A
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Less than ten percent of Finns in the study said they would think that, compared to eighty percent of people in Thailand.
Some people in the study said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations but hid their feelings of insecurity (局促不安). Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. The study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group. They would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan were more likely to try to avoid such situations if they felt they had been laughed at before.
Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contact (联系) with other people. They worry that something they say or do will make other people laugh at them. But some people worry much more than others. They may have an illness called gelotophobia. Gelos is a Greek word. It means laughter. Phobia means fear. This fear of laughter can be truly sad for those who live with it. It can affect how they lead their lives.
In the study, a team from the University of Zurich led more than ninety researchers from around the world. They wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another purpose of the study was no compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures. The researchers surveyed (调查) more than twentytwo thousand people in fortytwo different languages. The findings appeared in the scientific magazine Humor.
本文为说明文，介绍了不同国家的人们对于被嘲笑的不同态度。
1．What did the study find?
A．Being laughed at is a common fear.
B．Being laughed at is different from culture to culture.
C．Only people in Turkmenistan would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter.
D．The fear of being laughed at is different around the world.
答案：D
解析：细节理解题。根据第一段“芬兰人最不可能相信有人在他们面前大笑是在取笑他们。在研究中，不到10%的芬兰人表示他们会这样认为，而泰国只有80%的人这样认为”可知芬兰人和泰国人对被嘲笑的态度是不同的。第二段中Turkmenistan and Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group. They would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan were more likely to try to avoid such situations if they felt they had been laughed at before.对比了伊拉克、埃及和约旦人对被嘲笑的态度也不同。最后一段的They wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another purpose of the study was to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures...在研究中，他们想了解正常害羞和真正的被嘲笑恐惧症之间的区别。这项研究的另一个目的是比较不同文化中害怕被嘲笑的程度。可知，研究发现世界各地的人们对被嘲笑的恐惧是不同的。分析选项可知D项符合题意。
2．Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contact with other people because ________.
A．they have a disorder called gelotophobia
B．it can affect how they lead their lives
C．they worry that something they say or do will be laughed at
D．they worry that what they say or do will make other people laugh at them
答案：C
解析：细节理解题。第三段中的Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contact (联系) with other people. They worry that something they say or do will make other people laugh at them.可知“害羞的人经常避免那些迫使他们与他人密切接触的情况。他们担心他们说的话或做的事会让别人嘲笑他们”。分析选项可知C项符合题意，故选C项。
3．The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
A．laughter B．gelotophobia
C．fear D．Phobia
答案：B
解析：猜测词义题。本段意为“害羞的人经常避免那些迫使他们与他人密切接触的情况。他们担心他们说的或做的事会让别人嘲笑他们。但有些人比别人担心得多些。他们可能有一种叫gelotophobia病。”可知，害怕别人嘲笑的病叫gelotophobia。根据画线词的上文This fear of laughter can be truly sad for those who live with it.“这种对笑声的恐惧对于那些生活在其中的人来说是非常糟糕的”，可知“It can affect how they lead their lives”中的it指的是上句所说的this fear of laughter，也就是“gelotophobia”。因此此处是指“这种对笑声的恐惧(gelotophobia)会影响他们的生活。”，分析选项可知，it是指gelotophobia，因此B项符合题意，故选B项。
