Unit19 ?Communication

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The Role of Humour

詞匯講解：

humour：幽默；

A

　　How important is humour in your life? When you turn on the television, do you watch the news or a comedy programme? When you read your local newspaper, do you turn to the comics first of all? Is your best friend the one who makes you laugh the most? There is an old saying, ‘Laughter is the best medicine’. Numerous studies now show that there is a lot of truth in that idea.

詞匯講解：

there is a old saying：有句老話說；

B

　　The official term for the scientific study of laughter is Gelotology. It has been shown that laughter results in a number of measurable physical reactions that are beneficial for health. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, these include increases in the heart rate and circulation, a reduction in blood pressure, an improvement in lung capacity and blood oxygen levels and an overall relaxation in muscle tension. It has also been shown to increase tolerance of pain (by Sultanoff, a psychologist, in an article for WebMD). Laughter changes our mood and creates a sense of well-being. It is vital for human interaction; in fact, to be described as ‘humourless’ is a criticism. Even in times of distress, humour can provide temporary relief. For all these reasons, laughter therapy sessions are often prescribed to help people cope with physical, mental and spiritual issues.

詞匯講解：

Gelotology：笑理學；

circulation：循環(huán) ；發(fā)行量；

tolerance：忍受能力；

mood：心情；

well-being：幸福，康樂；

prescribe：規(guī)定；配藥；

spiritual：精神，心靈上；

C

　　Laughter is considered to be a motor reflex, much like the way the pupil in an eye contracts in bright light. The only biological function that it seems to serve is relief from tension. It involves a physical response to a comment or action. This response is an involuntary contraction of 15 facial muscles, along with the associated, often uncontrollable, noise that we term laughter. The mystery is the relationship of this simple physical response to a sophisticated mental activity. This is a phenomenon that has puzzled philosophers for centuries. It also means there is a clear indicator of the presence of that elusive quality, humour. If people do not laugh, then the joke was not funny!

詞匯講解：

relief：緩解；解脫；地勢；慰藉；換班；

tension：緊張；拉緊；懸念；

contraction：收縮；

indicator：指針；跡象；

D

　　In ancient society, much humour was considered to be malicious or based on contempt for the unfamiliar, to be enjoyed at the expense of someone else. Laughter was even likened to a dagger. The ancient Hebrews' sense of humour tended to emphasize contempt and derision; of a range of references to laughter in the Old Testament, 13 were mocking but only two were joyful. Similarly, the ancients laughed at foreigners; they regarded them as only pretending to be human. By the 5th century BC, there was evidence of humour in ancient Greek art, with jokes about the Olympians and the Olympic Games. Humour moved into literature soon after, with the Greek comedies of Aristophanes. In more recent times, in the English-speaking world, we have had many examples of social satire, for example Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels in the 18th century and the 20th century publication of George Orwell's Animal Farm. On the other hand, in dictatorships such as those of Hitler and Stalin, political humour was seen to be dangerous and was not permitted. However, this did not mean it did not exist, but rather it was forced underground, which only added to its power.

詞匯講解：

dagger：匕首，短劍；

mocking：逗笑；

F

　　These days, humour in the West is very influenced by the mass media. The canned laughter of sit-coms on television and the wide audiences reached by popular comedians have led to a rather ‘commercialized’ style of humour. It is widely used in advertising in an attempt to make ads more memorable and enjoyable, but this is not always successful-especially given the repetition of viewings of such ads. A response to this has been the creation of humorous sites, blogs and videos, such as those on YouTube, which are imaginative and reach a huge audience.

詞匯講解：

memorable：難忘；

G

　　Humour is an important form of communication that is common to all societies, although the same things are not always considered funny in different cultures. The use of humour influences interaction patterns within a group, and affects the social structure of the group. In a positive form, humour increases the fun factor of a work or social situation by generating warmth and trust. Sharing laughter is a signal of acceptance within the group. Equally, of course, humour can be abrasive, resulting in friction and uneasiness in a social group; used inappropriately it can lead to job-loss or social isolation. Ideally, though, it will function in a positive way, to enhance interpersonal relationships by reducing tension, improving communication and helping individuals cope with day-to-day situations.

詞匯講解：

abrasive：磨料；磨石；粗厲；

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Identification of Information

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

　　Write:

　　TRUE?????????? if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE????????? if the statement contradicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN???? if there is no information on this

　　1)? ______ Physical reactions to laughter all occur in the brain.

　　2)? ______ Laughter is a response to a physical stimulus.

　　3)? ______ In past times, humour was seen as making fun of people.

　　4)? ______ Modern humour in western countries is affected by television.

　　5)? ______ Television was invented as a form of amusement for people.

　　6)? ______ A joke will be laughed at in any country in the world.

　　7)? ______ Someone who uses humour in an unacceptable way can lose their job or friends.

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