Next time you hear a funny joke you'd better not laugh too hard. According to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, laughter isn't always the best medicine. Sometimes it can even be harmful. Professor Robin Ferner from the University of Birmingham, one of the authors of the study, found that bad things could happen to people who laughed too much. He says, "We found people with heartbeat problems which had stopped their hearts, we found people who had fainted(昏倒), and we found people who'd dislocated their jaws or burst their lungs."
It seems that laughing can be no laughing matter. But it's not all doom and gloom. Professor Ferner says there are benefits to laughing when you want to lose weight, for example. Yes, that's right: laugh and be slimmer! Professor Ferner explains that: "You use energy when you laugh, you move your diaphragm(横隔膜), you expand your lungs, and both those things can be helpful."
According to the research, laughing for a quarter of an hour can burn 40 calories, and if you laughed all day you'd use about 2, 000 calories, which is what most people consume in a day. But don't do that or you might end up with a painful jaw. Ouch! Or you might find people looking at you in a funny way.
But I don't want to finish this article leaving you feeling desperate. Laughter comes naturally for most of us. Babies begin to laugh at around 3-6 months. So give in to your sense of humour and keep smiling. Life is short anyway.
1.Laughing too much may cause the following harmful results EXCEPT _____
A. heart stop
B. diaphragm movement
C. lung burst
D. jaw dislocation
2.The underlined phrase "doom and gloom" in Paragraph 2 probably means "______".
A. hopeless
B. funny
C. painful
D. nervous
3.How many calories can you use if you laugh for half a day?
A. About 40.
B. About 1, 000.
C. About 2, 000.
D. About 2, 040.
4.What is the author's attitude towards laughing in the last paragraph?
A. Uninterested.
B. Disapproving.
C. Worried.
D. Favorable.
A person's nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions. Some people are able to "lead other people by the nose". For example, if a wife "leads her husband by the nose", she makes him do whatever she wants him to do. Some people are said to be "hard-nosed". They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is "hard-nosed", chances are that he will never "pay through the nose", or pay too much money, for an object or service.
It is always helpful when people "keep their noses out of other people's business"—they do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone who "noses around all the time". This kind of person is interested in other people's private matters. He is considered "nosey". Someone who "keeps his nose to the grindstone "works very hard. This can help a worker "keep his nose clean" or stay out of trouble.
One unusual expression is "it is no skin off my nose". This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a person "cuts off his nose to spite his face". That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry. More problems can develop if a person "looks down his nose" at someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might also "turn his nose up" at something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He is "with his nose in the air".
In school, some students "thumb their noses" at their teacher—they refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should be "right under your nose" or easily seen.
1.Which of the following can best describe a "hard-nosed" person?
A. Stubborn. B. Wise.
C. Jealous D. Generous.
2.A person is not welcome if he __________.
A. "keeps his nose clean"
B. "noses around all the time"
C. "keeps his nose to the grindstone"
D. "keeps his nose out of other peoples business"
3.The expression "turn one's nose up" is similar to__________.
A. "it is no skin off one's nose"
B. "look down one's nose"
C. "with one' s nose in the air"
D. "thumb one's nose"
假定你是李华，昨天你有一次不愉快的就餐经历，对餐厅的服务员态度非常不满意，于是你给该餐厅老板写一封投诉信。要点如下：
1.问题：牛肉面(beef noodles)里有苍蝇(fly)，服务员态度粗鲁。
2.要求：餐厅赔礼道歉。
3.希望能改进服务。
注意：1.词数：100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Sir / Madam,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last Sunday, sixty students from our school pay a visit to China Science and Technology Museum.
The museum, which main task is to spread the knowledge of science and technology, covers area of 48,000 square meters. The moment when we entered the museum, the exhibition caught their attention. In the museum, we saw the latest progresses in science and technology. Moreover, we did an amazed scientific experiment by ourselves. What appealed for us most was the 3D film that made us feel we were in real events.
Though the visiting time was slight short, we gained a lot. It is so an instructive activity that we hope more will be organized in the future.
Medical bills were piling, kids needed glasses, cars needed repairs and the dog needed surgery. On top of that, Christmas was almost _________ us so presents needed to be purchased.
But all of that was _________ when my husband, Brian, was waiting in our local tire shop to have his six truck tires _________ on a snowy night, He overheard the tire salesman _________ a young mom with 3 children that she was in urgent _________ of all new tires, as each one was completely _________ down._________, the young mom said she didn’t have the money to replace more than one tire on her car.
On hearing that, Brian _________ to pay for a tire to be installed,_________ of the one tire this woman was able to purchase. Brian knew that even though it was just a start, the young mom would be much _________ driving on the _________ roads with a balanced set of two new tires than they would with just one new tire.
The young mom was so surprised that she _________ choked up. Eyes filled with tears, she thanked Brian and pulled away.
My husband is a naturally modest_________ man who feels rewarded in giving rather than_______ in life. So imagine his unexpected_________, when he later discovered the salesman had _________ the entire amount spent on the woman’s one_________ tire to his bill!_________ the seven tires my husband bought, the salesman only _________ him for six.
The simple act of one man making the decision to share what he had, instead of worrying about what he would ________, made a difference that night.
1.A. in B. before C. upon D. for
2.A. solved B. changed C. purchased D. forgotten
3.A. replaced B. abandoned C. thrown D. examined
4.A. persuade B. mention C. warn D. explain
5.A. danger B. need C. place D. face
6.A. taken B. broken C. worn D. pulled
7.A. Angrily B. Sadly C. Impatiently D. Unnecessarily
8.A. hurried B. used C. tried D. offered
9.A. front B. sure C. opposite D. back
10.A. faster B. safer C. happier D. luckier
11.A. dark B. hard C. icy D. long
12.A. nearly B. finally C. greatly D. excitedly
13.A. humorous B. generous C. meaningful D. intelligent
14.A. helping B. using C. thanking D. receiving
15.A. satisfaction B. surprise C. chance D. discovery
16.A. returned B. added C. paid D. discounted
17.A. spare B. new C. whole D. extra
18.A. Regardless of B. More than C. Let down D. Rather than
19.A. charged B. sold C. asked D. appreciated
20.A. go for B. go without C. go in for D. go against
Long, long ago people couldn’t write and they had no books. But they had stories. People learned the stories by heart and taught new ones to one another. Sometimes it was hard to remember them all. 1.
The ancient Egyptians wrote their stories on something made from papyrus (纸沙草) plants. People in other places wanted to learn from the Egyptians to use papyrus.
2. So, parchment (羊皮纸), made from goatskin, later took its place.
In ancient China books looked a little different. People there used ink to write on bamboo or silk. And then they invented paper. Made of trees, paper was easier and cheaper to make than papyrus or parchment.3. Paper-making later spread to the West, but there was a big problem with these early books. Every single one had to be copied and written by hand.
4. They carved (雕刻) a page of words into a piece of wood or stone. They could then print the page by spreading ink on the wood or stone and putting it against paper. But it wasn’t until a German printer invented movable, metal letters that books became fast and easy to make. The letters could be used to print copy after copy, and the letters put together again and again to print different pages of words.
5. Once a luxury (奢侈品) only the rich could buy, they soon became a treasure everyone could enjoy.
A. It took years to finish making just one book.
B. But papyrus grew mainly in Egypt.
C. Things grew a little easier when writing was invented.
D. Finally books could be printed by the thousands.
E. The Chinese were the first to think of a way to speed things up a little.
F. Books in the West didn’t change for a long time after that.
G. Its surface was smoother and better for writing on too.
