Teachers: Dincă Daniela – Aurelia; Andrei Maria Date:

Class: 12th grade

Name:

Unit 1: Comic Relief

Assessment Module

Read the following text:

What makes us laugh? Do men and women have the same sense of humour? How
does our sense of humour change over time? These and many more questions will be
answered over the next year by Laugh Lab, the first Internet experiment into the
psychology of humour. People will be invited to log onto the website
(www.laughlab.co.uk) to submit jokes, rate other people’s jokes and vote on the optimum
timing.
Throughout the year, Laugh Lab will also be examining a range of issues relating
to humour and who finds what funny – or not, as the case may be. The database will be
analysed to discover whether there are certain jokes that men have found consistently
funny which women have found equally unfunny, and vice versa. Our sense of humour
also changes with our age. Children tend to laugh at the old joke about detecting
elephants in refrigerators (“Look for their footprints in the butter.”) Teenagers tend to like
jokes involving the downfall of authority and certain adults have a surreal sense of
humour.
The British sense of humour is famous. Likewise, certain nations are notorious for
their lack of humour. Are these simply stereotypes? And how did laughter serve an
evolutionary function? Perhaps by uniting people in a shared moment of relief at the
passing of danger, or as an indication of trust in one’s companions. Humour has been
shown to be social. People are 30 times more likely to laugh at a joke in company than
alone. Canned laughter, first added to a television comedy show in 1950, had a huge
effect on audience reaction. And finally, good news for all who want to keep fit and have
fun. Laughing 100 times is equal to ten minutes exercising on a rowing machine.

(The Science of Laughter – BBC English)

I. Are the following statements about the passage true or false? Write T or F and correct
any false statements.
1. If you log onto Laugh Lab’s website, a scan will be taken of your brain.
2. On the website, you will listen to jokes as well as read them.

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 3. Teenagers like jokes about people falling over.
4. Having a good sense of humour is a British national characteristic.
5. Some nations are well-known for not having much of a sense of humour.
6. People without a sense of humour did not evolve.

6 items x 0.25 points each = 1.5 points

II. Explain in your own words what is meant by:

1. the punch line
2. a brain scan
3. canned laughter
4. a rowing machine
4 items x 0.25 points each = 1 point

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What points are made about the importance of timing when telling a joke?
2. How might laughter have helped in human evolution?
3. Why do you think we laugh so much more when we are in company?

3 items x 0.50 points each = 1.5 points

IV. Rephrase each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.

1. I’d like fried chicken and chips, please, waiter.

I’ll …………………………………………………………… .
2. We’ve arranged to spend next weekend in the country.
We’ll ………………………………………………………… .
3. I’m sure it won’t rain.
I don’t ………………………………………………………... .
4. Tom and Lucy are close to splitting up.
Tom and Lucy are on ………………………………………… .
5. By the time I go on holiday, I’ll have finished the work.
I’ll finish ………………………………………………………. .
6. We started living here ten years ago at the end of the month.
By the end of the month ……………………………………….. .
7. The plane is due to take off at 4.30.
The plane will be ………………………………………………. .
8. I don’t want to do it!
I won’t …………………………………………………………. .
9. By the time Christmas comes, my stay in London will be over.
I’ll have ………………………………………………………... .
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 10. I expect that’s Jim at the door.
That’ll …………………………………………………………. .

10 items x 0.20 points each = 2 points

V. Choose one of the following tasks:

a) Comment on the following quote: I make myself laugh at everything, for fear of having
to weep at it. (Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais) Use relevant arguments and
examples to support your ideas.
b) Write a short article about humour, suitable for publication in an international
student’s magazine.
The first paragraph should be about your national sense of humour. What sort of jokes do
people in your country find funny (political / surreal / satire / puns etc.)? Who are the
well-known comedians? Are there a lot of comedy shows on television? Give some
examples and tell a ‘typical’ joke.
The second paragraph should be about your personal sense of humour. What really
tickles your funny bone, and what does not amuse you at all? Give some examples of
stories or situations that make you laugh out loud. Can you draw any conclusions from
this?

3 points