IELTS
JOURNAL
135
Exercise 70: True, False, Not Given
The following exercise comes from Cambridge IELTS 5, page 43.
Most of the questions contain a person's name. This makes it easy to scan the text to
find where the answers are. However,
the text is difficult, so you need to study it
carefully.
Here are the questions with the relevant part of the text below each one. Study the
questions and the text sentences carefully. Decide whether
the statements are true,
false or not given.
1. Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways.
Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: 'unique in that it serves no apparent
biological purpose'.
2. Plato believed humour to be a sign of above-average intelligence.
Plato expressed the idea that humour is simply a delighted feeling of superiority
over others.
3. Kant believed that a joke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.
Kant felt that joke-telling relies on building up a psychic tension which is safely
punctured.
4. Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle's view on the subject.
Most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle's
belief.
5. Graeme Richie's work links jokes to artificial intelligence.
Graeme Richie studies the linguistic structure of jokes
in order to understand not
only humour but language understanding and reasoning in machines.
6. Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour.
A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation.
7. Chimpanzees make particular noises when they are playing.
Chimpanzees have a 'play-face' - a gaping expression accompanied by a panting
'ah, ah' noise.