A good joke can be the hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language. As a recent article in The Guardian newspaper noted, “There's more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar.”

    Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an unbelievable ice-breaker for a language learner eager to form friendships with native speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling that I could never break through,” Hannah Ashley, a public relations account manager in London, who once studied Spanish in Madrid, told The Guardian, “I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”

    In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way. Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn't think his. Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.

    In Australia, meanwhile many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao, who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn't get, I just laughed along.”

    In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while British people use irony (反话)—basically, saying something they don't mean to make a joke—every day, people in the US don't see the point of using it so often. “British jokes tend to be more subtle and dark, while American jokes are more obvious with their meanings, a bit like Americans themselves,” he wrote in The Guardian.

    Watson entered Mr. Smith's office. The boss was a hard man. He fired people who didn't do well without giving them a second chance.

    “Watson, ” said Mr. Smith, “this past year your department hasn't earned money. We're going to drop that department. It's finished. I'm sorry, —but you'll have to go.” “But, sir—if I just had a little more time. For the moment I need the job to keep my son at Riverside School.”

    “What's that!” said the boss. “Riverside! I didn't know you had a boy there. That's an expensive school for a man with your salary.”

    “I know, sir. But he likes it there so much！He's a star athlete and the best boxer in the school. The boys call him Champ (冠军) there.”

    The boss sat perfectly still for a long time—a faraway (恍惚的) look in his eyes. Then, suddenly, he said, “We've got to close your department, Watson. But you'll take over a new job in another department. It means longer hours—maybe more pay. Now get out. You're here for life.”

    Watson got out, with surprise on his face. Then the boss took a letter from the top drawer of his desk. It was Herbie's last letter from Riverside School—written a few days before he died. He had read it over and over again with sick pain. The letter read:

    I can't say the boys here are any nicer to me than the others were. I guess it's the same everywhere when you're a cripple (跛脚的人).

    But don't worry about me, Dad. They've got a good chemistry department here. And there's one boy here who is really great. He's a track star and boxing champ and just tops in chemistry. The boys call him Champ. He made them stop throwing my books around. And he knocked a boy down who hit me. He is the best friend I ever had. Dad, when I grow up, I want to do something for Champ. Something big—that he won't even know about.

Your son

Herbie

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    Little black taxis, often run-down and falling apart from decades of use, have for a long time been a main feature of Cairo's chaotic urban landscape. But their days may be numbered, thanks to a new taxi replacement programme aimed at knocking out older, potentially unsafe vehicles.

    The government-sponsored action, launched earlier this year, allows drivers of taxis 20 years or older, mostly Fiats and Peugeots, to trade their cars for shiny new all-white ones at generous rates of financing. Drivers can choose between five different locally manufactured car models.

    According to officials, more than 11,000 brand new taxis, sporting trademark checked stripes on the sides, have already hit the streets of the capital, and they've been welcomed enthusiastically by passengers. Many people say that not only are the new taxis more comfortable, but they also make the streets of Cairo far more presentable. Furthermore, taxi fares have only increased by a small amount.

    The poor condition of most black and white taxis is almost legendary. Passengers often have to deal with windows and doors that do not open and close, and heavy, thick petrol gases. Air conditioning is unheard of. The new all-white taxis, meanwhile, are cleaner, more fuel-efficient and provide air conditioning on request. Furthermore, all the new taxis come equipped with functioning fare meters, which avoids arguments and sometimes fights with passengers!

    The government hopes to replace all of the capital's 40,000 elderly black cabs soon, but not everyone in Cairo will be happy to see them go. Hotel manager Ibrahim Al-Toukhy says that the old black cabs were weak and run-down, and maybe even a little dangerous, but they were part of the city, and part of Cairo's character.

    People with an impulsive(冲动的) personality refer to those who tend to do things without considering the possible dangers or problems first. According to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia, such people may be more likely to have food addiction. The study found that people exhibiting impulsive behavior weren't necessarily overweight, but impulsiveness was related to a direct relationship with food, and therefore, less healthy weight.

    Food addiction has been compared to addictive drug use. Studies have linked the dopamine (多巴胺) release that occurs after tasting delicious food to the dopamine release that happens when people consume other addictive substances.

    Impulsive behavior involves several personality traits (特点). Two of these traits, known as negative urgency and lack of perseverance, were particularly associated with food addiction and high BMI (身体质量指数) during the study.

    Negative urgency is characterized by the tendency to behave impulsively when experiencing negative emotions. Some people might drink alcohol or take drugs. For others, it could mean eating to feel better. Lack of perseverance is when a person has a hard time finishing hard or boring tasks. People with a lack of perseverance might have difficulty attempting to change addictive eating behavior, which could also cause obesity.

    "Impulsiveness might be one reason why some people eat in an addictive way despite motivation to lose weight," said Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, a clinical psychologist. He was involved in developing the Yale Food Addiction Scale in aid of those people. "We are theorizing that if food addiction is really a thing, then our measure, the Yale Food Addiction Scale, should be related to helping control impulsive action," said Gearhardt.

    Clinical psychologist Dr. James MacKillop, whose lab was conducting the study, believes that therapies(治疗，疗法)used to treat addictive drug behavior could help people who suffer from addictive eating habits.

    "Most of the programs for weight loss at this point focus on the most obvious things, which are clearly diet and exercise," MacKillop said. "It seems that managing strong desires to eat would naturally fit in with the skills a person would need to eat healthily."

Why read, and sometimes even write poetry? That question is not difficult to answer if we change the word poetry to songs. 

I sing when I feel good. When I sing my favourite songs, I feel even better. Sometimes when I am listening to music and to the song words, I feel that it was written for me. A good song always makes me feel something. There are songs that I sing in my head between classes and songs that I want to sing when the school bell rings by the end of the day. They help me get through the day. 

They are like bright and warm colours in the middle of greys and shades. I like songs about love and friendship. The extraordinary thing is that my feelings are more special when I sing my favourite songs in English.  

I also like reading. I used to avoid poetry until an e-friend told me I should recite poems and not look up the meaning of the words. Poetry uses many difficult words and idioms, but the best thing is to just forget about them. In the beginning I felt quite strange. Now I always lock the door. Reading aloud gives you a strange feeling, but when you have some practice and fall into the rhythm, and the sounds of the words, it is really a special experience. 

I started with small poems, but now I think I most like long poems. I have different feelings with different poems. When I have had a bad day at school, I read Keats and forget everything. When I am sad I read Wordsworth by the light of a candle. When the poem is finished, I close the book and my sadness is gone. 

Everyone wants to be happy, but sometimes it can be difficult to feel happiness. That's because we have misunderstandings (误区) about happiness that can get in the way. The good news is that changing the way you think about happiness can help you to feel more joy each day.

Dr. Williamson from the charity Action for Happiness says, "Happiness is not about denying (拒绝承认) terrible feelings or being joyful all the time. It's about making the most of good times and learning to deal with bad times". Dr. Green believes that happiness comes when we feel good about who we ate and where our life is going.

Noticing when you feel happy and what you're doing or what's happening at that time can help you to find more happiness. For example, you may realize that working out a difficult puzzle makes you feel better than watching a favorite TV show. What helps you to feel happy might be different from what makes someone else happy.

Start a list of things that make you happy and keep adding to it as you discover new ones. Make time to do what you know makes you happy and remember that joy isn't only found in what you do for yourself—being kind and thoughtful to other people helps you feel happier, too.

There are misunderstandings that can make it hard to feel happy. One is that it's selfish (自私的) to be happy when other people are sad. However, stopping yourself from being happy doesn't make other people less sad. In fact, research has shown that happy people spread happiness to others. Another thing is thinking that you need lots of money and things to be happy. Studies have shown that when people win the lottery (彩票), they feel a short burst of happiness but they soon return to feeling the same as they did before they won. So it's important to notice the simple things that make you feel happy.