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.

 

One girl decided to study judo(柔道) although she had lost her left arm in a car accident.

The girl began lessons with an old Japanese judo instructor. The girl was doing well. So she couldn’t understand why, after three months of training, the instructor had taught her only one move.

“Instructor,” the girl finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the instructor replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in her teacher, the girl kept training.

Several months later, the instructor took the girl to her first tournament. Surprising herself, the girl easily won her first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, her opponent became impatient and charged. The girl skillfully used her one move to win the match. Still amazed by her success, the girl was now in the finals.This time, her opponent was bigger, stronger and more experienced. For a while, the girl appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the girl might get hurt, the referee（裁判员） called a time-out. She was about to stop the match when the instructor intervened(干预).

“No,” the instructor insisted, “Let her continue.”

Soon after the match restarted, her opponent made a serious mistake: she dropped her guard. Instantly, the girl used her move to pin her opponent. The girl had won the match and the tournament. She was the champion.

On the way home, the girl and her teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the girl gathered the courage to ask what was really on her mind.

“Instructor, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

The girl’s biggest weakness had become her biggest strength.

1.What can we learn about the girl?

A．She was disabled in an accident.            B．She disliked judo training.

C．She learnt several moves.                 D．She won the first two matches hard.

2.The underlined word “overmatched” probably means       .

A．impatient         B．depressed         C．defeated          D．trapped

3.The girl won the championship because of       .

A．her bravery        B．her tricks          C．her skills          D．her strength

4.Which of the following is probably the best title of the story?

A．The Story of a Girl.                      B．A Disabled Girl.

C．Defense Matters.                       D．Weakness Becomes Strength.

 

（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

根据短文内容，从下框A~F选项中选出能概括每段主题的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。选项中有一项为多余项。

A. Learn to Listen and Speak

B. Develop Healthy Relationships

C. Arrange Some Time to Go Out

D. Respect Each Other

E. Agree to Disagree

F. Learn Every day

Healthy Relationship Tips

Healthy relationships are effortless, if both the people involved take equal effort to maintain it. Here are a few healthy relationship tips to help you build the dream of your life.

1.________________

Communication is an art of putting your thoughts into words, so that they are exactly understood by the opposite person. Communication does not mean going on talking unnecessarily. This is the first mistake that couples make. One person in the relationship assumes the role of talker and the other becomes the listener. Their roles remain so forever. The talker forgets to listen and the listener becomes used to listening and not reacting. If your partner takes time to open up, help them out by asking questions. So hear them out and give proper reactions. You will obtain the benefits of a healthy relationship through increased confidence in both of you to open up and hear things out.

2. ________________

Regular conversations take the form of heated arguments amongst many couples. Understand that not every statement needs a reaction. Maybe a certain reaction may lead to an argument with your partner. Just agree with whatever it is and there will be no harm done. Try and reach a mutual (相互的) agreement. If that’s not possible leave the topic for later. If you give it time, maybe both of you will be able to think about it rationally.

3.________________

Every single day is a blessing. Each moment with your partner is a moment to learn something new and discover the finer nuances (细微差别) of your relationships. Each one of us keeps changing every day, the circumstances around us change every day and with that our attitude also needs to change. The same applies when you are living with a person. Learning every day and taking every day as a challenge will help you perfect healthy relationship tips.

4. ________________

This tip is especially meant for couples with children on how to maintain healthy relationships. After a certain period, couples complain about romance being lost. To keep your relationship healthy, take some time out from your day-to-day routines to spend some quality time with your partner. This can be done as dinners, indulging in outdoor activities or just hanging out at a coffee shop like old times.

5.________________

Respect has to be earned. It can only be earned only if you learn to respect. Often, one of the partners plays the role of a dictator to give orders, while the other simply follows. Both sides involved are equally responsible for this mistake. Learn to respect each other and understand that both of you are equally responsible for the relationship.

Creating a healthy relationship takes equal effort from both sides. Sharing, caring, being apologetic, forgiving and having realistic expectations are some of the important ingredients to the recipe of a healthy relationship.

 

Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you’re doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you’re holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation（感觉）of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions—those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.

Psychologists have known that one person’s perception（感知）of another’s “warmth” is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either “warm” or “cold” is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a “cold” person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies’ conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth “mother” rather than one made of wire, even when the wire “mother” carried a food bottle. Harlow’s work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.

Feelings of “warmth” and “coldness” in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as “warm” or “cold” is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.

To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study’s hypotheses（假设）, handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form. The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of “Person A” based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.

“We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly,” says Bargh.

1.According to Paragraph 1, a person’s emotion may be affected by ______.

A．the visitors to his office                   B．the psychology lessons he has

C．his physical feeling of coldness             D．the things he has bought online

2.The author mentions Harlow’s experiment to show that ______.

A．adults should develop social skills           B．babies need warm physical contact

C．caregivers should be healthy adults          D．monkeys have social relationships

3.In Bargh’s experiment, the students were asked to ______.

A．hold coffee and cold drink alternatively      B．write down their hypotheses

C．fill out a personal information form          D．evaluate someone’s personality

4.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．abstract thinking does not come from physical experiences

B．feelings of warmth and coldness are studied worldwide

C．physical temperature affects how we see others

D．capable persons are often cold to others

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

A．Physical Sensations and Emotions.

B．Experiments of Personality Evaluation.

C．Developing Better Drinking Habits.

D．Drinking for Better Social Relationships.

 

完型填空（共20小题；每小题1．5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上涂黑。

Tom was a middle-aged leather trader (皮货商) whose repeated failure in career made him a depressed man, often __1_ that he had been cheated by others. One day he told his wife he was so __2__ with the city that he had to leave.

So his family moved to another city. It was the evening of a weekend. When Tom and his wife were busily _3_ up their new home, the light suddenly __4_. Tom was regretful to have forgotten to bring along 5__ and had to wait _6_ in a low mood. Just then he heard light, hesitant 27_ on his door that were clearly audible (听到) in the __8__ night.

“Who’s it?” he wondered, since Tom was a _9__ to this city. And this was the moment he especially hated to be __10__, so he went to the door and opened it __11_. At the door was a little girl, shyly asking, “Sir, do you have candles? I’m your neighbor. ” “No,” answered Tom in anger and shut the door __12__. “What a nuisance (麻烦事)!” He complained over it with his wife. “No sooner had we settled down than the neighbor came to _13__ things.”

After a while, the door was knocked again. He opened it and found the same girl outside. __14_ this time she was _15__ two candles, saying, “My grandma told me the new neighbor downstairs might need candles. She _16_ me here to give you these.” Tom was very _17__ by what he saw. At that moment he suddenly realized what caused his _18__ in life. It was his _19_ and harshness (刻薄) with other people. The person who had cheated him in life was _20__ nobody else but himself, for his eyes had been blurred (蒙蔽) by his unsympathetic （无同情心的）mind.

1.                A．complaining     B．telling          C．hoping   D．pretending

 

2.A. pleased          B disappointed     C. exhausted      D. encouraged

3.                A．looking         B．turning         C．coming   D．tidying

 

4.                A．went on        B．went down      C．went out  D．went through

 

5.                A．candles         B．matches        C．lights D．flashlights

 

6.                A．happily         B．patiently        C．hopefully D．helplessly

 

7.                A．steps          B．words          C．knocks   D．screams

 

8.                A．dark           B．quiet           C．noisy D．crowded

 

9.                A．newcomer      B．stranger        C．guest D．settler

 

10.               A．called          B．disturbed       C．watched   D．offered

 

11.               A．surprisingly     B．delightedly      C．impatiently D．willingly

 

12.               A．gently          B．kindly          C．politely    D．violently

 

13.               A．lend           B．sell            C．harness   D．borrow

 

14.               A．And           B．But            C．So   D．For

 

15.               A．holding         B．hiding          C．fetching   D．lifting

 

16.               A．suggested       B．commanded     C．sent  D．forced

 

17.               A．frightened      B．pleased        C．puzzled   D．surprised

 

18.               A．failure         B．success         C．complaint  D．determination

 

19.               A．warmth        B．coldness        C．kindness   D．sympathy

 

20.               A．doubtfully      B．hardly          C．actually   D．nearly