Question

An old English saying goes, “Laughter is the best medicine.” One person who certainly would have agreed with this is Norman Cousins.

Norman Cousins was the editor of a magazine called “Saturday Review” for almost forty years. He also wrote and spoke about world peace and anti-nuclear(反核的) and anti-war issues (問題). And he traveled to many different countries to share his ideas.

In the 1960s, after returning to the United States from a busy and tiring trip to Europe, Mr. Cousins got sick. He discovered he had a rare disease, known as ankylosing spondylitis, which caused the joint between his bones to stiff(僵硬的).

In less than a week after he got sick, he could not stand. Every move that he made was painful. He was not able to sleep at night. The doctors told Mr. Cousins that they did not know how to cure his illness and he might never get over(擺脫) it. Mr. Cousins, however, refused to stop hope.

Mr. Cousins thought that illness could be caused by unhappy thoughts. He did not want to take medicine to cure himself. Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness.

He began to experiment on himself while still in that hospital by watching comedy(喜劇) shows on TV. Mr. Quickly found that ten minutes of real laughter during the day gave him two hours of pain-free(無痛苦的) sleep at night.

Deciding that the doctors could not help him, Mr. Cousins left the hospital and checked into(入住) a hotel room where he could continue his experiments with laughter. For eight days, Mr. Cousins rested in the hotel room watching comedy show on TV, reading amusing books, and sleeping whenever he felt tired. Within three weeks, he felt well enough to take a holiday to Puerto Rico where he began running on the beach for exercise.

After a few months, Mr. Cousins was able to carry on his work. He had laughed himself back to good health.

1.What is NOT true about the underlined words “ankylosing spondylitis”?

A. It is uncommon. B. It makes walking difficult.

C. It is easily cured. D. It is painful.

2.What did the doctors think about Mr. Cousins’ disease?

A. It could be cured if he slept more. B. It mightnot be cured.

C. It could be cured by taking medicine. D. It would take a week to get over it.

3.What did Mr. Cousins think cured him?

A. Laughter. B. Running on the beach.

C. Medicine. D. Taking a holiday.

4.What did Mr. Cousins do after he got better?

A. He went back to the hospital. B. He continued his job.

C. He wrote amusing books. D. He went on relaxing by taking a holiday

5.What is the main topic of the passage?

A. funny story. B. An interesting cure.

C. An amazing life D. Why people laugh.

Answer 1