Question

【題目】There is an old saying in English, “Laughter is the best medicine”. Until recently, few people took the saying very seriously. Now, however, doctors have begun to study laughter and the effects (作用) it has on the human body. They have found evidence that laughter really can improve people’s health.

Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body. People watched funny films while doctors checked their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, the heart rate and the rate of breathing. It also works several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be helpful.

Other tests have shown that laughter appears to make the effect of pain on the body less. In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programs. The group which could bear the pain for the longest time was the group which listened to a funny program. The reason why laughter can make pain less seems to be that it helps to produce endorphins (內(nèi)啡肽) in the brain. These are natural chemicals which make both stress and pain less.

There is also some evidence to suggest that laughter helps the body’s immune system — that is the system which fights infection (感染). In an experiment, one group of students watched a funny video while another group served as the control group — in other words, a group with which to compare the first group. Doctors checked the blood of the students in both groups and found that the people in the group that watched the video had an increase in the activity of their white blood cells — the cells which fight infection.

As a result of these discoveries, some doctors and psychiatrists (精神病專家) in the United States now hold laughter clinics, in which they try to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh. They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce good effects similar to those caused by laughter.

【1】We learn from the first paragraph that laughter _______.

A. is good for one’s health

B. has strong effects to do with some illnesses

C. has been studied for a long time

D. has no effect on the body

【2】Doctors have found that laughter _______.

A. keeps down blood pressure

B. has similar effects to physical exercise

C. decreases the heart rate

D. increases stress and pain

【3】Which of the following statements is NOT true of laughter according to the passage?

A. It makes pain less.

B. It exercises the body.

C. It improves the body’s immune system.

D. It can cure（治愈）cancer .

【4】Smiling can produce _________.

A. about the same effects as laughter

B. more effects than laughter

C. fewer effects on the human body

D. no effects on the human body

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】B

【3】D

【4】A

【解析】

試題分析：這篇文章講的是笑是良藥，而且能減輕病人的痛苦，能夠鍛煉身體并提高人的免疫能力。醫(yī)生現(xiàn)在開始研究笑及其對人身體的作用。

48.【1】A細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章開頭的諺語"Laughter is the best medicine"（笑是最好的良藥）可知答案是A。

【2】B細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段中的“It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise.”（據(jù)發(fā)現(xiàn)笑和身體鍛煉有著同樣的功效）可知答案B。

【3】D推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第三、四段可知A、B、C三項正確，而D項太絕對化了。笑對身體有好處，但是不能治好疾病，只能起緩減疼痛的作用，故選D。

【4】A細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文中原句They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce good effects similar to those caused by laughter.（他們發(fā)現(xiàn)即使他們的病人確實(shí)不想笑，使他們微笑也能產(chǎn)生和由笑產(chǎn)生的相似的效果。）可知此題選A。