"To be or not to be".Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world.They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only for himself but for every thinking man and woman.To be or not to be----to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely.A philosopher once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally.He answered it by saying, "I think, therefore I am." But the best definition of existence I ever saw was one written by another philosopher who said, "To be is to be in relations." If this is true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive.To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity of our relations.Unfortunately, we are so constituted that we get to love our routine.But other than our regular occupation, how much are we alive? If you are interested only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent.So far as other things are concerned----poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs----you are dead. On the contrary, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest----even more, a new accomplishment----you increase your power of life.No one who is deeply interested in different kinds of subjects can remain unhappy.The real is the person who has lost interest. Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend.But we gain new life by contacts with new friends, and new ideas and thoughts, too.Where your thoughts are, there will be your life also.If your thoughts are limited only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to your narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow restricted life.But if you are interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly... What is the main idea of the passage? A) To be or not to be, that is a question. B) I think, therefore I am. C) To be is to be in relations. D) A man dies as often as he loses a friend.
C
(Question)
While most people consider that laughter is one of the nature's great treatments for a whole range of mental and physical diseases, it is still a serious scientific subject that researchers are trying to figure out. "Laughter is social." says Robert R. Provine, author of the book "Laughter: A Scientific Investigation", who has been studying laughter for decades. "Almost all people laugh 'ha-ha-ha' basically the same way. Whether you speak Mandarin, French or English, everyone will understand laughter. There is a pattern generator in our brain that produces this sound. Laughing is also a good way of communicating. Babies laugh long before they speak. No one teaches them how to laugh. They just do it. People may laugh at a prank on April Fools' day. But surprisingly, only 10 to 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke. Laughter is mostly about social responses rather than reaction to a joke. Deaf people laugh without hearing and people on cell phones laugh without seeing, which shows that laughter isn't dependent on a single sense but on social interactions. And laughter is not just a human thing. Chimps tickle each other and even laugh when another chimp pretends to tickle them. Jaak Panksepp studies rats that laugh when he tickles them. It turns out rats love to be tickled. They return again and again to the hands of researchers tickling them, Panksepp's video shows. By studying rats, scientists can figure out what's going on in the brain during laughter. It has been found that laughter in rats produces a chemical that acts as an antidepressant and anxiety-reducer. Scientists think the same thing probably happens in humans, too. This would give doctors a new chemical target in the brain in their effort to develop drugs that fight depression and anxiety in people. Even so, laughter itself has not been proved to be the best medicine, experts said. "No study has shown that laughter produces a direct health benefit," Provine said, "largely because it's hard to separate laughter from just... Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? A) Laughter depends on many senses. B) Laughter is a social response shared by all creatures. C) If you speak different languages, you will laugh differently. D) A new medicine has been developed based on the laughter research.
(Answer)
B
The subject of this year's Kunming International Expo is "man and nature walking hand in hand into the 21stCentury". When theprefix = st1 /UKwas asked to take part, it seemed natural to build a garden. Now theBritishGardenwill be a central part when Expo opens on May 1. David Patterson , the Curator of the Department of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, is leading the team now _ .The Royal Botanic Gardens were chosen for a very good reason. They have the largest collection of Chinese plants in the world outside China. "Ever since people in Britainstarted gardening for pleasure they have used Chinese plants," Patterson told English Corner. "There are probably Chinese flowers in nearly every garden inBritain. This is a good chance to give something back." The garden has been carefully designed to mix traditional British skills with the local Chinese environment. David Patterson describes the garden as "formal but gentle". It contains a raised flower bed, a summer house and a lot of local trees. The garden is contained behind a wall of local, yellow stone. It is intended to be a place of serious thinking and quiet enjoyment. "You could say that we've painted a picture," said David Patterson. "And we have designed the garden to continue for a long time, so that the people of Kunmingwill be able to enjoy it long after the Expo is over." The passage is mainly _ . A) an introduction to the British Garden B) an explanation of the design of theBritishGarden C) a high praise for the Chinese gardening D) a short talk on this year's Kunming International Expo
A