Question

A good joke can be the hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language. As a recent article in The Guardian newspaper noted, “There’s more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar.”

Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an unbelievable ice-breaker for a language learner eager to form friendships with native speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling that I could never break through,” Hannah Ashley, a public relations account manager in London, who once studied Spanish in Madrid, told The Guardian, “I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”

In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way. Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn’t think his. Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.

In Australia, meanwhile many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao, who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”

In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while British people use irony (反话)—basically, saying something they don’t mean to make a joke—every day, people in the US don’t see the point of using it so often. “British jokes tend to be more subtle and dark, while American jokes are more obvious with their meanings, a bit like Americans themselves,” he wrote in The Guardian.

【题文１】It is implied in the noted sentence in Paragraph 1 that ________.

A. making jokes is a possible way for one to learn better a foreign language

B. humor is always conveyed to foreigners through vocabulary and grammar

C. vocabulary and grammar help you understand jokes in a foreign language

D. there tends to be something behind the words of a joke in a foreign language

【题文２】What can we guess about Hannah Ashley?

A. She thinks that Spanish people generally do not have much of a sense of humor.

B. She believes that one had better rely on facts when speaking a foreign language.

C. She found that humor was a barrier to her getting along well with Spanish people.

D. She had a better command of the Spanish language than of the English language.

【小题３】Joe Wong is used as an example to ________.

A. suggest that there are cultural differences in humor

B. show that it’s hard to put jokes into another language

C. prove that local people have different taste in humor

D. show that expressing ability affects the sense of humor

【小题４】From the article we can learn that ________.

A. jokes about sports are difficult for foreigners to understand

B. Americans are generally more humorous than British people

C. not all English native speakers can understand English jokes easily

D. British people’s dark jokes often make people uncomfortable

Answer

1.Ｄ

2.Ｃ

3.Ａ

4.C

【解析】

试题分析：本文主要介绍了人们在理解笑话方面存在的问题，如何想要很好地理解一则笑话，需要人们去了解笑话中所蕴含的文化背景及讲笑话的人的幽默方式。

1.Ｄ 推理判断题。根据文章内容可知，笑话只对那些共享文化背景或有同样幽默方式的人才好笑。故选Ｄ。

2.Ｃ 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”可知，Hannah Ashley在西班牙时，她与西班牙人的交流从来不能达到母语水平。她认为对于西班牙人来讲，她差不多是个相当无趣的人，因为她所能讲的都是事实。所以幽默是她与西班牙人之间交流的障碍，所以她理解不了西班牙式的幽默，故选Ｃ。

3.Ａ 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn’t think his Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.”可知，华裔美国喜剧演员黄西在美国相当的出名，但是在中国的演出却不被中国人买账，原因就在于中美幽默因为文化差异而存在不同。故选Ａ。

4.C 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way.”及第四段、第五段列举的澳大利亚、英国和美国人在理解笑话方面的问题，可推知不是所有以英语为母语的人都能容易地理解英语笑话。故选C。

考点：考查文化类阅读

【名师点睛】

英语高考阅读理解细节题解题技巧

一、语义转换题——跳读查找法这是做事实细节题最基本也是最常用的方法。在通常情况下，细节题主要考查考生对某句话或某几句话的理解，同学们若能根据题干内容从原文中找到相关的句子，然后进行比较和分析，便可确定最佳答案。

运用跳读查找法时，同学们要特别注意试题（包括选项）与原文之间的适当变换。根据近几年的考题情况来看，现在很少有直接用原文中的句子进行考查和测试的，而通常要进行一定的处理。而这种“处理”主要就是指进行语义转换，其中包括同义变换、概念解析、归纳事实等。比如第５９题，细节理解题。根据第二段中的“I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”可知Hannah Ashley在西班牙时，她从来不能像跟一个以英语为母语的人交流一样与西班牙人进行交流。她认为对于西班牙人来讲，她差不多是个相当无趣的人，因为她所能讲的都是事实。故选Ｃ。

二、生活应用题——常识理解法生活应用题要求考生在读懂文章的基础上结合一定的生活常识进行判断。不过，有趣的是，高考有时会出现一些“低级”常识判断题，即无需看懂文章，也可选出最佳答案。

三、细节排序题——首尾定位法

这种试题要求考生根据动作发生的先后顺序和句子之间的逻辑关系，找出事件发生的正确顺序。同学们在做这种题时可采用“首尾定位法”，即最先找出第一个动作和最后一个动作，迅速缩小选择范围，从而快速选出正确答案。比如第６１题：细节理解题。根据第三段中的“In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way.”及第四段、第五段列举的澳大利亚、英国和美国人在理解笑话方面的问题，可推知不是所有以英语为母语的人都能容易地理解英语笑话。故选C。

四、寻找信息题——题干定位法快速寻找信息题一般为功能阅读题，主要形式有广告、公告、演出信息、航班时间表等。做这类题时没有必要阅读全文，宜采用“题干定位法”。