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  3. What else can so enjoyably exercise the heart and boost the mood? What else can serve so well as both a social signal and a conv

What else can so enjoyably exercise the heart and boost the mood? What else can serve so well as both a social signal and a conv

admin2020-03-31  62
问题     What else can so enjoyably exercise the heart and boost the mood? What else can serve so well as both a social signal and a conversational lubricant? What else can bond parents to children, siblings to one another and teach powerful lessons about staying alive in a tooth-and-claw world? Laughter may seem like little more than evolution’s whoopee cushion, but if scientists studying it are right, we owe it an awful lot of thanks for some surprisingly serious things.
    One thing researchers notice about laughter is that it’s something we seldom do alone. "Laughter is 30 times more frequent in social than solitary situations," says Robert Pro vine, psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. That’s not just because it’s devilishly hard to tell yourself a joke and convincingly respond, "No, no, I really haven’t heard that one before." Rather, it’s because most of the time laughter is more a tool of communication than anything else.
    Typically, Provine says, a laugh is what he calls social play vocalization, something we use instinctively to send disarming cues, hold a listener’s attention and offer—or seek—encouragement to go on. "In conversation," he says, "speakers are often more likely to laugh than listeners."
    In the course of his research, Provine has gone on discreet tours of his campus eavesdropping on the kinds of remarks speakers make before laughter occurs. Among the nonsidesplitters he has collected are "I’ve gotta go now," "I see your point" and the always rib tickling "I’ll see you guys later." In each case, the laughter seemed merely a bit of audible punctuation.
    Whether or not what the speaker says is genuinely funny, any reciprocal laughter from the listener serves as a powerful reward pellet, reinforcing the direction of the conversation. It also flatters the speaker, which can be a potent card to play when a conversation becomes flirtatious. "Women laugh most in the presence of men they find attractive," Provine says. "Men are the leading laugh getters; women are the leading laughers."
    Just why the pleasure we take in wordplay or pratfalls elicits the noise we recognize as laughter is uncertain, but Provine says it has roots in the physical play of other primates. The human ha-ha, he believes, is very similar to the simian pant-pant, something that occurs a lot when apes wrestle and chase. "Laughter is basically the sound of labored breathing," he says.
    While laughing adds a level of communication to conversation, it can also create a wordless bond across a room. As much as we might dread an attack of the giggles in the middle of a poetry reading or a eulogy, it can also be a lot of subversive fun—particularly when the bug spreads to the person sitting next to you.
In what sense can laughter be "subversive fun"?
选项 A、It can be flirtatious, or related to wordplay or to pratfalls.
B、It can be a secret form of communication at a serious occasion.
C、It is a form of fun that doesn’t require words.
D、It is something that can spread from one person to another.
答案B
解析 属推断题。末段指出：笑可以增强谈话交流的效果，它还可以建立谈话者之间一种无言的联系。但就像我们担心诗歌朗诵过程中有人咯咯地笑一样，笑也可能会坏事。所以推知答案为B“笑在严肃场合可以作为一种隐秘的交流方式”。其他选项答非所问。
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