考研听力基本功4 Passage3

Humor,which ought to give rise to only the most light-hearted and gay feeling
[00:05.72]can often stir to up vehemence¹ and animosit
[00:10.40]Evidently it is dearer to us than we realiz
[00:15.07]Men will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that they have no sense of humo
[00:23.22]A man will admit to being a coward or a liar² or a thief or a poor mechanic or a bad swimme
[00:30.90]but tell him he has a dreadful sense of humor and you might as well have slandered³ his mothe
[00:37.56]Even if he is civilized⁴ enough to pretend to make light of your statemen
[00:42.48]he will secretly believe that he has not only a good sense of humor but one superior to mos
[00:50.68]He has,in other words,a completely blind spot on the subjec
[00:55.82]This is all the more surprising when you consider that not one man in ten million can give you any kind of intelligent answer as to what humor is or why he laughs.

1 vehemence   

n.热切；激烈；愤怒

参考例句：

• The attack increased in vehemence.进攻越来越猛烈。
• She was astonished at his vehemence.她对他的激昂感到惊讶。

2 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

3 slandered   

造谣中伤( slander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She slandered him behind his back. 她在背地里对他造谣中伤。
• He was basely slandered by his enemies. 他受到仇敌卑鄙的诋毁。

4 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为