A
An old English saying says, “Laughter is the best medicine. ” One person who certainly would have agreed with this is Norman Cousins.
Norman Cousins worked for a magazine called Saturday Review for almost forty years. He also wrote articles about peace, traveling to many different countries to share his ideas.
In the 1960s, after returning to the United States from a busy and tiring trip to Europe, Mr Cousins got sick. In less than a week after he got back, he could not stand. Every move that he made was painful. He was not able to sleep at night. The doctors told Mr Cousins that they did not know how to cure his problem and he might never get over the illness. Mr Cousins, however, refused to give up hope.
Mr Cousins thought the illness could be caused by unhappy thoughts. He did not want to take medicine to cure himself. Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness.
He began to experiment on himself while still in the hospital by watching comedy shows on television. Mr Cousins quickly found that ten minutes of real laughter during the day gave him two hours of sleep without pain at night.
Deciding that the doctors could not help him, Mr Cousins left the hospital and checked into a hotel room where he could continue his experiments with laughter. For eight days, Mr Cousins rested in the hotel room watching comedy shows on television, reading funny books, and sleeping whenever he felt tired. Within three weeks, he felt well enough to have a holiday to Puerto Rico, where he began running on the beach for exercise. After a few months, Mr Cousins was able to carry on his work. He had laughed himself back to health.
【语篇概述】这是一篇记叙文。这篇文章讲述的是诺曼从欧洲的繁忙劳累的旅程中回到美国后,发现自己得了很奇怪的病,每动一下就会使他疼痛,医生也不知道怎么治疗这种病。然而他自己坚决不放弃,认为他的病可能是因为不开心引起的。所以他在接下来的日子,通过各种方式来娱乐自己,让自己开心,能够笑起来。结果他的病好了,他又重新投入工作,说明笑是治疗疾病的良药。
21. The text is mainly about _______.
A. a funny person
B. an amazing life
C. an interesting cure
D. a medical experiment
【解析】选C。主旨大意题。根据全文可知,作者通过诺曼的故事,告诉我们笑是治疗疾病的良药,这是一种有趣的治疗方法,故答案为C。
22. How did the doctors respond to Mr Cousins’ illness?
A. They promised to cure him.
B. They didn’t think he was really sick.
C. They told him not to give up hope.
D. They said they were unable to help him.
【解析】选D。细节理解题。根据第三段The doctors told Mr Cousins that they did not know how to cure his problem and he might never get over the illness. 可知医生们告诉Mr Cousins他们不知道如何治疗他的问题,他可能永远也无法康复,说明医生帮不了他,故答案为D。
23. Mr Cousins thought that he could be cured by _______.
A. thinking happily and laughing
B. writing comedies and being positive
C. taking a holiday and taking good care of himself
D. running on the beach and relaxing
【解析】选A。推理判断题。根据倒数第三段Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness. 相反,他觉得快乐的想法或笑声可以治愈他的疾病,可以判断Mr Cousins认为积极的思考和大笑可以治愈自己的疾病,故答案为A。
