英语听力精选进阶版 6468（在线收听）

Let me tell you a joke: which aspect of the English language are boxers best at? Don't you know? It's punch-uation (as in punctuation!)

Funny? Well, maybe you'd better not laugh too hard. According to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, laughter isn't always the best medicine. Sometimes it can even be harmful.

Professor Robin Ferner from the University of Birmingham, one of the authors of the study, found that bad things could happen to people who laughed too much. He says: "We found people with heart rhythm disturbance which had stopped their heart, we found people who had fainted, we found people whose gullets had burst, and we found people who'd dislocated their jaws or burst their lungs."

It seems that laughing can be no laughing matter. But it's not all doom and gloom. Professor Ferner says there are benefits to laughing… when you want to lose weight, for example. Yes, that's right: laugh and be slimmer!

Professor Ferner explains that: "You use energy when you laugh, you move your diaphragm, you expand your lungs, and both those things can be helpful."

According to the research, laughing for a quarter of an hour can burn up to 40 calories, and if you laughed all day you'd use up about 2,000 calories, which is what most people consume in a day. But don't do that or you might end up with a painful jaw. Ouch! Or you might find people looking at you in a funny way.

There's also one kind of laughter, described by the authors as "pathological", which can be caused by medical disorders such as cerebral tumours and multiple sclerosis.

But I don't want to finish this article leaving you feeling desperate. Laughter comes naturally for most of us. Babies begin to laugh at around 3-6 months.

So give in to your sense of humour and… keep smiling. Life is short anyway.

Quiz 测验

1. According to the study, what happened to some people's lungs when they laughed?

They burst.

2. How many calories can you use if you laugh for half a day?

About 1,000. The research says if you laughed all day you'd use up about 2,000.

3. What do you call laughter caused by illness?

Pathological laughter.

4. When do babies start to laugh?

Between 3-6 months old.

5. Which word is used to mean 'a good effect arising from something'?

Benefit.

Glossary 词汇表

medicine 药品

harmful 有害的

to faint 晕倒

gullet 食道、食管

to dislocate 使（骨头、关节）脱位

jaw 下颚

(to be) no laughing matter 不是闹着玩的事情

it's not all doom and gloom 绝非那么悲观

to lose weight 减肥

diaphragm 横隔膜

painful 疼痛的

ouch （感叹语）哎哟

funny (here: strange) 稀奇的

pathological 由疾病引起的

cerebral tumour 脑肿瘤

multiple sclerosis 多发性硬化症

desperate 绝望的

sense of humour 幽默感