Weighed down by study? Pushed to the limit by the fast pace of life ? Frightened by the possible war ? Well, you’re not alone. Men and women in France are seeking relief using the world’s best medicine-----laughter.

In the past year, more than 15 laughter clubs have been set up across the country. People of all ages go to release their stress with an hour group laughs. “People telephoned me and said they have forgotten what it is to laugh. They want to find a place where they can escape all their problems for a while. So they come,” said 40—year—old Jocelyne Le Moan. She usually takes a class of around 60 people through a series of laughter techniques.

Her pupils range from teenagers to 70 years old, but most are middle---aged white collars seeking 60 minutes of relaxation at the end of a busy day. Le Moan takes them through the “Lion Laugh”and the “Laugh Contest”, where participants “speak”to each other in different ways. And instead of talking, they break into fits of laughter. At the end there are 15 minutes of “meditation”, when they lie on their backs and let the laughs burst out of their mouths.

“I love it. It’s an experience that has changed my life. Through it I rediscovered the child’s laugh inside me,”Said Romain Jouffroy, 24. “US President George W. Bush should give it a try. He has lost his laugh,”she joked . Like Jouffroy, many laughter club members find themselves changed into children again, and why not ? The average preschooler laughs up to 400 times a day.

The average adult only a day seven to 15.

The physical benefits of laughter are already well—recognized. Doctors say the act of laughing releases good chemicals into the blood—stream, while the quick breathing that accompanies it helps massage（按摩）the digestive organs and strengthens the heart.

“A full hour is like having your inside go jogging！One finishes out of breath, but feels revitalized（产生新活力. And on top of that , you’ve had a laugh,”said doctor Alexisd’ Estaing.And many participants in Paris also emphasize the psychological benefits. They believe that laughter is a way of making oneself feel more confident.

1.Which of the following is not included among the benefits of laughing?

A．It can make people rediscover their children’s laugh.

B．It can release good chemical into blood streams.

C．It can make you feel self—confident.

D．It can cure the illness of people.

2.The writer suggested that you should_____________.

A．take the world’s best medicine.

B．talk to each other about what troubles you.

C．learn series of laughter techniques.

D．have a good laugh after a busy day.

3.From the passage , we can conclude the following but___________.

A．Jocelyne Le Moan is a teacher of the club.

B．the members are mostly middle---aged white collars.

C．people always need some way to relax in life.

D．laugh freely and everything goes well.

4.Which of the following is not the reason why so many people join the laughter clubs ?

A．Those members feel too much pressure on them.

B．They want to find a place to relax themselves.

C．Laughters help massage the digestive organs.

D．The members don’t know how to laugh.

 

根据短文内容，完成文后任务。注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

 Jerome Kern is often called the father of American musical theater. Kern is remembered for the hundreds of songs he wrote for musical plays and movies. Music historians say that Kern gave artistic importance to American popular music for the first time. And, they say, he led the development of the first truly American theater music.

Jerome Kern was born into a middle-class family in New York City in 1885. Jerome’s mother, Fanny, loved the piano. She began to teach Jerome how to play when he was very young.

Jerome was a quiet boy and not a top student. When he completed high school, his father said he would have to work in the family’s store. But he later came to believe that Jerome might do better in music than in business after all. So he let the boy go to Europe to study music, as almost all serious young musicians did at the time.

    Jerome Kern began his career as a songwriter in theaters in London and New York City. Success came quickly. By the early nineteen twenties, Kern was a successful young composer for Broadway musical comedies. In one three-year period alone, he wrote music for nineteen shows.

    Kern wanted to try something completely new. He thought a musical play should be a real work of art, not just a collection of songs and dances. Kern wanted to do a truly American musical, with real American characters and real situations.

In 1927, he found the story he wanted. It was the book “Show Boat” by American writer Edna Ferber. “Show Boat” takes place in the 1880 on a passenger steam boat that travels along the Mississippi River.

Kern died in 1945 at the age of sixty. But “Show Boat” has been performed thousands of times all over the world.

 

The dream of flying like Buzz Lightyear never dies. For years, space-age inventors have tested one wearable jet pack after another. And time after time, the designs have been grounded by dangerous fuels, excessive weight, or very loud noise levels. Now a Canadian inventor has sidestepped those weaknesses with an aquatic jet pack. Designed for travel over lakes or oceans, it’s driven by pressurized water, not burning rocket fuel.

When Raymond Li first told the idea for the aquatic jet pack to his friends, they said he must be nuts. How could a jet pack carry that much water? Its thrust-to-weight rate would be so low and it would never become airborne. Thrust-to-weight rate is a measure of the forward force produced compared with the weight of the vehicle. A vehicle with a low thrust-to-weight rate is relatively heavy for the amount of force it generates.

Li's genius idea was to place the jet pack’s engine and its water pump in a separate boat. The pump would draw water from the lake the boat was floating on. It would then force the water under pressure through a hose connected to the jet pack. The hose would be long enough to let the pack go up as high as 8.5 meters (28 feet) in the air.

Today, Li's invention, the Jetlev-Flyer, is ready to go into production. The pack itself, complete with jet nozzles （管嘴） and handlebars, weighs just 14 kilograms. The boat is a floating pod. To take off, the operator hits a trigger on a handlebar, which starts the pump, and then turns the throttle. Two streams of high-velocity water shoot through the hose and out the nozzles, lifting the operator into the air. The operator hovers there or pushes down on the handlebars, zooming forward at speeds of up to 64 kilometers per hour, pulling the pod behind.

All the following factors contribute to the failure of inventing a wearable jet pack EXCEPT ______.

A. excessive water     B. unbearable noise    C. unsafe fuels   D. too much weight 

The underlined word “sidestepped” in Para. 1 most probably means ________.

  A. improved          B. reduced         C. avoided         D. solved

Raymond Li’s friends found his idea for the aquatic jet pack was ________.

  A. exciting           B. crazy          C. realistic         D. creative

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

  A. His friends encouraged him to do the invention.

  B. He put the engine and its water pump in the same boat.

  C. The success of his invention lies in his bravery.   

  D. His invention finally succeeded and will go into production.

Which is the right order to make the Jetlev-Flyer take off?

  a. The throttle is turned.                  b. The operator is lifted into the air.

  c. A trigger is hit.                       d. Two streams of water shoot out.

The pump is started.

A. c, e, a, d, b          B. c, e, a, b, d            C. e, c, d, b, a          D. e, a, c, d, b

We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it,” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack(行李架), I’ve always wanted one like that.”

What could I do? Ten minutes later I was 20 pounds poorer, and the cupboard was tied onto the roof rack. It was six inches long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.

In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.

After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?”

In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.

“Right, sir,” he said. “Do you need any more help?”

I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer,” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”

He was staring at our car: first at the flowers, and then at the cupboard. “Well, well,” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was, something else.”

My wife began to laugh. Then the truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.

1.It can be inferred from the passage that______.

A．other drivers let the couple go first, because the husband did not drive fast

B．the cupboard cost less than 20 pounds

C．the husband, in fact, would rather not buy the cupboard

D．all the cars followed the couple’s

2.The police will be more polite to those who are______.

A．in great sorrow                         B．driving in the gathering darkness

C．driving with wild flowers in the car          D．carrying furniture

3.What did the police officer think of the cupboard?

A．It was so expensive that it needed their help

B．It was a box for a dead person to be buried in.

C．There might be something stolen in it.

D．It was a big box with some bomb in it.

4.What did the husband think of the whole matter?

A．It was very strange.                      B．He took great pride in it.

C．He was puzzled at it                      D．He felt embarrassed.

 

Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours (绕行路) in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words.

For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents’ home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement (限制) and have strong opinions about everything.

Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.

But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.

That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They’d get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air.

We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons (见识).

We eventually arrived at my parents’ doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.

I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.

Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a detour may uncover the best part of a journey—and the best part of yourself.

1.Why did the author use to take freeways to her parents’ home?

A．It was less tiring.

B．It would be faster and safer.

C．Her kids would feel less confined.

D．She felt better with other drivers nearby.

2.The author stopped regularly on the country roads to _____.

A. relax in the fresh air

B. take a deep breath

C. take care of the lamb

C. let the kids play with Banner.

3.What does the author discover from the trio according to Paragraph 6?

A．Freeways are where beauty hides.

B．Getting close to nature adds to the joy of life.

C．Enjoying the beauty of nature benefits one’s health.

D．One should follow side roads to watch wild animals.

4.Why did the author ask the kids to get out of the car on their way back home?

A．To give herself some time to read.

B．To order some food for them.

C．To play a game with them.

D．To let them cool down.

5.What could be the best title for the passage?

A．Charm of the Detour

B．The Road to Bravery

C．Creativity out of Necessity

D．Road Trip and Country Life