2011年考研英语(一)完形填空的标准答案

　　How Humor Makes You Friendlier, Sexier

　　Amusing Exercise March 25, 2009 scientificamerican

　　Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle viewed laughter as “a bodilyexercise precious to health.” But despite some claims to the contrary, chuckling probably has little influence on physical fitness.Laughter does produce short-term changes in cardiovascular function and respiration, boosting heart rate, respiratory rate and depth, as well as oxygen consumption. But because hard laughter is difficult to sustain, a good guffaw is unlikely to have measurable cardiovascular benefits the way, say, walking or jogging does.

　　In fact, instead of straining muscles to build them, as exercisedoes, laughter apparently accomplishes the opposite. Studies dating back to the 1930s indicate that laughter relaxes muscles, decreasing muscle tone for up to 45 minutes after the guffaw subsides.

　　Such physical relaxation might conceivably help moderate the effects of psychological stress. After all, the act of laughing probably does produce other types of physical feedback that improve an individual’s emotional state. According to one classical theory of emotion, our feelings are partially rooted in physical reactions. American psychologist William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange argued at the end of the 19th century that humans do not cry because they are sad but that they become sad when the tears beginto flow.

　　Although sadness also precedes tears, evidence suggests that emotions can flow from muscular responses. In an experiment published in 1988, social psychologist Fritz Strack of the University of Würzburg in Germany and his colleagues asked volunteers to hold apen either with their teeth—thereby creating an artificial smile—or with their lips, which would produce a disappointed expression. Those forced to exercise their smiling muscles reacted more exuberantly tofunny cartoons than did those whose mouths were contracted in afrown, suggesting that expressions may influence emotions rather than just the other way around. Similarly, the physical act of laughtercould improve mood.

　　Additional studies have shown that laughing at a funny film can cause a drop in the blood’s concentration of the stress hormone cortisol (although other stress hormones appear to be unaffected). Because chronically elevated cortisol levels have been shown toweaken the immune system, this mechanism could conceivably help ward off disease. Indeed, experiments have indicated that laughterincreases the activity of immune cells called natural killer cells in saliva in healthy subjects.0

　　2011年考研英语(一)完形填空的标准答案

　　1. [C]despite

　　2. [D]produce

　　3. [B]boosting

　　4. [B]sustain

　　5.[A]measurable

　　6. [B]In fact

　　7.[A]opposite

　　8. [D]relaxes

　　9. [C]moderate

　　10.[A]physical

　　11. [B]According to

　　12. [C]in

　　13. [D]because

　　14. [C]precedes

　　15. [B]from

　　16.[D]hold

　　17.[A]disappointed

　　18. [D]reacted

　　19.[A]suggesting

　　20. [C]Similarly