Most people think that we laugh because something is funny. 5. ★★★ Laughter expert Robert Provine spent hours recording real conversations at different places, and he found that most laughter did not come after jokes. People laughed at the end of normal sentences, or questions such as "Look, it's Sam," or "Are you sure?".
If we want to understand laughter, we should look deep into our brains. Imagine your brain is like a big city. The regions responsible for laughing are like the oldest neighbourhoods. However, the regions responsible for talking and remembering things are newer ones.

When we laugh, the old regions take charge, and they don't always listen to the newer regions. That's why it's hard to stop laughing, even when we should be serious. Now, here's something cool: everybody laughs, no matter if they can hear or not. Even if you've never heard a sound, your body still knows how to laugh. It's like laughter is a language our bodies speak, and everyone understands it. However, we still don't know why certain things make us laugh. 6. ★★★ Lastly, laughter is like a happy virus. If you hear someone laugh, you might start laughing, too. It's just our way of sharing joy with each other! |

| A. People have similar moments daily. B. One is that when we are bored or tired, we just don't breathe as deeply as we usually do. C. They decide what's really important to keep and what not to. D. Oxygen we breathe in makes us more awake. E. But if you watch when people actually do it, you'll find this isn't the case. F. Our brain can confuse us sometimes while acting like that. G. It's like our brain has a secret code for acting like that. H. Without this, taking a deep breath might be hard and that wouldn't be good!

3 | Read the text again and decide if the sentences are True, False or Not Given. 1. More oxygen in your body will help you yawn less. 2. Sportsmen yawn more. 3. Hermann Ebbinghaus's research findings show how long people spend reading. 4. The reason behind forgetfulness can be different. 5. People laugh more after jokes rather than at the end of normal conversations. 6. Brain parts responsible for laughter developed earlier.

4 | Find the opposites of these words in the text. born bring into decrease ability forget effective short

5 | Discuss the questions with a partner. • How often do you experience forgetfulness? • What's your funniest story about forgetfulness? • What kind of things make you laugh?