Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!
【小题1】In which country was the first Laughter Club started?

A.Britain.B.America.C.Australia.D.India.
【小题2】How did the writer feel at the beginning of the class?
A.Surprised.B.Pleased.C.Nervous.D.Stressful.
【小题3】When did the people in the club begin to laugh for real?
A.After a few minutes.B.After a few hours.
C.After a few seconds.D.After a few days.
【小题4】Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health.
B.40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends.
C.Adults laugh more often than children in a day.
D.Laughing is the best way to prevent illness.

 

It’s common to hear the honking of horns in New York. Whoever tries every day to get more than a few minutes of sleep in the city will tell you that he could do nothing about it! Honking of horns is just one of their most widely enjoyed pastimes.

But Aaron, a Japanese website developer has had enough of it. Once, the 31-year-old man approached the open window to wait for the driver to finish honking, delivered a polite "excuse me" and then yelled " Ho-o-o-o-onk!", which suggests fierce anger in Japan. Then he threw three eggs from the window of his apartment on to a passing car honking loudly below when his patience was worn out. Instead of apologizing to him, the driver threatened to kill him angrily. So, nobly, Aaron turned to non-violence. He started writing anti-honking haiku verses, a form of Japanese poetry, and submitted them to local newspapers:

Oh .forget Enron;

The problem around here is;

All the damn honking

(Enron: a major American company that recently caused a scandal by going bankrupt be­cause of corrupt(腐败) mismanagement)

"Then this kind of chain reaction started happening," Aaron says. "All these other haiku star­ted appearing that I haven't written." Aaron’ s community is now covered in anti - hon­king poetry, written by all walks of life, ranging from scary environmental activist types to violent revolutionaries:

Patience slowly fades;

Residents store up their eggs;

That day is coming soon.

It’s no surprise that Aaron has started a website — www. honku. org — and now people from across the country send him news of their own anti - honking activities. It seems that poetry can change the world after all. Then, just recently, anti-anti- honking haiku started to appear, taped up by locals who thought Aaron should stop worrying about honking and start wor­rying about starving children, say, or war in the  Middle East instead. Aaron has an answer for that. "Stop me if this is too tenuous(不靠谱的) ," he says," but they talk about the violence in the Middle East like it' s a force of nature, like it' s beyond our control. But actually it's kind of like the honking - the violence is man -made. If we can figure out how to stop honking on the streets, I think we could learn some things that we could use on a large scale. "

1.The first paragraph of the passage is intended to tell us that_______.

A. New Yorkers have formed a habit of honking while driving

B. most New Yorkers enjoy sleeping late in the morning

C. honking noise has influenced people's life in New York

D. New Yorkers enjoy listening to the honking of horns

2.What is Aaron’s final response to the frequent honking of horns?

A. Pretended to ignore it.

B. Screamed at the driver.

C. Acted in a peaceful way.

D. Complained to the government.

3.According to the passage, most New Yorkers think Aaron's response is ___.

A. pointless

B. abnormal

C. sensitive

D. acceptable

4.Faced with the criticism of his anti-honking campaign, Aaron notes that___.

A. fierce violence in the Middle East is more of an issue worthy of concern

B. finding the solution to anti - honking is as meaningful as that to starvation

C. big issues are beyond our control while small ones are under our control

D. if not handled properly, honking may cause serious problems like starvation

 

第三部分:阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C 和D)中,选出最佳选项。

Having divorced (离婚) my dad, my mom had to move frequently in order to find a job that would provide her with enough money to support the big family. For three years, we lived in the town of Parkersburg. On the first Christmas there, my brothers and I had been well prepared for a holiday without presents. But we had a surprise on Christmas Eve.

At midnight, we were woken up by someone shouting at our front door, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” We jumped up and ran to the door to find no one there, but several boxes and bags! Not only were there gifts, which were our favorite, but there were also clothes and food. Each of us kids, as well as Mom, had gifts with our names on them. And the clothes all fit us!

Another year went by and on Christmas Eve, we again got boxes and bags full of goodies. The next year we moved. We were in the same town but across the other side. Mom was beginning to get on her feet. Since we had moved and Mom had a better job, we were quite certain that “Santa” wouldn’t visit us that year. But we were wrong!

Those “Santa” visits restored in me the belief in the goodness of mankind, though to this day we don’t know who our helper was.

When we grew up, Mom moved to Virginia. She had some extra money one Christmas. She sent it to me and let us know her decision. We then took action. My husband and children had so much fun buying and wrapping presents for the needy family we had chosen. On Christmas Eve, we allowed the excited kids to stay up late to be part of our secret “Santa” project.

Such satisfaction there was in being able to pass on the gift of love to others who needed it. And the gift goes on!

56. From the first paragraph, we can learn that ______.

A. the writer’s family didn’t like to celebrate Christmas

B. the writer felt sorry about not having Christmas presents

C. the writer’s mother couldn’t afford any Christmas presents

D. the writer knew that something surprising would happen

57. The presents that the writer’s family received must be from _______.

A. someone who has no children        B. someone who knew them well

C. the church in the neighborhood       D. the richest family in the town 

58. What decision did the writer’s mom make in the fifth paragraph?

A. To give her extra money to a poor family.   

B. To thank the person who once helped her family.

C. To give some Christmas presents to a poor family in secret.  

D. To invite a poor family to spend Christmas with her family.  

59. This passage is written to ______.

A. show pity to the poor people        B. show human kindness  

C. thank the helper                 D. show the advantages of being rich

 

One evening in February 2007 . a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote in Wales . She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path . That's when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train.Her Renault Clio parked across a railway line. Second later,she watched  the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.

     Ceely's  near miss  made the news because she blamed it on her GPS device(导航仪).She had never driven the route before .It was dark and raining heavily . Ceely was relying on her GPS. But it made no mention of the crossing ."I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train ,"she told the BBC.

   W ho is to blame here ? Rick Stevenson ,who tells Ceely's story in his book When Machines Fail US, finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says,

      but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small  problems. And it’s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless key boards.

     The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s  not clear why he only focuses digital technology,while  there may be a number of other possible  causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the CPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.

It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an accout of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors .

The game between humans and their smart devices  is complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be  way a wiser use of technology.   

If there is such a way, it should involve more than just  an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands  of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long .

1.

What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident?           

 A. She was not familiar with the road.           

 B. It was dark and raining heavily then.   

C. The railway works failed to give the signal.

D. Her GPS device didn’t tell her about the crossing

2.

The phrase”near miss” (paragraph 2 ) can best be replaced by _______.    

A. closebit                    B. heavy loss             C.narrow escape         D. big mistake    

3.

Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?          A. Modern technology is what we can’t live without.

B. Digital technology often falls short of out expectation.    

C. Digital devices are more reliable than they used to be.   

D. GPS error is not the only cause for Celery’s accident. 

4.

In the writer’s opinion, Stevenson’s argument is________.

A. one-sided     B. reasonable      C.puzzling      D.well-based

5.

What is the real concern of the writer of this article?

A.The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.

B.The relationship between humans and technology

C. The shortcomings of digital devices we use.           

D. The human unawareness  of technical problems.

 

Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!

  1. 1.

    In which country was the first Laughter Club started?

    1. A.
      Britain.
    2. B.
      America.
    3. C.
      Australia.
    4. D.
      India.
  2. 2.

    How did the writer feel at the beginning of the class?

    1. A.
      Surprised.
    2. B.
      Pleased.
    3. C.
      Nervous.
    4. D.
      Stressful.
  3. 3.

    When did the people in the club begin to laugh for real?

    1. A.
      After a few minutes.
    2. B.
      After a few hours.
    3. C.
      After a few seconds.
    4. D.
      After a few days.
  4. 4.

    Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health.
    2. B.
      40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends.
    3. C.
      Adults laugh more often than children in a day.
    4. D.
      Laughing is the best way to prevent illness.

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