What Makes Us Laugh? - C1 English Reading Test — Exercise 1

Question 1

Why does the writer use the lift example in the opening paragraph?

Accepted Answer

To demonstrate that humour can result from an unexpectedly inappropriate style of language.

Answer

To show that strangers often use jokes to avoid speaking in lifts.

Answer

To argue that formal language is naturally funnier than informal language.

Question 2

According to the second paragraph, when is a broken rule most likely to seem funny?

Accepted Answer

When the event is surprising but is not interpreted as a genuine threat.

Answer

When the audience does not notice that any rule has been broken.

Answer

When the consequences are serious but happen to an unpopular person.

Question 3

What does the writer mean by saying that laughter can be 'the sound of a mental alarm being switched off'?

Accepted Answer

People laugh because a tense situation is suddenly understood to be harmless.

Answer

Laughter prevents people from remembering embarrassing experiences accurately.

Answer

Comedians use loud noises to interrupt an audience's expectations.

Question 4

What is the main point of the example about the long meeting?

Accepted Answer

Laughter can communicate a shared attitude while making criticism less direct.

Answer

Exaggerated jokes are mainly used to criticise managers.

Answer

A remark does not need to be original in order to win agreement.

Question 5

Why, according to the writer, does explaining an inside joke usually fail?

Accepted Answer

The explanation cannot give an outsider the shared experience on which the humour depends.

Answer

Inside jokes normally depend on vocabulary that outsiders are unable to learn.

Answer

Members of a group deliberately provide outsiders with incorrect explanations.

Question 6

Which statement best represents the writer's view in the final two paragraphs?

Accepted Answer

Effective humour combines surprise, safety and shared understanding while remaining sensitive to social context.

Answer

A joke should be judged only by the intention of the person who tells it.

Answer

The main value of humour is that it offers permanent solutions to uncomfortable situations.