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B
The power of humor and laugher is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators.
They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.
In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.
As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(咯咯笑) from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter (a deep laugh) you get when you interact with others.
Socializing with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as television, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.
The workplace does not fare(进展) much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded（逐渐毁坏） away.
I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled “The Power of Humor” and subsequently my second book titled “Kids Say the Goggonest Things” based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.
From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.
24. According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because ________.
A. we treat everything in a serious way
B. it relieves pain, reduces stress and anxiety
C. we fail to maintain balance between life and work
D. the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster
25. The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that ________.
A. getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult
B. we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet
C. researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter
D. people laugh more heartily when spending time with others
26. The underlined word “inclination” in Paragraph 5 most probably means “________”.
A. destination      B. attitude     C. tendency       D. approach
27. Which of the following articles can we most probably find in “The Humormeister’s Forum”?
A. The power of honesty.
B. Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones.
C. Live life purposefully: The relationship within.
D. Don’t be your own worst enemy.
C
Two-thirds of the world’s major rivers have now been disrupted(中断)with more than 50,000 dams in an attempt to stole water and provide power. In the US，there are more than 85，000 dams，disrupting large and small rives, and in most cases transforming natural flow．The most famous of these，the Hoover Dam, constructed in the l930's，is mainly responsible for the fact that the Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean.
 Dams, besides all their attractive benefits, also have negative impacts. Creating a reservoir(水库) means a large area must be flooded. Communities may lose their land, houses and culturally impotent sites.
 Environmentally, the new reservoir can be a paradise for wildlife, especially birds. However, it can cause greenhouse gas emissions(排放)and poison the water for fish. Also, the dramatic rise and fall of water levels during dam releases is too extreme for plains and animals to cope with, resulting in dead zones around the shores of reservoirs. Fish that lay their eggs in the shallows, for example, may find a few hours later that those sites are high and dry.
 Dams don’t just block water flow. The flow may be reduced so that farmers will have great trouble getting water for their fields. They also prevent fish migrations, and are a barrier to sediment (沉淀物)flows. Instead of rushing downriver, sediments get backed up against the dam wall, which cause the reservoir level to increase over time．However, sediments which are rich in nutrients have become a problem. The fertility of the entire system can be influenced, with soils lost during seasonal rains not being replaced.
  Perhaps the biggest problem can be seen in deltas(三角洲), often host to large cities，which are sinking into the oceans. Groundwater is being extracted to feed the city, causing the urban weight to sink and sediments washed away by the ocean are no longer being replaced. The result is that sea level rise in cities from Shanghai to Alexandria.
28. What effects does creating a reservoir have on people’s life?
  a. People will see fewer birds near the rivers．
  b. Farmers below the dam may have less water to irrigate their fields
  c. Visitors can’t see some cultural relics anymore．
  d. More conflicts and wars over water will break out 
  e. More kinds of fish will become extinct in the future
   A. b, c    B. c, e    C. b, e   D. a, c
29. With many dams built across rivers, fish will_______
A. find more places to lay their eggs        B. feed on more sediment rich in nutrients
C. face a more dangerous living habitat    D. find it easier to deal with the rise of water
30. How can dams influence the cities like Shanghai?
A. Its entire system will be influenced.     B. It will lie below sea level in the future
C. The rainy season will last longer.       D. Rich soils will be washed away
31. What does the text mainly talk about?
A. Environmental benefits of dams    B. Cultural loss of dams
C. Economical gain of dams          D. Environmental loss of dams.
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