Some time people call each other “scared-cat”, but have you ever thought about this expression? When a cat is frightened, its heart starts beating faster, its muscles get tense, and there are changes in the chemicals in its bloodstream. Although the cat doesn’t realize this. Its body is getting ready for action. If the danger continues, the animal will do one of two things. It will defend itself, or it will run away as fast as it can.
Something like this also happens to people. When we are excited, angry, scared, or aroused by other emotions(feelings), our bodies go through many physical changes. Our hearts beat faster, and our muscles get tense. All of these changes make us more alert and ready to react. We, too get ready to defend ourselves or run.
Human beings, however, have a problem that animals never face. If we give way to our feelings and let them take over, we can get into trouble. Have you ever said something in anger — or hit somebody — and regretted it later? Have you ever shouted at a teacher, told somebody you were lonely, or said you were in love, and then wished later you had kept your mouth shut? It isn’t always wise to express your feelings freely.
Does this mean that it’s smarter always to hide our feelings? No! If you keep feelings of anger, sadness and bitterness hidden away or bottled up inside, your body stays tense. Physical illness can develop, and you can feel churned up inside. It can actually be bad for your health.(It isn’t good to keep pleasant feelings inside either; all feelings need to be expressed.)
Feelings that you keep all bottled up inside don’t just go away. It’s as if you bought some bananas and stuck them in a cupboard. You might not be able to see them, but before long you’d smell them. And if you opened the cupboard, chances are you’d see little fruit flies hovering all over them. They’d be rotten.
You can try to treat emotions as if they were bananas in the cupboard. You can hide them and you can pretend they don’t exist, but they’ll still be around. And at last you’ll have to deal with them, just like those bananas.
1. The best title for this article is _______.
A. Emotions Affect Our Bodies B. What Happens to a Frightened Cat
C. What Happens to An excited Person D. Feelings That People Have
2. The underlined words “churned up” in the fourth paragraph mean _______.
A. being puzzled B. being hurt C. made upset D. made satisfied
3. The author wrote this article in order to _______.
A. tell us that it isn't good to keep feelings inside B. give us some advice on how to express our feelings
C. make us face the problem that we have to deal with feelings
D. make us know that it isn't always wise to express our feelings freely
【答案与解析】文章阐述了人的喜怒哀乐等各种情感都有必要表达出来，否则，对健康不利，甚至会引发各种疾病。
1. A。主旨题。读完全文，很容易明白这篇文章的主旨是“情感影响我们的身体”。
2. C。词义猜测题。细读Physical illness can develop, and you can feel churned up inside这句，然后对比所给的4个选项，可知只有C最为恰当。
3. D。主旨题。从第3段举的例子可以看出作者的写作目的。
