题文
A lot of us lose life’s tough battles by starting a frontal(正面的) attack—when a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, who hit a traffic jam on his way to work shortly after receiving an ultimatum(最后通牒) about being late on the job. Although there was a good reason for Sam’s a being late—serious illness at home—he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn’t work any longer. His supervisor was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.Yes, the boss was, Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room(更衣室); everyone was hard at work. Sam’s supervisor came up to him. Suddenly, Sam forced a grin and stretched out his hand. “How do you do!” he said. “I’m Sam Maynard. I’m applying for a job. Which, I understand, became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?”
The room exploded in laughter. The supervisor clamped off a smile and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard had saved his job—with the only tool that could win, a laugh.
Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected(忽略), means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no”, criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialog may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians(喜剧演员) on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance(忍受力) than people in any other forum.
小题1:Why was Sam late for his job?A．Because he was ill.B．Because he got up late.C．Because he was caught in a traffic jam.D．He was busy applying for a new job.小题2:The main idea of this passage is ________. A．Sam Maynard saved his job with humorB．humor is important in our livesC．early bird gets the wormD．humor can solve racial discriminations小题3:The phrase “clamped off” in Paragraph 3 means ________.A．tried to hold backB．tried to setC．chargedD．gave out小题4:Which of the following statements can we infer from the passage?A．Many lose life’s battles for they are lacking in a sense of humor.B．It wasn’t the first time that Sam came late for his work.C．Sam was supposed to come to his office at 8:30.D．Humor is the most effective way of solving problems. 题型：未知难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:C
小题2:B
小题3:A
小题4:B
解析
本文通过一个小故事讲述了幽默的重要性。
小题1:细节题。根据who hit a traffic jam on his way to work可知，他迟到的原因是他碰上了交通堵塞。
小题2:主旨题。根据短文第 1 句是主题句 A lot of us lose life’s tough battles by starting a frontal(正面的) attack — when a touch of humor might well enable us to win (在人生很多场激烈的争斗中，我们如果与人硬碰硬正面交锋的话，可能败得一塌糊涂。而幽默往往使我们反败为胜)和文章第 4 段第 1 句，可知整篇短文讲的是幽默的重要性。
小题3:词义猜测题。前面提到老板连辞退他的话都想好了，而Sam开的这个玩笑使人们哄堂大笑。而老板为了树立他的威严，仍然强忍住笑。故答案为A。
小题4:推断题。根据 …shortly after receiving an ultimatum(最后通牒) about being late on the job 我们可以了解到，Sam不止一次上班迟到了。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“A lot of us lose lif.....”主要考查你对 [人生感悟类阅读 ]考点的理解。人生感悟类阅读
人生感悟类阅读的概念：
生活感悟类的文章就是指能给人心灵以启迪，使人从中受到教育的文章。这类文章的体裁可以是记叙文，如生活中一些感人故事或情感故事，有点类似心灵鸡汤一样的短文。
生活感悟类阅读解题指导：
一、文章特点：
生活感悟类的文章就是指能给人心灵以启迪，使人从中受到教育的文章。这类文章的体裁可以是记叙文，如生活中一些感人故事或情感故事，有点类似心灵鸡汤一样的短文。有时故事的结尾会有一句“点睛之笔”，点出全文的中心思想，就像《伊索寓言》里的寓言一样。还可能是夹叙夹议的哲理散文或生活随笔。散文随笔通常会阐述一种朴素易懂，耳熟能详的人生道理或宝贵品质。文章的结构和议论文类似，一般是总分总或总分结构。每段首句或尾句为主题句（论点），其它句子围绕主题展开论述（论据），论证方法多种多样，或举例，或引用名言，或正反对照等。
二、解题技巧：
针对生活感悟类文章的特点，做这类文章的完形填空时，要特别注意以下几点：
1、重点理解全文的首句。如果是记叙文，找出when，where，who，what等基本要素。如果是散文随笔，充分理解文章的中心句—全文的主题。
2、阅读全文的结尾段或结尾句，有助于理解文章所阐述或蕴含的哲理、感悟或忠告等。
3、调动自己的背景知识和情感。这类文章不会讲大道理也不会涉及到一些很专业的知识技术领域，而是谈一些小事和简单的道理，所以如果读者能和作者产生感情上的共鸣，读者会更好地把握作者的意图态度，从而提高做题的准确度。因此，考生在平时要做一个有心人，即用心去感悟生活中发生的小事，思考人生的一些基本道理，多阅读一些短小精悍的美文，多写写自己的心情故事和对生活学习的感悟。只有平时多用心，做题时才能调动自己的背景知识和情感。
