Laughter, the Best Medicine.
1 Much before medical science discovered it, Reader’s Digest came out with the prescription — Laughter is the Best Medicine. Newspapers and magazines which regularly run humour columns are, therefore, doing their bit to keep the readers in good health. Reading light articles, whether they be satirical, comic or just humorous, relieves the tedium othe f work-a-day world. Some pieces may even tickle one’s grey matter.
2 It is said that if you laugh for ten minutes you will be in a better position to put up with pain for two hours. According to US researchers, laughter is a good antidote to stress that tones up the system. Facial laugh muscles instruct the brain to ‘feel good’ regardless of how you feel.
3 According to a French doctor, laughter deepens breathing, improves blood circulation, speeds up the process of tissue healing and stabilises many body functions. In short, it acts as a powerful drug with no side effects. Researchers state that laughter stimulates s production of beta-endorphins, natural painkillers in the body and improves digestion. Those who laugh are less prone to digestive disorders and ulcers.
4 Some people in France have made it a career. You can hire a ‘jovialist’ who cracks jokes and laughs and promises to make you dissolve your worries in helpless laughter.
5 A word of caution. Although laughing is a good exercise for toning up the facial muscles, laughing at others’ expense, particularly at their disabilities, is in bad taste and is to be avoided. Secondly, laughing with food in the mouth is dangerous as the foodstuff can get into the windpipe and may choke the digestive system.
6 Eating, anyway, is a serious business not to be trifled with by any jocular diversion. Laughter comes best when it is free of encumbrances, whether it is constricting food or the need to humour the boss.
Word-Meanings
1. Readies Oldest—a well-known monthly magazine published in English in about eight countries. 2. Prescription—doctors woo instruction for use of medicine 3. Satirical l—the piece of writing that makes fun of foolish or wicked behaviour. 4. tedium-boredom 5. Work a day—ordinary every day 6. tickle—please amuse. 7. grey matter-intelligence 8. Antidote-anything that counteract something unpleasant. 9. Ulcer–open sore containing poisonous matter on the outside of die body or the surface of an internal organ 10. Trifle—treat something lightly 11. Diversion– the entertaining activity that it turns them away from work, study, etc 12. Encumbrances—persons or things that prevent someone from leg wtaithiag freely and easily 13. TonshictIng—compressing, Squeezing.
Questions
(a) Read the given passage and make notes in points only using abbreviations wherever necessary.
(b) Write a summary of the above passage in 80 words. Also, give a suitable title to it.
Answers
(a) Notes on the contents of the Passage:
A.Laughter
(i) the best mdcn.
(ii) antidote to stress
(iii) tones up fact. Muscles
B. Humorous articles in newspapers. Magazines
(i) keep readers in good hlth.
(ii) relieve the tdm. of everyday life
(iii) tickle one’s grey matter (intelligence)
C. A power drug with no side efts. :
(i) deepens breathing
(ii) improves blood circulation
(iii) speeds up the process of tissue healing
(iv) stimulates natural p. killers in the body
D. Never laugh:
(i) at the expense of others
(ii) while eating
E. Best laughter
—free from encumbrances
| Abbreviations used :
1. mdcn — medicine
2. fad. — facial
3. hlth. — health
4. tdm. — tedium
5. efts. — effects
6. p. killers — pain-killers
|
(b) Summary of the Passage:
Laughter is. indeed, the best medicine. Thus humour columns in magazines and newspapers do their bit in keeping readers in good health. It is a powerful drug with no side effects. It deepens breathing, improves blood circulation, speeds up tissue healing, improves digestion, and stabilises many body functions. It is also a good exercise for facial muscles. But we must not laugh at the expense of others. We should also avoid laughing while eating because it can choke our digestive system.
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