题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:困难
辽宁省协作校2019-2020学年高二下学期期中考试英语试题(外研)
A lot of us lose life's tough situations by mounting a frontal attack when a touch of humor might well enable us to chalk up a win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, Sam, who hit a traffic jam on the way to work. Although there was a good reason for Sam's constant lateness-serious illness at home, he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn't work any longer. His boss was probably already pacing up and down with a dismissal speech prepared.
He was. Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room. Sam's boss approached him. Suddenly, Sam reached out his hand. "How do you do!" he said. "I' m Sam Maynard. I'm applying for a job which I understand became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?" The room exploded in laughter. The boss smiled and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard saved his job with the only tool that could win a laugh.
Here is another example. An English hostess was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests. She had asked her son to serve a large roast turkey. The boy only succeeded in dropping the bird onto the dining-room floor. Moving only her head, the hostess smiled at her son, "No harm, Daniel," she said, "just pick it up and take it back to the kitchen", she said clearly so he would think about what she was saying and bring in the other one. Some humorous words changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a ton of fun.
Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected(忽视)means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for making up differences, saying sorry, saying no, criticizing, and getting the other person to do what you want without his losing face. Also, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people are in any other places.
Of course, humor is often more than a laughing matter. In its potent guises(有效的伪装), it has a Trojan-horse(特洛伊木马)nature: no one goes on guard against a laugh; we let it in because it looks like a little wooden toy. Once inside, however, it can turn a city to reform, to rebellion(反抗), to resistance.
试题篮