Question

请认真阅读下列短文, 并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单 词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。

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(下皮层), 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.related/ relevant

2.Findings

3.belief/assumption

4.necessarily

5.responsible

6.interfere

7.Outside

8.rise

9.transmitted

10.social

【解析】

本文为议论文，文章主要从两个方面论述了人们为什么会笑。

1.

考查对上下文的理解及归纳推理的能力。第一段说“我们为什么笑”看似简单但答案却非常复杂。要解决这个问题就要去探索人类本性。由此可推断“我们为什么笑”与人的本性有关。因此，此处是指研究笑与理解人的本性密切相关。“与……有关”有短语“be related/relevant to…”，故本空填related/ relevant。

2.

考查概括能力。第二段通过不同的真实对话，得出的调查结果：人们笑非是因为事情好笑，也未必是谈论有趣的事，故填Findings（调查结果）。

3.

考查推理判断及概括能力。分析句子可知，本句是同位语从句，空格处是句子的主语，后面的同语从句that we laugh because something is funny（我们笑是因为有些事情很有趣）是对空格处的解释说明。根据第二段第一句“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，大多数人会认为我们笑是因为有些事情很有趣。但如果你观察人们笑的时候，你会发现事实并非如此。由此可推断“我们会因为某事有趣而发笑”是“Most people would guess”。是人们猜测（guess），但这一假设并不正确人们普遍认为。因此空格处要填名词belief/assumption。

4.

考查推理判断及概括能力。第二段根据笑声专家罗伯特对不同场合的真实对话（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?” 他发现（真正对话）大多数笑声并不是因为看起来好笑。人们在正常说完话时会大笑，回答一些不搞笑的谈论或问题时会笑。由此可推断出人们笑未必就是因为有趣的谈话。“未必”为“not…necessarily”。故填necessarily。

5.

考查推理判断及概括能力。第三段中“The areas that control laughing lie deep in the sub cortex(下皮层), 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” 控制笑的区域位于大脑皮层深处，就进化发展而言，大脑的这些部分是古老的，负责原始的行为，如呼吸和基本反射。此句简化为“The areas that control laughing …responsible for primal(原始) behaviors such as breathing and basic reflexes”由此可推断出是控制笑的区域就负责原始行为的古老的区域。Ancient areas _5___for primal behaviors control laughing中的（_5___for primal behaviors）是作Ancient areas的定语。本句算是原词再现了。“responsible for”为固定搭配，意为“对……负责”。故填responsible

6.

考查推理判断及概括能力。根据第四段中的“Once a laugh is started deep within our brains these “higher function” brain regions have trouble interfering.” 一旦我们的大脑深处开始发笑，这些“更高功能”的大脑区域就很难进行干预，可知，这句话的意思就是高功能区不干扰笑。”interfere with”意为“干预，干扰”。故填 interfere。

7.

考查推理判断能力。上面叙述的导致笑的内在（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.” 要回答这个问题，也许我们需要向外看，看看在人们笑的时候社会因素在起作用。可知，是外部因素。 故填Outside。

8.

考查推理判断能力及固定搭配。第五段最后“… laughter was most common in situations of emotional warmth and so-called “in-groupness”. 笑在情绪温暖和所谓的“群体性”中最常见。 可知，情感温暖和群体性的情况会导致大笑。由此可推断出空格处填写的是固定搭配’give rise to…”意为“导致”，故填rise。

9.

考查词性转换。第六段中Perhaps “transmission” is another most important feature of laughter（“感染”是笑的另一个最重要的特征）” 。由此可知，笑声是可以感染的。空格前有can be ,可知，要用原文中的“transmission”的动词形式的被动语态，故填transmitted。

10.

考查推理判断和综合能力。根据最后一段的总结“…laughter is both fundamentally social, and rooted deep within our brains, part and parcel of ancient brain structures(笑从根本上讲是社会性的，而且深深扎根于我们的大脑中，是古代大脑结构的重要组成部分)”，由此可推断出笑与大脑结构和社会因素有关。空格处缺少定语，故填形容词social。