文档介绍：考研英语原版英文文章阅读、单词积累及长难句解析(
年考研英语真题完形填空文章词汇拓展与长难句分析
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle viewed laughter as “a bodily exercise precious to health.”
But despite some claims to the contrary, laughing probably has little influence on physical fitness.
Laughter does produce short-term changes in the function of the heart and its blood vessels,
boosting heart rate and oxygen consumption. But because hard laughter is difficult to sustain, a
good laugh is unlikely to have measurable benefits the way, say, walking or jogging does.
In fact, instead of straining muscles to build them, as exercise does, laughter apparently
plishes the opposite. Studies dating back to the 1930s indicate that laughter relaxes
muscles, decreasing muscle tone for up to 45 minutes after the laugh dies down.
Such bodily reaction might conceivably help moderate the effects of psychological stress. After
all, the act of laughing probably does produce other types of physical feedback that improve an
individual’s emotional state. According to one classical theory of emotion, our feelings are
partially rooted in physical reactions. It was argued at the end of the 19th century that humans do
not cry because they are sad but that they e sad when the tears begin to flow.
Although sadness also precedes tears, evidence suggests that emotions can flow from muscular
responses. In an