If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it’s the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote “If at first you don’t succeed, give up" or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pickout a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor.
41. To make your humor work, you should .
[A] take advantage of different kinds of audience.
[B] make fun of the disorganized people.
[C] address different problems to different people.
[D] show sympathy for your listeners.
[答案] C
[解题思路]
本题对应信息在第一段第三句话“Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different”(根据与你谈话对象的不同，问题也应有所不同)，因此正确答案为C。要注意address这个词在原文和选项中的用法是不同的：原文中address s[B]意思是“对某人讲话”，而选项中address problems是“处理问题”的意思。A选项中的“take advantage of”的意思是“利用”，与原文意思相左。B选项的“make fun of”与原文第一段中第四句话的refer to, comment on意思不同，原文并没有取消的意思。而D选项中的show sympathy of(同情)与原文中的be in sympathy with(赞同、支持)的意思也不同，因此这三项都可以排除。
