Not all think laughter is the best medicine, but it seems to help.So scientists carried on a new study of diabetes patients who were given a good dose of humor for a year to prove it. Researchers divide 20 high-risk diabetic patients into two groups.Both groups were given standard diabetes medicine.Group L viewed 30 minutes of humor of their choice, while Group C, the control group, did not.This went on for a year of treatments. By two months into the study, the patients in the laughter group had lower level of the hormones epinephrine , considered to cause stress, which is known to be deadly.After the 12 months, _ rises 26 percent in Group L but only 3 percent in Group C.In another measure, C-reactive proteins, a maker of heart disease, drop 66 percent in the laughter group but only 26 percent in the control group. "The best doctors believe that there is a physical good brought about by the positive emotion, happy laughter," said study leader Lee Berk of Loma Linda University.And other research has found that humor makes us more hopeful.Still, more study is needed, Berk said.The research by Berk found that humor can bring about similar changes in body chemistry, which was proved in the new study.The research result will be presented this month at the meeting in the US.Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine shows that laughter causes the inner lining of blood vessels to expand, increasing blood flow in a way thought to be healthy. "Lifestyle choices have an important effect on health and these are choices which we and patients should pay attention to, rather than prevention and treatment," Berk said in a statement this week. In what way does laughter benefit people's health? A) Blood is made thick by laughter. B) Laughter makes blood vessels thin. C) Laughter increases blood pressure. D) Laughter makes blood flow fast.
D
Do we think only with the brain? Hardly. The brain is like a telephone exchange. It is the switchboard, but not the whole system. Its function is to receive incoming signals, make proper connections, and send the messages through to their destination. For efficient service, the body must function as a whole. But where is the "mind"? Is it in the brain or perhaps in the nervous system? After all, can we say that the mind is in any particular place? It is not a thing, like a leg, or even the brain. It is a function, an activity. Aristotle, twenty-three hundred years ago, observed that the mind was to the body what cutting was to the ax. When the ax is not in use, there is no cutting. So it is with the mind. "Mind," said Charles H. Woolbert, "is what the body is doing." If this activity is necessary for thinking, it is also necessary for carrying thought from one person to another. Observe how people go about the business of ordinary conversation. If you have never done this carefully, you have a surprise in store, for good conversationalists are almost constantly in motion. Their heads are continually nodding and shaking sometimes so vigorously that you wonder how their necks can stand the strain. Even the legs and feet are active. As for the hands and arms, they are seldom still for more than a few seconds at a time. These people, remember, are not making speeches. They are only common people trying to make others understand what they have in mind. They are not conscious of movement. Their speech is not studies. They are just human creatures in a human environment, trying to adapt themselves to a social situation. Yet they converse, not only with oral language, but with visible actions that involve practically every muscle in the body. In short, because people really think all over, a speaker must talk all over if he succeeds in making people think. Which of the following is the best title for the passage? A) Bodily Communication B) Spoken Language C) Bodily Actions D) Conversations
A
After serving as a ski guide in Utah's back country for more than two decades, a Park City woman is being recognized by Outside Magazine as 2015's Best Ski Guide. Deb Lovci grew up in Colorado and began skiing when she was five years old. Later she moved to Utah and fell in love with the back country of Wasatch Mountains. Lovci has now served as a Ski Utah Interconnect guide for 27 years. "Anything that you slide on snow, I'm in love with, " she said. Lovci leads ski tours through the back country of six different resorts located in the Wasatch Mountains. Lovci typically takes a group of eight to ten people on a ski tour each day, and on average, she takes 300 customers on tours through the back country each season. She loves showing off Utah's wilderness. "I love the back country," she said. "I love the snow science behind it. I love the safety ... I just love it." Along with leading ski tours, Lovci is passionate about anything related to activities. She also runs a bed-and-breakfast in Park City, the Old Town Guest House. As " _ ", she also runs Alpine skis, Nordic skis competitively, and snowboards, and leads mountain bike tours during the summer. Outside Magazine selected five travel guides in various outdoor fields to name as the best in their Best of Travel April issue. Lovci said she was unexpectedly cheerful when she was selected as 2015's Best Ski Guide by Outside Magazine. "We all work really hard in what we do and we love it and it's really nice to get acknowledged," she said. "I work with a lot of excellent guides and the award could have gone to anybody -- any one of us. I often recall my ski experiences which were fearful at the beginning, but they helped me achieve a success." In a news release, Ski Utah director of communications, Paul Marshall said, "Deb Lovci is one of the most enthusiastic, focused, knowledgeable guides in the industry. Without her as the forefront of our Interconnect Tour, we would not have the success we have. She has been an enthusiastic part of the Interconnect Tour... What helped Deb Lovci to be selected as 2015's Best Ski Guide? A) Her being ready for any ski risks. B) Her love for Utah's wilderness and her ski experiences. C) Her dreaming of the best ski job on the planet. D) Her gender and age.
B