Unit 3 A taste of English humour Ⅰ.阅读理解(2017·成都外国语学校高三模拟)Something that has always interested me about Abraham Lincoln is, not surprisingly, his sense of humor. As far as I can tell, he's the first American President to have one.That's because the term “sense of humor” really wasn't in common usage until the eighteensixties and seventies. In the eighteenforties and fifties, it was called “the sense of the ridiculous”， and didn't have the positive connotations(隐含意义)that “sense of humor” has today. Back then, what was ridiculous was what invited ridicule(讥笑). Funniness and cruelty went hand in hand. Of course, they still do a lot of arminarm walking in our day as well.Lincoln's humor was very different, because, for one thing, it was actually “humor”as what the word meant in his time. We don't make the distinction between “wit(风趣)” and “humor” anymore; but in the nineteenth century people did. Wit was unpleasant and offensive while humor was pleasant and sympathetic. It's the difference we note now when we distinguish between “laughing with” and “laughing at”. Lincoln was much more about “laughing with” than “laughing at”. And when “laughing at”， it was often himself he was teasing.In the famous LincolnDouglas debates, when Douglas accused Lincoln of b eing twofaced, Lincoln replied, referencing his plain looking, “Honestly, if I were twofaced, would I be showing you this_one？” And, in a way, Lincoln's face itself tells us much about his sense of humor.You can comb through thousands of photographs of politicians, soldiers, and the like from Lincoln's time and not find a single smile.True, the long exposures(曝光)required for photographs of that time made smiling difficult. Yet Lincoln alone, as far as I can tell, overcame that difficulty.Interestingly, while having a sense of humor, or at least the appearance of one provided by comedy writers has become a necessary characteristic for an American President in our time, in the nineteenth century, too much humor was considered problem. And that was the c ase for Lincoln. A journalist covering the LincolnDouglas debates commented that “I could not take a real personal liking to the man, owing to an inborn weakness... that he was extremely fond of jokes, anecdotes and stories.”1．We can infer from Paragraph 2 that ________.A．the American President could influence the use of EnglishB．the term “sense of humor” wasn't invented until the 1860sC．what is funny to someone might be offensive to someone elseD．the concept of humor remains the same despite the passing of time2．The underlined words “this one” in Paragraph 4 refer to “________”．A．Lincoln's unattractive faceB．Lincoln's sense of humorC．the debate they were havingD．cruelty that went with funniness3．We rarely see people from Lincoln's time wear smile in their photos because ________.A．being humorous was considered inappropriateB．they found it quite funny to smile before cameraC．not smiling for photographs was the fashionD．photography technology then was not advanced4．What might the writer think of the journalist covering the LincolnDouglas debates?A．His comment accurately reflected his time.B．He created a false picture of Lincoln.C．He was prejudiced and selfcentered.D．He was brave to point out Lincoln's weakness.答案与解析本文主要介绍了林肯的幽默。
