Question

【題目】請(qǐng)認(rèn)真閱讀下列短文, 并根據(jù)所讀內(nèi)容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一個(gè)最恰當(dāng)?shù)膯?/span> 詞。注意：每個(gè)空格只填1個(gè)單詞。請(qǐng)將答案寫在答題紙上相應(yīng)題號(hào)的橫線上。

What makes us laugh?

Why do we laugh? Well it’s funny you should ask, but this question is a very interesting one to investigate. For what at first seems like a simple question turns out to require a surprisingly complex answer –– one that takes us on a journey into the very heart of trying to understand human nature.

Most people would guess that we laugh because something is funny. But if you watch when people actually laugh, you’ll find this isn’t the case. Laughter expert Robert Provine spent hours recording real conversations at shopping malls, classrooms, offices and cocktail parties, and he found that most laughter did not follow what looked like jokes. People laughed at the end of normal sentences, in response to unfunny comments or questions such as “Look, it’s Andre”, or “Are you sure?”. Even attempts at humor that provoked laughter didn’t sound that funny.

So if we want to understand laughter, perhaps we need to go deeper, and look at what is going on in the brain. The areas that control laughing lie deep in the sub cortex(下皮層), and in terms of evolutionary development these parts of the brain are ancient, responsible for primal(原始) behaviors such as breathing and basic reflexes(反射). This means laughter control mechanisms are located a long way away from brain regions that developed later and control higher functions such as language or even memory.

Perhaps this explains why it is so hard to control a laugh, even if we know it is inappropriate. Once a laugh is started deep within our brains these “higher function” brain regions have trouble interfering. And the opposite is true, of course. It is difficult to laugh on demand. If you consciously make yourself laugh it will not sound like the real thing – at least initially.

But this does not fully answer the original question. To answer this, perhaps we need to look outwards, to look at the social factors at play when people laugh. Provine’s study suggests that it isn’t just some independent process that happens to us while we are talking to someone. He also found that laughter was most common in situations of emotional warmth and so-called “in-groupness”.

Perhaps “transmission” is another most important feature of laughter. Just listening to someone laugh is funny. You can even catch laughter from yourself. Start with a forced laugh and if you keep it up you will soon find yourself laughing for real.

What these observations show is that laughter is both fundamentally social, and rooted deep within our brains, part and parcel of ancient brain structures. All these things are true. And biologists say each time we get closer to an answer for a fundamental question, it deepens our appreciation of the challenge remaining to answer the others. And there is a long way to go.

What makes us laugh?
Introduction	Studying laugh is closely 【1】to understanding human nature.
【2】	●The popular 【3】is not true that we laugh because something is funny. ●The study of real conversations reveals that laughter didn’t 【4】 follow funny comments.
Causes	Inside	● Ancient areas 【5】for primal behaviors control laughing. ● “Higher function” regions can’t 【6】with laughing.
	【7】	● Situations of emotional warmth and in-groupness give 【8】to laughing. ●Laughter can be 【9】, which is another most important feature.
Conclusion	The origin of laugh is associated with both brain structures and 【10】factors.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】related/ relevant

【2】Findings

【3】belief/assumption

【4】necessarily

【5】responsible

【6】interfere

【7】Outside

【8】rise

【9】transmitted

【10】social

【解析】

本文為議論文，文章主要從兩個(gè)方面論述了人們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)笑。

【1】

考查對(duì)上下文的理解及歸納推理的能力。第一段說“我們?yōu)槭裁葱Α笨此坪唵蔚�答案卻非常復(fù)雜。要解決這個(gè)問題就要去探索人類本性。由此可推斷“我們?yōu)槭裁葱?/span>”與人的本性有關(guān)。因此，此處是指研究笑與理解人的本性密切相關(guān)�！芭c……有關(guān)”有短語“be related/relevant to…”，故本空填related/ relevant。

【2】

考查概括能力。第二段通過不同的真實(shí)對(duì)話，得出的調(diào)查結(jié)果：人們笑非是因?yàn)槭虑楹眯�，也未必是談�(wù)撚腥さ氖拢�故�?/span>Findings（調(diào)查結(jié)果）。

【3】

考查推理判斷及概括能力。分析句子可知，本句是同位語從句，空格處是句子的主語，后面的同語從句that we laugh because something is funny（我們笑是因?yàn)橛行┦虑楹苡腥ぃ┦菍?duì)空格處的解釋說明。根據(jù)第二段第一句“Most people would guess that we laugh because something is funny. But if you watch when people actually laugh, you’ll find this isn’t the case.” 可知，大多數(shù)人會(huì)認(rèn)為我們笑是因?yàn)橛行┦虑楹苡腥�。但如果你觀察人們笑的時(shí)候，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)事實(shí)并非如此。由此可推斷“我們會(huì)因?yàn)槟呈掠腥ざ�發(fā)笑”是“Most people would guess”。是人們猜測(cè)（guess），但這一假設(shè)并不正確人們普遍認(rèn)為。因此空格處要填名詞belief/assumption。

【4】

考查推理判斷及概括能力。第二段根據(jù)笑聲專家羅伯特對(duì)不同場(chǎng)合的真實(shí)對(duì)話（real conversations）的研究可知most laughter did not follow what looked like jokes. People laughed at the end of normal sentences, in response to unfunny comments or questions such as “Look, it’s Andre”, or “Are you sure?” 他發(fā)現(xiàn)（真正對(duì)話）大多數(shù)笑聲并不是因?yàn)榭雌饋砗眯�。人們�(cè)谡�常說完話時(shí)會(huì)大笑，回答一些不搞笑的談?wù)摶騿栴}時(shí)會(huì)笑。由此可推斷出人們笑未必就是因?yàn)橛腥さ恼勗挕?/span>“未必”為“not…necessarily”。故填necessarily。

【5】

考查推理判斷及概括能力。第三段中“The areas that control laughing lie deep in the sub cortex(下皮層), and in terms of evolutionary development these parts of the brain are ancient, responsible for primal(原始) behaviors such as breathing and basic reflexes” 控制笑的區(qū)域位于大腦皮層深處，就進(jìn)化發(fā)展而言，大腦的這些部分是古老的，負(fù)責(zé)原始的行為，如呼吸和基本反射。此句簡化為“The areas that control laughing …responsible for primal(原始) behaviors such as breathing and basic reflexes”由此可推斷出是控制笑的區(qū)域就負(fù)責(zé)原始行為的古老的區(qū)域。Ancient areas _5___for primal behaviors control laughing中的（_5___for primal behaviors）是作Ancient areas的定語。本句算是原詞再現(xiàn)了�！�responsible for”為固定搭配，意為“對(duì)……負(fù)責(zé)”。故填responsible

【6】

考查推理判斷及概括能力。根據(jù)第四段中的“Once a laugh is started deep within our brains these “higher function” brain regions have trouble interfering.” 一旦我們的大腦深處開始發(fā)笑，這些“更高功能”的大腦區(qū)域就很難進(jìn)行干預(yù)，可知，這句話的意思就是高功能區(qū)不干擾笑。”interfere with”意為“干預(yù)，干擾”。故填 interfere。

【7】

考查推理判斷能力。上面敘述的導(dǎo)致笑的內(nèi)在（Inside）因素，那么下面就是外部（outside）。而且第五段“To answer this, perhaps we need to look outwards, to look at the social factors at play when people laugh.” 要回答這個(gè)問題，也許我們需要向外看，看看在人們笑的時(shí)候社會(huì)因素在起作用�？芍�，是外部因素。 故填Outside。

【8】

考查推理判斷能力及固定搭配。第五段最后“… laughter was most common in situations of emotional warmth and so-called “in-groupness”. 笑在情緒溫暖和所謂的“群體性”中最常見。 可知，情感溫暖和群體性的情況會(huì)導(dǎo)致大笑。由此可推斷出空格處填寫的是固定搭配’give rise to…”意為“導(dǎo)致”，故填rise。

【9】

考查詞性轉(zhuǎn)換。第六段中Perhaps “transmission” is another most important feature of laughter（“感染”是笑的另一個(gè)最重要的特征）” 。由此可知，笑聲是可以感染的。空格前有can be ,可知，要用原文中的“transmission”的動(dòng)詞形式的被動(dòng)語態(tài)，故填transmitted。

【10】

考查推理判斷和綜合能力。根據(jù)最后一段的總結(jié)“…laughter is both fundamentally social, and rooted deep within our brains, part and parcel of ancient brain structures(笑從根本上講是社會(huì)性的，而且深深扎根于我們的大腦中，是古代大腦結(jié)構(gòu)的重要組成部分)”，由此可推斷出笑與大腦結(jié)構(gòu)和社會(huì)因素有關(guān)�？崭裉幦鄙俣ㄕZ，故填形容詞social。