily life

D. convince people of the power of being optimistic about life

65. What is the author' s attitude towards the present world?

A. Indifferent 　　　　　　　　　　 B. Positive　　　　　　　　　 C. Satisfied　　　　　 D. Critical

   Editor’s notes: AWL is well known for its dictionaries and English language teaching materials． Some readers have written in to ask us for the latest information on high quality books on English, so here we introduce two texts that aim to improve spoken English fluency．
Let’s speak （Beginner)
By Bev Dusuya, Naoko Ozeki and Kevin Bergman
ISBN: 962001359X
Speak Up（Pre-Intermediate)
By Bev Kusuya, Nako Zeki
ISBN: 0583338050
“Teach the students about your culture and help them talk about their own．” How often are these worthy goals kept from being achieved by the limitations of your beginner level learners? Students at all levels want to talk about culture．
Topics include food, shopping, sports, fashion, the roles of men and women, health, music, and many more．
These are all chosen from surveys of over 15,000 students about their own interests in cross-cultural communication．
“Let’s Speak” and “Speak Up” share a special but excellent way that allows all students to take part in．
The series has questions which start thinking and then help collect opinions about personal topics． Conversation practice is provided by ready to use （现成的)models of basic exchanges on the topic． Also, the cultural information presented in the series comes in the form of interesting, relevant（相关的）facts and ideas from other countries through listening tasks and Culture Quiz exercises．
Team activities in books provide lively problem solving games to enable sharing and comparison of cultural values．
“Let’s Speak” is fit for entry level students of all ages． “Speak Up” provides for the needs of higher level beginners, offering the same careful listening and speaking help, but with slightly more open ended discussion．
For any information about AWL’s books, please get in touch with the following addresses:
Beijing Addison Wesley Longman Information Center
Room 2306, FLTRP Beijing
19 Xi San Huan Beilu, Beijing 100081
Tel: （010)68917488 （010) 68917788
Fax: （010) 68917499E-mail: zrh@public．bat．net．cn
【小题1】In the sentence “Teach the students about your culture and help them talk about their own”, “your culture” here means the culture of           ．

　Francis Bacon, one of the most important philosophers(哲人) of England, was born in London and educated at Cambridge University. When he was only 15, he went to France to work for the English ambassador (大使) . Two years later he went back to England to study law. At the age of twenty-three he was chosen to parliament (议会). His ideas about how scientists should study things in nature help to bring the modern way of thinking, called the scientific method.

　　One of the Bacon’s best-known books was his Essays. Each essay was a short piece of writing in which he tried to give a lesson by discussing sides of a subject such as studying, conversation, friends and healthy living. In many of his books, Bacon explained how scientists should study things as they really existed in nature and then tried to figure out what caused a particular thing to be as it was. Later, by doing experiments, the scientist could see that any one cause would always have the same result. This method, which is called inductive reasoning, is used by all the scientists today, but it was new in Bacon’s time.

5. According to the passage we know that ____.

　 A. Francis Bacon was the most important philosopher of England

　 B. Francis Bacon had good education

　C. Francis Bacon worked for a French ambassador at the age of 15

　　D. Francis Bacon stayed in France until he was 23

6. The underlined phrase “inductive reasoning” in the last paragraph means____.

　　A. to discover general laws from particular facts or examples

　　B. to reach a conclusion by reasoning from general laws to a particular case

　　C. to study things as they used to be

　　D. to study things in a particular way

7. Which of the following is NOT true?

　　A. Bacon was a learned man.

　　B. Bacon did a lot of philosophy.

　　C. The inductive reasoning was widely used both today and in Bacon’s time.

　　D. Bacon gave scientists much useful advice.

阅读理解

　　The American cowboy was a great national hero through facts and stories.

　　In history, the real cowboy was a simple farm worker on horseback. He spent twelve to fourteen hours a day outdoors working with cows. The work was dirty, tiresome and not very well paid. In winter, most cowboys had to find other jobs. They were seldom alone. Most of them worked in teams of eight to ten.

　　People could raise beef cattle at low cost in the western states and send them by train to the eastern markets. Hut someone had to look after the cattle on the open land and get them to the nearest railroad . This was the job of a cowboy. Sometimes the railroad was more than a thousand kilometers away and it could take as long as six months to move the cattle. The cowboy moved the cattle slowly so that the cattle would not lose weight.

　　Most cowboys were young, unmarried men. A cowboy's horse was his most important tool. A good horse made the job of moving cattle much easier. A good cowboy understood cows and knew how to control them. At night, he sang to the cows to keep them calm .

　　The cowboy quickly received popular praise. Historians say that was because the cowboy appeared during a time of change in American life. In the late 1800's, America was changing from a nation of farms to one of factories and cities. The cowboy seemed free and more independent than other Americans.

　　Today, the life of real cowboys has changed greatly. One change has been the use of trucks. There is no need for the modem cowboy to sleep on the ground. Modem cowboys are better paid. They are likely to be married. Today cowboys are found in almost every state of the United States . Some of them are farmers or teaches or truck drivers . Some work for big companies. But at night and on weekends they became cowboys. Most have less than a thousand cows, and some have only two or three, those part-time cowboys increase the total production of meat, keeping beef price low. Most modem cowboys do not make much money from raising cattle. Many do it because they love the cowboy life.

1．In the past, the cowboy's work ________.

[　　]

A．was covered with dirt

B．cost much labor

C．was less paid

D．all of the above

2．Sometimes it took the cowboys ________ to move the beef cattle from the western states to the eastern markets.

[　　]

3．The cowboy's important instrument in the past was the ________.

[　　]

4．The cowboys quickly received popular praise because they appeared ________.

[　　]

A．in the western parts of the United States

B．in the eastern markets every year

C．in the time of great changes in America

D．in the early 1800's

5．Which of the following statements is true?

[　　]

A．The modem cowboys not only use their horses but also their trucks.

B．The modern cowboys still have to sleep on the ground outdoors.

C．The modern cowboys are badly paid.

D．Most modern cowboys don't love their work.

　　Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity. I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day’s events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all, isn’t accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

　　When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, well-equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows. I automatically took out my pen….

　　At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.

　　Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful. I’m no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.

　　I don’t want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes. Maybe I won’t have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I’ll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me. I don’t live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves.

　　51. Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of ______.

　　A. observing her school routine

　　B. expressing her satisfaction

　　C. impressing her classmates

　　D. preserving her history

　　52. What caused a change in the author’s understanding of keeping a diary?

　　A. A dull night on the journey.

　　B. The beauty of the great valley.

　　C. A striking quotation from a book.

　　D. Her concerns for future generations.

　　53. What does the author put in her diary now?

　　A. Notes and beautiful pictures.

　　B. Special thoughts and feelings.

　　C. Detailed accounts of daily activities.

　　D. Descriptions of unforgettable events.

　　54. The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is ______.

　　A. to experience it

　　B. to live the present in the future

　　C. to make memories

　　D. to give accurate representations of it