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Section B
Passage One
That particularly humorless boss or dour neighbor may not have a personality defect—but a different brain structure, research published Wednesday suggests. Scientists in Canada say they have found how brain damage can affect a person's sense of humor, adding to evidence that humor may be hard-wired into the brain.
A team at the University of Toronto and the Baycrest Center for Geriatric Care in Toronto found that people with damage to the right frontal lobe of their brains do not really "get" ironic jokes the way they should. Instead, they prefer slapstick humor. "We always thought of humor as an intangible part of our personality," Prathiba Shammi of the University of Toronto, a psychologist who worked on the study, said in a statement. "Now we know humor can be tested and scientifically scrutinized.”
Shammi compared the responses of 42 volunteers aged 18 to 70 to written and verbal jokes and cartoons. Half the group had a brain injury caused by stroke, tumor or surgical removal. People with damage to the right anterior frontal lobe were the least able to appreciate jokes and cartoons, Shammi reported in the journal Brain. Instead, they showed a preference for silly slapstick humor. Shammi gave an example of one of her jokes and the responses.
A teen-ager is being interviewed for a summer job. "You'll get $ 50 a week to start off," says his boss. "Then after a month you'll get a raise to $75 a week. "Volunteers were offered three possible punch lines:
a. "I'd like to take the job. When can I start?"
b. "That's great! I'll come back in a month."
c. "Hey boss, your nose is too big for your face!"
52. According to the passage a humorless person ______.
A) has a personality defect B) may have a different brain structure
C) has been injured in the brain D) does not understand any joke
53. Traditionally people believe that humor ______.
A) can be tested and scientifically scrutinized
B) has something to do with a person's brain
C) cannot be found in brain-damaged people
D) is an intangible part of a person's personality
54. Which of the following statement is true?
A) 42 volunteers were tested with both written and verbal jokes.
B) Only people with damage to the right anterior frontal lobe could not appreciate jokes.
C) Humorless people prefer silly slapstick humor.
D) The author had a humorless boss and a dour neighbor.
55. Which of the following statements about the volunteers in the experiment is NOT true?
A) The oldest volunteer was seventy years old.
B) They are tested with jokes both in written and spoken form.
C) The majority of the volunteers suffered from brain damage.
D) Comparatively people suffered from right anterior frontal lobe damage was most humorless.
56. Look at the joke in the last part of the passage. We can infer that most people with damage to the right anterior frontal lobe ______.
A) did not understand the joke B) would choose answer c
C) would choose answer b D) would choose answer a
