Something that has always interested me about Abraham Lincoln is.not surprisingl

Something that has always interested me about AbrahamLincoln is，not surprisingly，his sense of humor. As far as I can tell，he's the first American President to have one．

    That's because the term“sense ofhumor” really wasn't in common usage until the eighteen-sixties and seventies．In the eighteen-forties and fifties，it was called“the sense of the ridiculous," anddidn't have the positive connotations（隐含意义）that“senseof humor" has today. Back then，what wasridiculous was what invited ridicule（讥笑）．Funninessand cruelty went hand in hand．Of course，they still do a lot of arm-in-arm walking in our dayas well．

    Lincoln’s humor was very differentbecause，for one thing，it wasactually "humor＂as what the word meant in his time. Wedon't make the distinction between "wit（风趣）”and"humor”anymore; but in the nineteenth century people did．Wit was unpleasant and offensive while humor waspleasant and sympathetic．It’s the difference we note now when wedistinguish between "laughing with”and“laughing at．”Lincoln was much more about "laughing with”than "laughingat．”And when“laughing at，”it was often himself he was teasing.

    In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates，when Douglas accused Lincoln of being two-faced，Lincoln replied，referencinghis plain looking，“Honestly，if Iwere two-faced，would I be showing you this one？”And，in a way，Lincoln's face itself tells us much about his sense ofhumor．

    You can comb through thousands ofphotographs of politicians，soldiers，and the like from Lincoln's time and not find a singlesmile．

    True, the long exposures（曝光）required for photographs of that time made smiling difficult．Yet Lincoln alone，as far as Ican tell，overcame that difficulty.

    Interestingly, while having a senseof humor，or at least the appearance of one providedby comedy writers has become a necessary characteristic for an AmericanPresident in our time，in the nineteenth century，too much humor was considered problem.  And thatwas the case for Lincoln．A journalist covering the Lincoln-Douglasdebates commented that“I could not take a real personal liking to the man，owing to an inborn weakness. . .that he was extremely,fond of jokes，anecdotes，andstories．”

1.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that＿＿

A .the American President could influence the use ofEnglish

B. the term "sense of humor”wasn't invented untilthe 1860s

C .what is funny to someone might be offensive tosomeone else

D. the concept of humor remains the same despite thepassing of time

2.The underlined words“this one”in Paragraph 4 referto＿＿．

A. Lincoln's unattractive face

B. Lincoln's sense of humor

C. the debate they were having

D.cruelty that went with funniness

3.We rarely see people from Lincoln's time wear smilein their photos because＿．

A. being humorous was considered inappropriate

B. they found it quite funny to smile before camera

C. not smiling for photographs was the fashion

D. photography technology then was not advanced

4.What might the writer think of the journalistcovering the Lincoln-Douglas debates？

A. His comment accurately reflected his time

B. He created a false picture of Lincoln

C. He was prejudiced and self-centered

D. He was brave to point out Lincoln's weakness

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.A

【解析】

试题