Question

A culture’s values can be mirrored by its humor. Humor has been evaluated by many great minds such as Thomas Hobbes, who, in “On Nature”, disliked humor, “Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from sudden thought of feeling far better than others.” He thought humor to be a negative quality of human narrow-mindedness.

However, Mordechai Gordon, Ph. D of Education, insists, “Humor allows us to view the world from an angle that is amusing rather than serious.” I agree with Gordon. Learning to look at the world through humor is important.

In the United States, every four years an election occurs. Without humor as a way to express their feelings, how else would Americans keep from clawing their eyes out and going the way of lemming? Television shows like “The Daily Show” have become important parts of American culture. They are mothering the masses by metaphorically(隱喻地) airplane-ing politics into our mouths. They make politics fun.

Of course, politics is only one type of humor. Social humor helps people through the twists and turns of the human condition. American pop culture promotes an unhealthy self- image. On the topic of self-image, Hari Kondabolu stands out. He has a joke about the popular musical group “The Pussycat Dolls”, describing their hit song “Don't Cha” as a negative representation of women. He points out an obvious offence in American culture.

A study from Loyola University of Maryland has shown that humor is one determining factor for selecting a mating partner. Amongst other things, mates look for an outstanding funny bone in a potential partner.

Of course, humor is not always used for good purposes. Humor can be linked to vulgarity (粗俗)and racism, but, like everything else, it has potential to unite human beings by allowing us to laugh at ourselves, our failures and our connection with one another.

Though 1ife may seem tough and depressing at times, all I have to do is look in the mirror at my increased wrinkles(皺紋) to know that there is a comedy out there that even Chaplin wasn’t aware of.

With that in mind, remember to laugh with humanity and sometimes at humanity.

1.Hobbes believes that humor__________.

A. was for people to view the world from another angle

B. resulted in narrow-mindedness of human beings

C. had the power to mirror personal glory and national values

D. was only a way to laugh at others to make oneself feel better

2.The fourth paragraph is developed mainly__________.

A. by comparisonB. by process C. by example D. by classification

3.What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A. The author is determined to face life with a sense of humor.

B. The author feels helpless and sad about getting older.

C. Never be the one who laughs at other people.

D. Chaplin wasn’t aware of being laughed at.

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.C

3.A

【解析】

試題分析: 一種文化的價值可以通過幽默來體現(xiàn)。然而不同的人對幽默有不同的看法。作者認(rèn)為幽默是很重要的，并舉例說明了自己的想法。

1.Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from sudden thought of feeling far better than others.笑聲不過是突然想到比別人好得多而產(chǎn)生的優(yōu)越感�？芍猅homas Hobbes不喜歡幽默，因為他認(rèn)為幽默是嘲笑別人使自己開心的一種方式，是人性狹隘的表現(xiàn)。故選D。

2.Hari Kondabolu的例子來證明自己的觀點，社會幽默反應(yīng)了一個時代的文化情況。故選C。

3.Though 1ife may seem tough and depressing at times, all I have to do is look in the mirror at my increased wrinkles(皺紋) to know that there is a comedy out there that even Chaplin wasn’t aware of. 盡管生活有時候會很艱難并且令人沮喪，我要做的是看著鏡子里自己日益增加的皺紋，告訴自己生活中總是有一些卓別林都沒意識到的歡樂。可知作者支持生活中保持幽默。故選A。

考點：考查議論類短文閱讀。