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　　As the human brain evolved, humans were able to laugh before they could speak, according to a new study．But here’s the punch line：Laughter and joy are not unique to humans, the study says．Ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals long before humans began laughing．

　　“Human laughter has its roots in our animation past,” said Jaak Panksepp, a professor of psychobiology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio．Panksepp has studied rats and found that when they “play,” they often chirp(唧唧叫)－an early－stage form of laughter, according to the scientist．In an article to be published tomorrow in the journal Science, he makes the argument that animal laughter is the basis for human joy．

　　In studying laughter, scientists have focused mostly on related issues－humor, personality, health benefits, social theory－rather than laughter itself．New research, however, shows that “circuits”(电路)for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the human brain．As humans have included language into play, we may have developed new connections to joyous parts of our brains that evolved before the cerebral cortex(大脑皮层), the outer layer associated with thought and memory．

　　There is plenty of evidence that many other mammals make play sounds, which are like human laughter．Indeed, animals are capable of many emotional feelings, just like humans, some scientists say．"The recognition by neuroscientists(神经系统科学家)that the brain systems for pain, pleasure, and fear are the same in humans and other mammals underline our similarity to other species and is extremely important," said Tecumseh Fitch, a psychology lecturer at the University of St．Andrews in Scotland．In a 2003 study Panksepp and Bowling Green State University neurobiologist Jeff Burgdorf showed that if rats are tickled(呵痒)in a playful way, they readily chirp．Rats that were tickled developed a relationship with the researchers and became rapidly conditioned to seek tickles．Understanding the chirping of the rats may help scientists better understand human laughter．

　　Robert Provine, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, agrees there is an evolutionary continuity of laughter．"Its origin is in tickling play," he says．Provine has studied chimpanzees and found a link between their laughter - like noises and human laughter．"Laughter is actually the sound of play, with the original’ pant – pant’(喘气)- the heavy breathing of physical play - becoming the human ‘ha - ha,’” Provine said．By studying the shift from the panting of chimps to the human ha - ha, he discovered that breath control is the key to the appearance of both human laughter and speech．

(1)

The 2003 study about rats being tickled are mentioned in paragraph 4 in order to show that ________．
[　　]
A．	rats are such smart aromas that they can laugh like humans
B．	animals have emotional feelings as human beings do
C．	animals' emotional feelings are now widely recognized
D．	tickling animals can help animals develop the ability of laughter

(2)

According to the text, what is the most special about Jaak Panksepp's research?
[　　]
A．	It focuses on animals' influence on human laughter．
B．	People's personalities are involved in the research．
C．	The research studies human brain as well．
D．	The research deals with laughter itself．

(3)

We can infer from the above text that ________．
[　　]
A．	Tecumseh Fitch and Robert Provine disagree with each other on laughter
B．	rats’ chirping and chimp’s panting are basically the same
C．	most animals are able to laugh but need to be trained first
D．	human beings have now fully understood animals’ behaviors

When scientists set out to explore the roots of human laughter, some apes（类人猿） were just tickled（胳肢）to help. That’s how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago. Experts praised the work, it gives strong evidence that ape laughter and human laughter are related through evolution（进化）.
Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate（灵长类动物） roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.
After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.
Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.
69. Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?
A. To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.
B. To see if they interested in playing.
C. To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.
D. To find out the differences between humans and apes.
70. Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.
A. find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before
B. find out relations among primates’ laughter
C. see what a family tree from each species looks like
D. make a report online in the journal Current Biology
71. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.
B. Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.
C. Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.
D. Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.
72. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Ape study explores evolution of laughter.
B. Apes like to laugh when being tickled.
C. Human laughter and ape laughter are different.
D. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

When scientists set out to explore the roots of human laughter, some apes（类人猿） were just tickled（胳肢）to help. That’s how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago. Experts praised the work, it gives strong evidence that ape laughter and human laughter are related through evolution（进化）.

Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate（灵长类动物） roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.

After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.

Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.

69. Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?

A. To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.

B. To see if they interested in playing.

C. To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.

D. To find out the differences between humans and apes.

70. Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.

A. find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before

B. find out relations among primates’ laughter

C. see what a family tree from each species looks like

D. make a report online in the journal Current Biology

71. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.

B. Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.

C. Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.

D. Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.

72. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Ape study explores evolution of laughter.

B. Apes like to laugh when being tickled.

C. Human laughter and ape laughter are different.

D. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

When scientists set out to explore the roots of human laughter, some apes（类人猿） were just tickled（胳肢）to help. That’s how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago. Experts praised the work, it gives strong evidence that ape laughter and human laughter are related through evolution（进化）.

Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate（灵长类动物） roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.

After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.

Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.

69. Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?

A. To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.

B. To see if they interested in playing.

C. To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.

D. To find out the differences between humans and apes.

70. Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.

A. find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before

B. find out relations among primates’ laughter

C. see what a family tree from each species looks like

D. make a report online in the journal Current Biology

71. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.

B. Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.

C. Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.

D. Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.

72. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Ape study explores evolution of laughter.

B. Apes like to laugh when being tickled.

C. Human laughter and ape laughter are different.

D. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate（灵长类动物） roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.
After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.
Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.

1.
Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?
1. A.
  To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.
2. B.
  To see if they interested in playing.
3. C.
  To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.
4. D.
  To find out the differences between humans and apes.
2.
Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.
1. A.
  find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before
2. B.
  find out relations among primates’ laughter
3. C.
  see what a family tree from each species looks like
4. D.
  make a report online in the journal Current Biology
3.
What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
1. A.
  Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.
2. B.
  Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.
3. C.
  Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.
4. D.
  Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.
4.
What would be the best title for the passage?
1. A.
  Ape study explores evolution of laughter.
2. B.
  Apes like to laugh when being tickled.
3. C.
  Human laughter and ape laughter are different.
4. D.
  Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?

Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.

What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

What would be the best title for the passage?

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