Why do we laugh and get amusement from so many different things, from puns (双关语) to pratfalls? Why are some things funny to some people and not to others? How is that while a successful joke can cause pleasure, a sick one can cause serious harm?
Over the centuries, various scholars have attempted to produce a universally agreed-upon theory of humor. Plato and Aristotle introduced the superiority(优越感) theory, the idea that people laugh at the misfortune of others. Their theory seems to explain teasing, but it doesn’t work well for knock-knock jokes. Sigmund Freud argued for his relief theory, the concept that humor is a way for people to release psychological tension and reveal their inner fears and desires. His theory works well for dirty jokes, less well for most puns.
The majority of humor expels today agree with the incongruity theory, the idea that humor arises when there’s a gap between what people expect to happen and what actually happens. Incongruity has a lot going for it — jokes with unexpected funny lines, for example, fit well. But scientists have found that in comedy, unexpectedness is overvalued.
With the goal of developing a new, more satisfactory explanation, I produced “the gentle violation(违背)theory”, the idea that humor arises when something seems wrong or threatening, but is actually OK or safe. A dirty joke, for example, trades on moral or social violations, but it’s only going to get a laugh if the person listening is open enough to consider the subject OK to talk about. Similarly, puns can be seen as linguistic violations that still make grammatical sense.
And while most humor theories have struggled to account for tickling (挠痒痒), or just avoided the phenomenon altogether, my theory accounts for even this kind of laughter. Tickling involves violating someone’s physical space in a gentle way. People can’t tickle themselves — because it isn’t a violation.
1.What is the author’s attitude towards Plato and Aristotle’s theory?
A. Critical. B. Approving
C. uncaring D. Unclear
2.According to Sigmund Freud’s theory, we can infer that __________ .
A. people will laugh when they see others suffer
B. telling dirty jokes is a relief of one’s nervous feelings’
C. unexpectedness can explain how humor works
D. tickling doesn’t involve psychological tension
3.According to the author, why are some things funny to some people but not to others?
A. Because the sense of humor varies greatly from person to person.
B. Because people have different expectations for the same thing.
C. Because some people lack the sense of safety deep in their heart.
D. Because people’s understanding of violation is different.
4.What is the author’s main purpose of writing this passage?
A. To draw people’s attention to the research of humor.
B. To criticize people’s misconceptions about humor.
C. To explain what exactly causes people to laugh.
D. To prove the sense of humor can be developed.
It is hard to imagine that such a small country, the size of Indiana with the population of Alaska, tucked in the Himalaya Mountains, accessible only by two airplanes, is the “Happiest Country’’ in the world and has one of the fastest growing GDP’S in the world. This country is Bhutan, “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, which is located in South Asia and is encompassed by India, China, and Nepal.
Bhutan is the last standing Buddhist Kingdom in the World and, until recently, has preserved much of their culture since the l7th century by avoiding globalization and staying isolated from the world. Internet, television, and western dress were banned from the country up until ten years ago. Over the past ten years globalization has begun to change in Bhutan, but things remain perfectly balanced.
Bhutan is the only country in the world that has a ‘GNH’, which refers to “Gross National Happiness.’’The process of measuring GNH began when Bhutan opened up to globalization. It measures people’s quality of life, and makes sure that “material and spiritual development happen together.”Bhutan has done an amazing job of finding this balance. Bhutan has continually been ranked as the happiest country in all of Asia, and the eighth Happiest Country in the world according to Business Week. In 2007, Bhutan had the second fastest growing GDP in the world, at the same time as maintaining their environment and cultural identity.
In 2008,in Bhutan’s first democratic election,28-year-old Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wang Chuck was elected president of Bhutan. He promises to “maintain a stance (立场)of protection against the worst aspects of globalization, maintaining the ‘Gross National Happiness’.”But Jigme himself is no stranger to globalization. He attended high school at Phillips Academy and university at Wheaton College and then graduated from Oxford.
1.The underlined word “encompassed’’ in the first paragraph most probably means __________ .
A. covered B. surrounded
C. separated D. guarded
2.Why is Bhutan regarded as “the happiest country”?
A. Because it changes its policy and begins to open up.
B. Because it uses “GNH” to measure its achievement.
C. Because it stresses both material and spiritual development.
D. Because it has the second fastest growing GDP in the world.
3.What Can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. The election in Bhutan is far from satisfactory.
B. Globalization has influenced Bhutan’s religion.
C. Jigme’s educational background will cause distrust.
D. People in Bhutan will continue living a happy life.
4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
International Airport Sheremetyevo Moscow
If You've Lost Personal Belongings
On Board --Contact the airline’s representatives
At the Airport --Contact:
-- Sheremetyevo Police Department
……………………………………+7(495)578-22-55
--Unclaimed luggage storage room in Terminal C
……………………………………+7(495)578-23-26
--Umclaimed luggage storage room in Terminal D
……………………………………+7(499)500-65-52
(domestic flights)
+7(495)753-86-41
(international flights)
When collecting Lost and Found items, you shall have an identification document, a boarding pass or a ticket,and also to indicate a place where the items were lost and prove they are yours.
If Your Luggage Is Lost or Damaged
Before leaving the arrival area, please turn to the Lost and Found counter to file a report. The written claim shall be submitted to the airline company not later than seven days from the time when the luggage was to be collected.
If your luggage is not found withintwenty-one days of the time when the claim was filed, you have the right to claim damages in the amount of not more than 600 rublesper kilogram. Amount refunded(退款) for a hand luggage lost through the fault of an airline is not more than 11,000 rubles regardless of its weight. Amount refunded for damaged luggage is calculated based on the same tariffs(关税).
Keep your flight documents (a ticket, boarding pass, luggage tag, anddelayed luggage report filed at the airport) untilthe end of the procedure for searching for your luggage.
Current information on luggage-tracing results
……………………………………+7(495)578-76-65
Lost and Found service of Aeroflot Airlines
……………………………………+7(495)544-33-25
(from9:00to20:00)
+7(495)753-86-41
(24 hours)
For further information please contact the airline.
1.What should you do if you find your personal possessions lost on board an airplane?
A. Submit a claim to the company. B. Go to the Lost and Found counter.
C. Contact the airline’s representatives. D. Contact the unclaimed luggage storage room.
2.How much money can you claim if your 20-kilogram hand luggage is lost?
A. 600 rubles. B. 11,000rubles at most.
C. 12,000 rubles at least. D. 12,000 rubles at most.
3.Which number will you probably dial to see whether your lost luggage has been found?
A. 7(495)578-76-65 B. 7(495)544-33-25
C. 7(499)500-65-52 D. 7(495)753-86-41
假如你是高三学生李津，你想选择一所外地的大学，而你的父母想让在本市上大学，你很苦恼，请给你在中国留学的美国朋友Tom写一封求助信，主要内容包括：
1. 你的苦恼
2. 你和父母各持己见的理由
3. 询问Tom的建议
注意：
（1）词数不少于100；
（2）可以适当增加细节，使内容充实、行文连贯；
（3）开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数。
Dear Tom，
Long time no see. As it won’t be long before I graduate from high school, I have to choose an ideal university in advance, which makes me really annoyed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Jin
阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
Dear James,
It is a beautiful day here and I am sitting under the big tree at the end of the garden. I have just returned from a long bike ride to an old castle. It seems amazing that at my age I am still fit enough to cycle 20 kilometres in an afternoon. It’s my birthday in two weeks’ time and I’ll be 82 years old! I think my long and active life must be due to the healthy life I live.
This brings me to the real reason for my letter, my dear grandson. Your mother tells me that your started smoking some time ago and now your are finding it difficult to give it up. Believe me, I know how easy it is to begin smoking and how tough it is to stop. You see, during adolescence I also smoked and became addicted to cigarettes.
By the way, did you know that this is because you become addicted in three different ways? First, you can become physically addicted to nicotine（尼古丁）, which is one of the hundreds of chemical in cigarettes. This means that after a while your body becomes accustomed to having nicotine in it. So when the drug leaves your body, you get withdrawal symptoms. Secondly, you become addicted through habit. As you know, if you do the same thing over and over again, you begin to do it automatically. Lastly, you can become mentally addicted. I believed I was happier and more relaxed after having a cigarette, so I began to think that I could only feel good when I smoked. Quitting smoking was really difficult because I was addicted in all three ways. But I did finally manage.
When I was young, I didn’t know much about the harmful effects of smoking. I didn’t know, for example, that it could do terrible damage to your heart and lungs or that it was more difficult for smoking couples to become pregnant. Neither did I know that my cigarette smoke could affect the health of non-smokers. However, what I did know was that my girlfriend thought I smelt terrible. She told me that she wouldn’t go out with me again unless I stopped! I also noticed that I became breathless quickly, and that I wasn’t enjoying sport as much. When I was taken off the school football team because I was unfit, I knew it was time to quit smoking.
I am sending you some advice I found on the internet. It might help you to stop and strengthen your resolve. I do hope so because I want you to live as long and healthy a life as I have.
Love from
Grandpa
1.Why did the writer mention the long bike ride and his age in the letter? (no more than 15 words)
2.What’s the purpose of writing the letter? (no more than 10 words)
3.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 mean? (no more than 5 words)
4.Why did the grandpa decide to quit smoking? (no more than 20 words)
5.Do you think it easy or difficult to quit smoking? Please give James some possible advice to help him. (no more than 15 words)
When we talk about Americans barely into adulthood who are saddled with(担负着) unbearable levels of debt’ the conversation is almost always about student loan debt. But there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that today’s young adults are also drowning in credit-card debt and that many of them will take this debt to their graves（坟墓）.
More than 20% overspent their income by more than $ 100 every single month. Since they haven’t built up their credit histories yet, it's a safe bet that these young adults are paying relatively high interest rates on the resulting credit card debt.
Although many young people blame "socializing" as a barrier to saving money, most of them aren’t purchasing $ 20 drinks in trendy bars. They’re struggling with much more daily financial demands.
To a disturbingly large extent, the young and the broke are relying on credit cards to make it until their next payday. This obviously isn’t permanent in the long run, and it’s going to put a huge drag on their spending power even after they reach their peak earning years, because they’ll still be paying interest on that bottle of orange juice or box of spaghetti (意式面条）they bought a decade earlier.
A new study out of Ohio State University found that young adults are accumulating credit card debt at a more rapid rate than other age groups, and that they're slower at paying it off. "If what we found continues to hold true, we may have more elderly people with substantial financial problems in the future’" warns Lucia Dunn, professor of economics at Ohio State. "If our findings persist, we may be faced with a financial crisis among elderly people who can’t pay off their credit cards."
Dunn says a lot of these young people are never going to get out from under their credit card debt. "Many people are borrowing on credit cards so heavily that payoff rates at these levels are not plenty to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life which could have loss impacts for the credit card issuing banks,"
1.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. Many young Americans will never be able to pay off their debts.
B. Credit cards play an increasingly important role in college life.
C. Credit cards are doing more harm than student loans.
D. The American credit card system is under criticism.
2.Why do young people have to pay a higher interest on their credit card debt?
A. They tend to forget about the deadlines.
B. They haven't developed a credit history.
C. They are often unable to pay back in time.
D. They are inexperienced in managing money.
3.What is said to be the consequence of young adults relying on credit cards to make ends meet?
A. It will place an unnecessary burden on society.
B. It will give them no motivation to work hard.
C. It will exert psychological pressure on them.
D. It will affect their future spending power.
4.What will happen to young adults if their credit card debt keeps accumulating according to Lucia Dunn?
A. They will have to pay an increasingly higher interest rate.
B. They may experience a financial crisis in their old age.
C. Their quality of life will be affected.
D. Their credit cards may be cancelled.
5.What does Lucia Dunn think might be a risk for the credit card issuing banks?
A. They go bankrupt as a result of over-lending.
B. They lose large numbers of their regular clients.
C. Their clients leave their debts unpaid upon death.
D. Their interest rates have to be reduced now and then.
