A．They must arrange the meeting place well in advance.B．They can postpone fixing the p

der any conditions.

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

Why Are You Laughing?

Man is the only animal that laughs. Wily is this true? What makes us respond as we do to pleasurable experiences? What is the history of this "happy convulsion(痉挛)", as someone once termed it, and just what is its function?

We are not short of theories to explain the mystery; for centuries, biologists, philosophers, psychologists and medical men have sought a definitive explanation of laughter. One writer theorized that its function is to intimidate others or to gain stature over them by humiliating them. Another took the opposite view: that we laugh in order not to cry. A psychologist offered the explanation that laughter functions as a remedy for painful experiences, and that it serves to defend a person against what the psychologist termed: "the many minor pains to which man is exposed". In the seventeenth century a writer set forth the theory that we laugh when we compare ourselves with others and find ourselves superior: in effect, we laugh at the frailty of others.

Virtually every theory has concerned with either the structure or the function of laughter, whereas relatively few have been devoted to the question of its origin. I propose to offer a theory which, so far as I am aware, has not previously been set forth, that only those animals capable of speech are capable of laughter, and that therefore man, being the only animal that speaks, is the only animal that laughs.

Those of us who have observed chimpanzees closely feel quite confident that the chimpanzee occasionally exhibits behavior. that looks very much like a primitive human laughter. This behavior, however, has been observed only in a human context; whether or not it occurs under natural conditions is dubious; but the very fact that under any conditions an ape is capable of such behavior. is more than passing interest—for does it not indicate that early man had the rudiments(初级阶段) of laughter?

Laughter is defined as an emotional response, expressive normally of joy, involving characteristic sounds of the voice and movements of the features and the body. The joy may take the form. of gladness, amusement, ridicule, and so on. Why should laughter be as intimately associated with the power of speech as I have suggested? Speech is the verbal, or vocal, expression of symbols and the relations between symbols. Probably at about the same time speech evolved, laughter originated too, as a kind of semiverbalized social expression of pleasure. With the development of speech, the number of occasions producing sudden experiences of pleasure increased, and, since laughter was closely associated with speech, man had this means of expressing his pleasure. Having broken the "sound barrier", as it were, man could express with laughter what other animals could not. Since the lower animals had no speech, they encountered fewer pleasurable situations and, furthermore, were unable to laugh no matter what the stimulation.

Once the first laughter had been laughed by primitive man, with such apparently pleasurable effects all around, laughter began to take on an intrinsic value within the society of man. The person possessing the ability to communicate pleasure in a loud laugh began to enjoy social advantages over his more serious colleagues; he became a "good mixer", socially selected and liked by society. Thus the process of natural selection would tend to operate in favor of those able to express their pleasurable states in laughter, as compared with those not so able. Throughout the course of evolution, laughter would become established throughout the human species as a function of sociological and psychological value.

Thus laughter gradually became established as a capacity among virtually all human beings. In addition, laughter's infectious quality, helped distribute it as a characteristic common to all mankind. Laughter was advantageous; therefore it su

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

【B19】

A．towards

B．against

C．without

D．out of

【B17】

A．mass

B．majority

C．minority

D．multitude

Ancient Chinese astronomy could be accurately described as______.

A．entirely religious in nature

B．based on legendary figures

C．advanced in some areas

D．completely unsuccessful

The movement of the stars was explained by the______.

A．thickness of the canopy

B．slope of the canopy

C．position of the earth

D．rotation of the earth

A．Father and daughter.

B．Mother and son.

C．Teacher and pupil.

D．Doctor and patient.

A．He is hostile.

B．He is indifferent.

C．He is snobbish.

D．He is helpful.

What is the author's main purpose?

A．To highly praise Ms. Harris's work.

B．To counter Ms. Harris's work.

C．To objectively report on Ms. Harris's work.

D．To critically comment on Ms. Harris's work.

According to Para. 3, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．It is harder to track the precise effects of parental upbringing than the exact influence of the peer group in children.

B．Immigrant children tend to discard the war their parents speak quickly when they go to school.

C．It has been proved that peers have more impact on children's qualifies such as to be honest or hard-working or generous.

D．It is easier for children to acquire a language at school than at home.