4.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 incredible 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 Britons use irony-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.
67.The writer quoted the sentence,"There's more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar."to show thatD.
A.making jokes can help you make friends with native speakers
B.local jokes can help you to understand the local culture better.
C.understanding jokes requires a good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
D.to understand its jokes,you'd better learn the culture.
68.What can we guess about Hannah Ashley?D
A.She feels confident in using Spanish.
B.She believes that one had better rely on facts when speaking a foreign language.
C.She thinks that Spanish people do not have much of a sense of humor.
D.She feels that not being able to share their humor makes her seem boring to Spanish people.
69.Joe Wong is used as an example toA.
A.show that there are cultural differences in humor
B.prove that it can be difficult to translate jokes
C.suggest that bilingual people have no problems in making people laugh
D.show that the expressing ability affects the sense of humor
70.From the article,we can learn thatC.
A.jokes about sports are the most difficult ones for foreign people who have different cultural backgrounds
B.Americans might not be able to enjoy British jokes
C.not all English native speakers can understand English jokes easily
D.British people's dark jokes often make people uncomfortable.
分析 本文主要介紹了人們?cè)诶斫馔庹Z笑話方面存在的問題.作者認(rèn)為要想很好地理解一則笑話,人們必須了解笑話中所蘊(yùn)含的文化背景及講笑話的人的幽默方式.
解答 67.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.結(jié)合文章第二段Hannah Ashley說的話"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."可知,Hannah Ashley在西班牙時(shí),她從來不能像跟一個(gè)以英語為母語的人交流一樣與西班牙人進(jìn)行交流,她認(rèn)為對(duì)于西班牙人來講,她差不多是個(gè)相當(dāng)無趣的人,因?yàn)樗苤v的都是事實(shí),故選D.
68.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)第二段中的"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."可知Hannah Ashley在西班牙時(shí),她從來不能像跟一個(gè)以英語為母語的人交流一樣與西班牙人進(jìn)行交流.她認(rèn)為對(duì)于西班牙人來講,她差不多是個(gè)相當(dāng)無趣的人,因?yàn)樗苤v的都是事實(shí).故選D.
69.A 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)第三段中的"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."可知華裔美國(guó)喜劇演員喬黃在美國(guó)相當(dāng)?shù)爻雒,但是在中?guó)的演出卻不被中國(guó)人買賬,原因就在于中美幽默因?yàn)槲幕町惗嬖诓煌源鸢高xA.
70.C 細(xì)節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)第三段中的"In fact,most of the time,jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way."及第四段、第五段列舉的澳大利亞、英國(guó)和美國(guó)人在理解笑話方面的問題,可推知不是所有以英語為母語的人都能容易地理解英語笑話.故選C.
點(diǎn)評(píng) 本文考查細(xì)節(jié)題為主,細(xì)節(jié)題可以在文章中直接找到與答案有關(guān)的信息?或是其變體.搜查信息在閱讀中非常重要它包括理解作者在敘述某事時(shí)使用的具體事實(shí)、數(shù)據(jù)、圖表等細(xì)節(jié)信息.在一篇短文里大部分篇幅都屬于這類圍繞主體展開的細(xì)節(jié).做這類題一般采用尋讀法?即先讀題,然后帶著問題快速閱讀短文,找出與問題有關(guān)的詞語或句子,再對(duì)相關(guān)部分進(jìn)行分析對(duì)比,找出答案.