Before I studied psychology，I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that，I discovered there are lots of other psychological reasons that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke，there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh-and the more reasons there are，the more powerful the joke will be.

I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt，and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets，everyone laughed their head off. The main reason why those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry with pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny，it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is，people were laughing because of both the funny joke and the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

The better a joke makes a person feel，the more it includes other psychological factors，and the more the person will like it. For example，if you envy one of your friends，and someone tells a joke that is funny and，at the same time，makes your friend seem stupid，then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous（嫉妒的）of him.

In short, we not only laugh when we hear something funny, but also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

【小题1】What did the author find out after studying psychology?

A．Only good jokes make people laugh.

B．Many reasons lead to people laughing.

C．Funny things can make people laugh.

D．Laughter can make people healthy.

【小题2】Why did the audience laugh at the pedestrians?

A．Because they played a trick on the pedestrians.

B．Because the pedestrians behaved in a funny way.

C．Because they could feel the pedestrians' happiness.

D．Because their emotions were approved of by the show.

【小题3】What does the underlined word "belittling" probably mean？

A．Speaking highly of.	B．Getting close to.
C．Looking down on.	D．Feeling content with.

   Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralysed（瘫痪的）from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted them into his back and regrew his spinal cord （脊髓）. Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal （鼻子的） nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly regrows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself, and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.

Polish doctors injected the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above and below the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990s, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat that couldn't control its hand put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true. ”

Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt — it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

“What you’ve got to understand is that for three million paralysed people in the world today, the world looks like a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said.

【小题1】Why did Professor Geoff Raisman choose cells from the nose?

A．The nervous system in the nose can repair itself.

B．Cells in the nose can be easily transplanted.

C．Cells in the nose reproduce rapidly.

D．He just wanted to give it a try.

【小题2】Why did the operation work for Darek Fidyka?

A．The nasal cells reproduced and spread quickly.

B．The nerves from his ankle cured the injury.

C．The nervous system in the spinal cord can repair itself.

D．The nasal cells helped the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

【小题3】What made Professor Geoff Raisman believe the nervous system can be repaired?

A．His study on animals.

B．His operation on a paralysed patient.

C．His sudden thoughts about Christmas.

D．His unusual experience with a sick rat.

【小题4】David Nicholls' words suggest that ________.

A．the world is becoming better and brighter

B．paralysed people have the hope of recovery

C．the report of the breakthrough will be published soon

D．researchers across the globe will carry out the operation immediately

   Skywriting is a form of advertising in which a pilot is bound to spell out a brief slogan or catchphrase in letters formed by smoke. In general, a customer would choose a specific place and time for the skywriting to appear. The message would only last as long as winds are relatively calm and the sky is clear. Single plane skywriting has largely been replaced by multi-plane "skytyping" , a computer-controlled method involving puffs of smoke from a row of aircraft.

The first official skywriting show took place over New York City in November of 1922. A skywriting pioneer and Royal Air Force（RAF）pilot named John Savage sat with the president of the American Tobacco Company, George Hill, as a fellow RAF ace pilot named Captain Cyril Turner flew into position over New York City. Captain Turner spelled out "HELLO USA CALL VANDERBILT 7200" in white smoke. Over47,000 people called the number, which happened to be the Vanderbilt Hotel where George Hill was staying. Hill became convinced that the skywriting advertisements would work well to promote his Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Skywriting continued to grow in popularity as both an advertising medium and a personal message service. Customers could request anything from "Eat at Joe's" to "Will You Marry Me？"Messages and slogans would naturally have to remain short, but even a simple phone number could produce a lot of curious potential（潜在的）customers for a small investment.

The development of the national highway system after WW Ⅱ spelled the beginning of the end for the skywriting industry. Instead of posting a few words in the sky, advertisers could now fill entire billboards with all sorts of pictures. Thousands of captive audience would pass by these new advertising signs every day, unlike the precious few who would come across a typical skywriting message. Many aerial（空中的）advertising companies turned to permanent banners（横幅）pulled behind low-flying aircraft instead.

Some skywriting is still performed today, although only a select number of pilots have the skills necessary for the job.

【小题1】What do we know about skywriting？

A．It is made up of smoke and clouds.

B．It is performed by computers at present.

C．It appears where the pilot wants.

D．It is a kind of ad made in the sky.

【小题2】The third paragraph suggests that skywriting ________.

A．satisfied all of the needs of customers

B．was an effective advertising style

C．appealed to few customers

D．ended up with a message service

【小题3】Why did advertisers give up skywriting？

A．Because skywriting was too expensive to advertise.

B．Because planes were greatly reduced after WWⅡ.

C．Because billboards could attract more audience.

D．Because it wasn't easy to do such a thing.

【小题4】What might be the most suitable title for the passage？

A．Why people need skywriting

B．How to do skywriting

C．When it is good to do skywriting

D．What skywriting is

   "Creativity is the key to a brighter future, "say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think of as great importance: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.

Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can't recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it' choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

【小题1】What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?

A．It should encourage people to work a longer time.

B．People should be discouraged to think freely.

C．People will do better if they spend most of their working time developing new ideas.

D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time considering and developing new ideas.

【小题2】We can know from the passage that creativity _________.

A．something that most people are born with

B．something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all

C．a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems

D．something that is not important to the life in the future at all

【小题3】Why don't schools try to encourage creativity？

A．They don't attach importance to creativity education.

B．They don't want their students to make mistakes.

C．They pay no attention to examination marks.

D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class.

【小题4】What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money？

A．Allow them to have a try.

B．Try to help them as much as possible.

C．Take no notice of whatever they do.

D．Order them to spend the least money.

   A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another，like a disease. Researchers used information from the Framingham Heart Study，which began in 1948. The Framingham Heart Study gathers information about physical and mental health，personal behavior and diet. At first，the study involved（使参加）about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now more than 12,000 individuals（个人）are taking part.

Information from the Framingham Heart Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behavior like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

Psychologist John Cacioppo，at the University of Chicago，led the recent study. He and other researchers tried to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact，a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25%more likely. The researchers said this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.

The effect was the strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives，and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

The New York Times newspaper reported that，on average，people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional（额外的）friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent，or two and a half fewer lonely days.

Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression（抑郁症）and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help reduce it.

The study suggested that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.

【小题1】As for the Framingham Heart Study we can learn that __________.

A．it was only conducted in 1948	B．it involves more than 12, 000 people
C．it was founded by John Cacioppo	D．it showed that any behavior could spread

【小题2】From the passage, we can learn that __________.

A．the behavior of littering doesn’t spread

B．a lonely person won’t have friends

C．everyone may be affected by others’ loneliness

D．lonely people don’t know the causes of their loneliness

【小题3】Which statement about the spread of loneliness is TRUE?

A．The spreading effect is the second strongest among friends.

B．No spreading effect is found on husbands and wives.

C．Women are more likely to be affected than men.

D．Brothers are more easily to be affected than neighbors.

【小题4】What is the main idea of the passage？

A．Action should be taken to help lonely people.	B．People feel lonely for many reasons.
C．Ways to fight against loneliness.	D．Lonely people can affect others.